Bartlet4America News Archive

Alex Graves still remembers back to when he was 11 years old and was making his own movies with a Super 8 camera.

So does his dad, Bill; for about a year and a half, he remarked, there was a space vehicle parked in his garage, making it unuseable for parking his own car while his son filmed his young colleagues acting out science fiction fantasies.

But even back then, Bill Graves said, his son knew what he was doing; after filming had been completed, he related, Alex would scratch the film to make it appear the light sabers in those movies really were firing light.

But what Alex Graves, a 1983 graduate of El Dorado High School, is now involved in comes much closer to earth than what was taking place in those space movies of more than 20 years ago.

He is now director and co-executive producer for "The West Wing," the television series which has captivated the nation's television audiences as it takes viewers inside the lives of staffers in the west wing of the White House.

This year "The West Wing" came away with another armload of Emmy awards, including outstanding drama series and outstanding lead actress, supporting actor and supporting actress in a drama series.

For his own part Graves received an Emmy nomination for outstanding directing for a drama series.

It was the "Posse Comitatus" episode which earned him that honor.

"I did dream about it," said Graves (who now lives in Santa Monica, Calif., with his wife Sarah and 3-year-old son Ben) about the success he has enjoyed with "The West Wing."

While "I certainly never knew it would happen," he remarked, "I hoped it would, and I worked really hard to make it happen."

Even with the accolades the show has received there are other facets of working with "West Wing" which Graves said he has also found rewarding.

The show came into being, he remarked, with the "good intentions" of creator and executive producer Aaron Sorkin, who saw the potential of a television series which portrays people who perform public service while serving in the White House west wing.

"He really wanted something which was interesting, educational and entertaining," he said - and he found all those elements in the White House.

Now, Graves said, it is somewhat of a juggling act to keep all three of those balls going at the same time.

What he, the actors and everyone else involved in "The West Wing" is doing, he remarked, is trying to make sure they are creating a show viewers will understand and care about - all the while not forgetting to entertain people.

"It's just a very great creative place to work," Graves said of "The West Wing," adding because current events tie the show to what is going on out in the real world "we work hard to try to communicate something positive and try not to do something which is destructive."

From the "very beginning," Graves said, "The West Wing" has had a "universally positive" reaction from the halls of government in Washington D.C.

It has been "heavily researched" with regard to past administrations, he noted, and even "deals a little bit" with the current Bush administration

"We definitely have a really strong fan base" in the nation's capital, Graves remarked, alson noting four times a year "The West Wing" goes back to Washington D.C. for location work.

"We're always warmly received," he said, adding "the bottom line is we get it right enough most of the time" that government officials have been unanimous in their willingness to cooperate.

Those people, he said, "sincerely appreciate the fact we are portraying them realistically and generally fairly."

In fact, he commented, "I've had as much help from the Bush White House" as he received from the Clinton administration.

And, he added, getting permission from such agencies as the Defense Department and the National Park Service to film at such locales as an Air Force Base, Arlington National Cemetery and the Jefferson Memorial has also gone off without a hitch.

Back in Hollywood, Graves said, "we have a set which encapsulates basically one and a half floors of the West Wing."

He said it gives the cast and filming crew the opportunity to portray the first floor of the actual White House west wing (including the Oval Office), as well as the White House basement (which also provides offices for staff people) and the upstairs of the residence, in which the president's bedroom is located.

For him, Graves said, a typical day might start off with play time with his son and coffee with his wife before he heads off to the set for a day filled with rehearsals and shooting.

During the day there are also such other tasks to be attended to as casting actors for either the current episode or one which is coming up.

Hopefully, he said, everything will finally get wrapped up about 8 or 9 p.m. - but even after he gets home he might find himself reading a script for an upcoming episode.

When he is not producing or directing, he added, his duties as co-executive producer involve overseeing all the episodes of the show.

"A lot goes into editing the episodes and how they are put together," he remarked.

"The cast is terrific; they're a really great, very smart and talented group of ensemble actors," Graves said of the actors in "The West Wing."

Martin Sheen (now known to millions of television views as President Josiah "Jed" Bartlet) was already making his mark in the film industry when Graves was in his high school and college years.

Still, he said, he has always felt at ease around Sheen.

"He's a wonderful, great guy" and "very easy" to work with, he remarked.

As press secretary Claudia Jean ("C.J.") Cregg, Graves said, Allison Janney has been "one of the best" role players he has ever seen.

Bill Graves said he is one of the regular viewers of "The West Wing."

To him, he remarked, "it has a strong story line, and the White House angle is certainly a good one."

While he does not always agree with the political outlook of the characters in the show, he remarked, that is something he admitted is at the discretion of the writers.

"He's worked hard to take advantage of his talent," Bill Graves said his pride in his son's success.

"He had an inborn motivation to do this."

Michele Banks recalled Alex Graves' "very active" participation in her productions when she was in charge of the drama department at EHS.

And, she continued, when he came back to El Dorado for two weeks in 1991 to do his first film, "Crude Oasis," she believed she was seeing "a young man who had vision and determination to succeed in a very difficult job choice.

In addition to Graves' creativity, drive and commitment, Banks said, he also had the all-important support of his family.

Graves said Banks and Bob Peterson, lead theater instructor at Butler County Community College, were his first major influences in his eventual career path.

Banks recalled starring as a "pretty austere, not-so-nice mother" in one of Graves' early El Dorado productions.

That, she said, was back in the days when Graves and his band of performers would use family homes, the former Graves Drug Store or anywhere they could find an environment or a stage to make a film.

"It's an extremely competitive industry," Alex Graves of his work, adding his advice to anyone who is interested in following the same career path he did is to "work hard and be persistent."