washingtonpost.com

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'D.C. 9/11' Spins Tale of President on Tragic Day
Showtime Docudrama Depicts a Defiant, Decisive Bush

By Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 19, 2003; Page C01


LOS ANGELES, June 18 -- In the hours after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, a bold, forceful President Bush orders Air Force One to return to Washington over the objections of his Secret Service detail, telling them: "If some tinhorn terrorist wants me, tell him to come and get me! I'll be at home, waiting for the bastard!"

Well, the president didn't actually speak those words. But it's close enough for the Hollywood version of events. In a forthcoming docudrama for the Showtime cable network, an actor playing the president spits out those lines to his fretful underlings in a key scene.

The made-for-TV film, "D.C. 9/11," is the first to attempt to re-create the events that swirled around the White House in the hours and days immediately after the strikes on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.

The quintessentially American story was shot primarily in Toronto, where drafts of the movie's dialogue were leaked to the Globe and Mail newspaper.

Sources here confirmed the generally heroic portrayal of the president and his aides, including the dramatic scene in which Bush is hopscotching the country in Air Force One as a security precaution. When a Secret Service agent questions the order to fly back to Washington by saying, "But Mr. President -- , " Bush replies firmly, "Try 'Commander in Chief.' Whose present command is: Take the president home!"

The two-hour film, to air around the second anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, stars Timothy Bottoms as Bush, reprising a role Bottoms played for laughs on the short-lived Comedy Central series "That's My Bush!," which went off the air a week before the Sept. 11 attacks. Many of the movie's secondary roles, such as Vice President Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell, are played by obscure New York and Canadian actors. Among the familiar faces in the cast are Penny Johnson Jerald (she plays the president's ex-wife on the Fox series "24"), who appears as national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, and George Takei (Sulu on the original "Star Trek" series), who plays Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta. The movie's veteran director, Daniel Petrie, made such films as "Eleanor and Franklin," "Sybil" and "A Raisin in the Sun."

The writer-producer of "D.C. 9/11," Lionel Chetwynd, declined to discuss specific scenes or dialogue in the film. But he defended its general accuracy, saying: "Everything in the movie is [based on] two or three sources. I'm not reinventing the wheel here. . . . I don't think it's possible to do a revision of this particular bit of history. Every scholar who has looked at this has come to the same place that this film does. There's nothing here that Bob Woodward would disagree with." Woodward, a Washington Post assistant managing editor, is the author of "Bush at War," a best-selling account of the aftermath of Sept. 11.

Chetwynd said his approach to the post-Sept. 11 story was similar to that of a 1974 TV movie, "The Missiles of October," a dramatization of the showdown between President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev over Soviet missile emplacements in Cuba in 1962. "This is about how George Bush and his team came to terms with the reality around them and led the country in a new direction," he said.

He noted that the take-me-home scene is based on actual events. "Did [the president] assert his right to go home? Did the president decide to overrule the Secret Service? Yes, he did."

But the movie, which includes some documentary news footage, has already drawn scattered criticism. Writing in the Toronto Sun, columnist Linda McQuaig compared it to Hollywood's mythologizing of figures like Wyatt Earp and added that it "is sure to help the White House further its two-pronged reelection strategy: Keep Americans terrified of terrorism and make Bush look like the guy best able to defend them." And Texas radio commentator and self-styled populist Jim Hightower has derided "D.C. 9/11." On his syndicated radio program this week, Hightower said the movie will present Bush as "a combination of Harrison Ford and Arnold Schwarzenegger. . . . Instead of the doe-eyed, uncertain, worried figure that he was that day, Bush-on-film is transformed into an infallible, John Wayne-ish, Patton-type leader, barking orders to the Secret Service and demanding that the pilots return him immediately to the White House."

Neither McQuaig nor Hightower has actually seen "D.C. 9/11," notes Chetwynd, a Canadian emigrant whose earlier films ("Hanoi Hilton," "The Siege at Ruby Ridge," "Kissinger and Nixon") have often touched on national politics and policy.

However, Chetwynd acknowledges that he began the project as a "great admirer" of the president. Chetwynd is among the few outspokenly conservative producers in Hollywood, and one of the few with close ties to the White House. His 2000 Showtime film "Varian's War" (about an American who rescued French Jews from the Nazis) was screened at the executive mansion for the president and Mrs. Bush. In late 2001, President Bush appointed him to the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.

