Bartlet4America News Archive

The Progressive Interview: Martin Sheen

by David Kupfer
The Progressive

July 2003

Martin Sheen is a pacifist, a social and political activist who has not shied away from putting his body on the front lines, and a devout Roman Catholic. After rediscovering his faith twenty years ago, he began his activist work in earnest. "I learned I had to stand for something so I could stand to be me," he said as we talked.
The star of The West Wing and a winner of a Golden Globe award for his role on that show, where he plays U.S. President Josiah Bartlet, Sheen has used his fame to call attention to many causes. Recently, he was one of the most visible celebrities against the U.S. war against Iraq. "I am not the President. Instead, I hold an even higher office, that of citizen of the United States," Sheen wrote in The Los Angeles Times on March 17. "War at this time and in this place is unwelcome, unwise, and simply wrong." Sheen says that NBC executives have told him they're "very uncomfortable" with his activism, although NBC denies this.

Sincere, modest, down to earth, Sheen is a reformed drug and alcohol abuser. The heart attack he endured during the filming of Apocalypse Now in the Philippines led him on a four-year spiritual journey that culminated in his return to Catholicism. He carries a rosary in his pocket ("Keeps me from cursing," he says) and is an almost daily communicant. Known worldwide by his stage name, this son of immigrant parents (his father was from Spain, his mother, Ireland) was baptized Ramón Estevez. His early years were spent in Dayton, Ohio. The Estevez family was poor and, from an early age, instilled Sheen with strong Catholic morals and working class values. By age nine, he was earning extra money as a golf caddie at a local country club, with hopes of becoming a pro. In 1958, at eighteen, he borrowed bus fare from his local parish priest and headed for New York to pursue his dream of becoming an actor. To avoid ethnic bias in hiring, he chose the first name Martin after a good friend, and Sheen after Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, who had a popular TV show in the 1950s. He remains proud of his Hispanic heritage and is quick to say that he never legally changed his name.

Sheen has created an impressive body of work, from his acclaimed 1964 Broadway performance in The Subject Was Roses, through extraordinary parts on television (he starred in the first TV movie about homosexuality, That Certain Summer, in 1972, and in The Execution of Private Slovik in 1974, and portrayed both Robert F. Kennedy in The Missiles of October and JFK in Kennedy). His films include Badlands, Catch-22, Apocalypse Now, Gandhi, and Wall Street. He's been married to his wife, Janet, for more than forty years and is father to four children, Charlie, Emilio, Renee, and Ramón, all thespians.

Over the past twenty years, Sheen has repeatedly protested political repression in Central America, promoted more liberal political asylum policies in the United States, publicized the atrocities of the Salvadoran death squads, supported the closing of the nuclear test sites, and marched with the Reverend Jesse Jackson to protest so-called immigration reform legislation in 1993. He was also an early demonstrator against abuses by the Israeli army in the Occupied Territories in the late 1980s.

Sheen was a featured speaker at an anti-war rally January 18 in San Francisco. His stirring oratory was met with thunderous applause. He delivered similar mini-sermons at subsequent peace gatherings in Los Angeles and in San Francisco prior to the bombing of Iraq. For this interview, I met up with him at the annual National Religious Education Congress in Anaheim following his talk before 900 Catholics in a workshop on spirituality and justice.

Question: Why are you so active in social justice and peace issues?

Martin Sheen: I do it because I can't seem to live with myself if I do not. I don't know any other way to be. It isn't something you can explain; it is just something that you do; it is something that you are.

Q: You've been arrested more than sixty times, in opposition to the School of the Americas in Georgia, apartheid, racism, homelessness, nuclear testing. Do you recall your first time?

Sheen: My first civil disobedience arrest for social justice was in 1986 for protesting the SDI [Reagan's Star Wars initiative]. It was on Forty-second Street at the McGraw-Hill Building in New York. That arrest was one of the happiest moments of my life and, equally, one of the scariest.

Q: What are your views on nonviolent civil disobedience?

Sheen: It is one of the only tools that is available to us where you can express a deeply personal, deeply moral opinion and be held accountable. You have to be prepared for the consequences. I honestly do not know if civil disobedience has any effect on the government. I can promise you it has a great effect on the person who chooses to do it.

Q: What did you mean when you said, "Your faith has to cost you something, otherwise you have to question its value"?

Sheen: Once you follow a path of nonviolence and social justice, it won't take you long before you come into conflict with the culture, with the society. You can't know what is at stake or how much it is going to cost you until you get in the game. That's the only way, and the level of cost is equal to the level of involvement.

