Michael Douglas As President Andrew Shepherd (The American President, 1995)
The idea of a romantic comedy set in the White House, filled to the brim with politics, must have been a strange pitch to hear, but screenwriter Aaron Sorkin delivers a script here that not only succeeds on its own terms, but also became his blueprint for the phenomenally successful drama series, The West Wing. Directed by Rob Reiner, The American President is built upon the solid foundation provided by Academy Award winner Michael Douglas, in the titular role.
President Andrew Shepherd is a widower, who falls in love with environmental lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening) when she meets with him to discuss a controversial bill to reduce national fossil fuel consumption. Their relationship is complicated by the fact that Shepherd is running for re-election, and Wade’s environmental bill is ultimately at odds with Shepherd’s own bill for crime control – on which he intends to base his entire campaign.
Douglas presents Shepherd as a President herded by his political enemies into a state of perpetual neutrality and passivity. The arrival of Wade eventually energizes him into a pro-active strategy, and he blossoms into the kind of idealistic leader of social change that writer Aaron Sorkin creates so well.