In researching "D.C. 9/11," Chetwynd had access to top White House officials, including Bush. What's more, Chetwynd ran the script past a group of conservative Washington pundits, including Fred Barnes, Charles Krauthammer and Morton Kondracke.

But he insists that only he and Showtime had control over the film's content and tone. "This isn't propaganda," he says. "It's a straightforward docudrama. I would hope what's presented is a fully colored and nuanced picture of a human being in a difficult situation."

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I don't know what to say.

Yeah, with enough soap, one could blow up just about anything.

Man i dont want to see another 911 movie after watching all the pathetic "documentaries" and "tributes" on this site.

"This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time"

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"This isn't propaganda,"

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It's like they just said to me, "Okay, he runs, jumps, and plays, he's furry, has a tail, barks a lot, likes bones, chases cats, and makes a great companion--but wait! he's not a dog."

its sad that they are trying to get ratings off of the 9/11 tragety

"Vision is the art of seeing things invisible" - Jonathan Swift

You said it, Alex.

In twenty years there will be a motion picture about it, with some Leo Dicaprio look alike and some girl that looks like Kate Winslet.

God that's stupid.

"Don't breathe or I'll kill you!"

Why even try!
I'm sure the last thought on any body's mind in their last few moments in the tower thought, "wow, I hope they make a movie out of this!"
The tragedy is still way too close to home for it to be made into an entertainment issue.

"What are you doing?"
"Oh . . .uh . . .nothin"

I figured hollywood would at least wait 50 years to make a mockery of horrific past events. Maybe they will cast pauly shore as osama bin laden. "Its ok budd-eee, that bomb is dirt-eee!" jesus, whats next, maybe we'll see josh hartnett as a heroic teacher stuck inside columbine high school during the shootings. If given the choice to direct DC9/11 or a cheesy porno, i'd rather do the cheesy porno, not because there would be semi-beautiful but very fake women around me, but because my conscious would feel cleaner.

Grilled Cheese

I'm so overwhelmed by the obsurdity of this 9/11 movie starring the guy from "Where's my Bush" that for the first time in my life I don't have some sort of pretentiously witty comment to make fun of it.

Oh nevermind I thought of one.

Hey if they are not going to accuratly portray what the Bushman said and did, why stop at misquoting.

If I was directing it, I would have Vin Diesel play Bush (complete with wig and prostetics). Have him insist on going to ground zero when he hears of the attack. Then riding the presidential moto-cross bike (officially called Moto-one) to the site; he would ride the bike off a firetruck ladder, smash through a window before the building colapses. Upon landing he would ditch the bike, fight a terrorist who apparently survived the crash (why not). Defeating the terrorist with a slow motion backfist he would then say "who's terrafied know *****." Then grabbing the lone survivor on the floor (an early twenties model type) he would create a grappling hook from the terrorist's turban and a stapler. Cut to President Bush and the girl Zip-lining to saftey as the building crashes behind them.

Then we'll see onscreen type that reads: "Two years later" followed by Bush standing on the front of an Abrhams tank shirtless firing an AR-15 into a crowd of armed Iraqi's screaming "remember the Alamo."

Roll credits.

Followed by "This movie was brought to you by Alamo Rent-a-Car"

Thank you JASONvb for your lovely insights of the "pathetic documentaries" on this sight.

I happen to believe that the filmmakers of these "pathetic documentaries" put alot of their time and effort into the creation of their pieces, and they all did a positive job.

All in all, you should shut your mouth. If you didn't like one of the "pathetic documentaries" on this site, why did you go and watch the rest of them?

note: i am just joking about this...i don't mean disrespect to the lives lost or survivors!!!


ok, so it's titanic on the world tradecenter buildings...so theres a guy and girl...both work in seperate towers ya know? So they wanna hook up and stuff but they have totally different jobs.

so then we bring the president into this for a small subplot along with the terrorists who'll have a badass score by John Williams that somehwat reminicent to the imperial mmarch...

along with that we have the ttwo planes with their passengers...main char acters on that are a husband and pregant wife (make things more dramatic when she dies)

cut to the end, jack and rose jump from the towers proclaiming their love for eachother...

rose somehow lives by landing on a whale or...parachute....dramatic score by celine dion....cue end credits.....cue james cameron stealing another oscar thanks to histories little tradedies.

what makes the movie so wrong? that this event happened ...was it like 2 or 1 and a half years ago? maybe...

look at all these films based around historical tragedies...all war movies...titanic, pearl harbor, tuskagee airmen , godzilla...the list goes on.

people are gonna be against the film...fuk their opinions....i'll never see the film if it comes out....but i'm not 4 it or against it...it's just stupid...made to cause a stir. i hate them

i'm wit jason on this...

if i wannt to see a documentary on 9/11, (which i don't btw) i'll watch 20/20

i ain 't gonnasit through some patriotic bs some kid made thinking he was cool making it cause it was dramatic with music from BAND OF BROTHERS and reflects history...

Nah man, they had fat people on 20/20 last night

At least the movie isn't as bad as trying to recreate terrorists hijacking planes with boxcutters and the passengers cowering in fear.

They might do a couple scenes involving that, Kyuzo.

Right before the planes hit, some actor will be like "I love Allah!" and there will be this dramatic event blah blah blah...

What a stupid idea.

"Don't breathe or I'll kill you!"

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Originally posted by Joel Dunn:
Thank you JASONvb for your lovely insights of the "pathetic documentaries" on this sight.

I happen to believe that the filmmakers of these "pathetic documentaries" put alot of their time and effort into the creation of their pieces, and they all did a positive job.

All in all, you should shut your mouth. If you didn't like one of the "pathetic documentaries" on this site, why did you go and watch the rest of them?

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... ahhhh.. the old "you should shut your mouth" campaign...

"This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time"

yeah what crybabies!

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Originally posted by JASONvb:

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Originally posted by Joel Dunn:
Thank you JASONvb for your lovely insights of the "pathetic documentaries" on this sight.

I happen to believe that the filmmakers of these "pathetic documentaries" put alot of their time and effort into the creation of their pieces, and they all did a positive job.

All in all, you should shut your mouth. If you didn't like one of the "pathetic documentaries" on this site, why did you go and watch the rest of them?

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... ahhhh.. the old "you should shut your mouth" campaign...

"This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time"

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what's with the name?

Hill?

Dawson- Dawson's Creek

Kane- You must think you're the next Orson Welles or something, right?

So basically you're influenced by the WB and by Orson Welles.

that should make for ahem.umm "interesting" films!

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Originally posted by Hill Dawson Kane:
do you think these people have any respect for the ppl who died? god no they just want ratings. i mean if this happened ANYWHERE other than in America (or to americans for that matter) do you think there would be a movie? why was jack dawson american in titanic? take a wild ****in guess. why couldnt he have been italian or some ****? maybe cause no italian actor can draw teen girls to a theatre. if a 100,001 ppl died in a big catastrophe and only one was american and the other 100,000 were ****in chinese or muslums who do you think the movie would be on. the american. dont get me wrong i dont hate americans for being interested in other americans. i just hate those americans who will watch anything that is stamped with the usa name on it. ei. amercan bandstand, american idol, and american pie. how many of you would have watched canadian bandstand, ethiopian idol or russian idol? admit it none of you would. there is proof in all the shows just like american idol that came out before and were adsactly the same but didnt get the rading because it wasnt all about americans on an american show. once again we cant blame the ppl who make these successful shows can we? i meen its their job to get mindless americans to watch their tv programs. wow here is another american themed show we can get big ratings out of.

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Wow you're amazingly clever! will you be my mentor? you're really brilliant! I just love your "real" name! Its so cool! So elegant!

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Originally posted by Hill Dawson Kane:
no ****head it just happens to be my name. the names Hill, Dawson and Kane are not a dime a dozen you know. how many Hills, Dawsons and Kanes do you think there are in the world. At least i dont have a problem using my name rather than the name of your daddy is and where his dick is penetrating you(implying to kubrick 77 and arsehole).

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I've never ever seen a segment of american idol

but you had a good point hdk

time out for both of you.

No ice cream either.

Grilled Cheese