Q: What do you think of the way certain conservative media outlets have been handling those critical of war?Sheen: I have taken a big hit for being a spokesperson for the Virtual March on Washington, the MoveOn [www.moveon.org] effort. They [rightwingers] went after the show [The West Wing]. A lot of these rightwing people have been after NBC to kick me off it; that was their whole thrust, to get rid of me. When you rile people up, and they get ugly, it's not a fair fight anymore. The anti-antiwar activists recently flooded the Burbank office and shut down the NBC switchboard.

Q: When has it become criminal to express yourself in this country?

Sheen: Right now.

Q: What's your reaction to your critics in the media?

Sheen: Their opinions are very lucrative to them; mine are very expensive to me and my family. That is the difference. That is why I can't get involved in this debate. Because we are talking about two different things.

Q: You're coming from a more humanistic perspective?

Sheen: Exactly, and a spiritual perspective. And they get paid for their opinions, and mine cost me.

Q: But you don't take it personally, do you?

Sheen: I don't, only because I don't know the people who are attacking me. But you cannot not be affected by it and remain human. And also I am not in this alone; I have a family, and they are subject to a lot of scrutiny at times. It is not pleasant at all. You just have to maintain your faith, and your sense of humor. Above all, not take yourself so seriously, and realize that you're not in there alone. God has not abandoned us. I don't know what other force to appeal to other than almighty God, I really don't.

Q: You support our military?

Sheen: I have been accused of being a traitor, and I have been accused of not supporting the military. Nothing could be further from the truth. The leaders are the ones who make the decisions. The soldiers do not have the choice. I support the soldiers as human beings. This Administration has led us into an area without vision. Bush has no clear understanding of what is being asked of the citizens, and the military is under his direction.

Q: Assess the Bush Administration.

Sheen: In order to understand this Administration it is helpful to have a background in [Alcoholics Anonymous's] Twelve Step, because it is real clear to those of us who understand the Twelve Step program that these are very dysfunctional times. We live in a very dysfunctional society, and this is a very, very dysfunctional Administration. The proven way for this Administration to keep power is to keep us all in fear. As long as we are afraid of the unknown and afraid of each other, he, or anyone like him, can rule. It's like they will take responsibility for protecting us. It's when we take back the responsibility for protecting ourselves that they get scared. I am amazed by the level of arrogance within the Administration.

Q: When we met twenty years ago, you told me: "Murder is being conducted in our name around the world and we're paying the price here at home." What has that price been?

Sheen: This supposed idyllic society we have is the most confused, warped, addicted society in the history of the world. We are addicted to power, we're addicted to our own image of ourselves, to violence, divorce, abortion, and sex. Any whim of the human character is deeded in us 100-fold. We're number one in child abuse, pornography, divorce, all of these categories; that's how we get paid back. You can't project something on someone else that is damaging that person and not become that yourself, it seems to me.

Q: What are your views on abortion?

Sheen: I cannot make a choice for a women, particularly a black or brown or poor pregnant woman. I would not make a judgment in the case. As a father and a grandfather, I have had experience with children who don't always come when they are planned, and I have experienced the great joy of God's presence in my children, so I'm inclined to be against abortion of any life. But I am equally against the death penalty or war-- anywhere people are sacrificed for some end justifying a means. I don't think abortion is a good idea. I personally am opposed to abortion, but I will not judge anybody else's right in that regard because I am not a woman and I could never face the actual reality of it.

Q: What is a radical Catholic, as you've called yourself?

Sheen: That is someone who follows the teachings of the nonviolent Jesus and takes the gospel personally, and then pays the price. I fall into that category.

Q: Which politicians do you admire?

Sheen: I don't really have a great deal of confidence in politics or politicians, but there are certain elected officials that I admire very much, such as Dennis Kucinich from Ohio, Barbara Lee, Congresswoman from Oakland, Howard Dean, who I'm supporting for President.

Q: Who have been your spiritual influences?

Sheen: Terrence Malick (director of the film Badlands) is a deeply spiritual, bright, articulate man who had a profound influence on me at a critical time. Twenty years ago, I left India and went to Paris to do a film which I was not wild to be doing because I was not feeling focused at the time. I had just experienced India for the first time, and it had a very profound impact on me. I went to Paris and ran into Terry, who'd been living there for a couple of years, and we got reacquainted and got very close, and he became a mentor in a lot of ways for me. He was able to see where I needed to focus and was able to guide me to a little clearer place. He would give me material, books to read. Finally, the last book he gave me was The Brothers Karamazov, and that book had a very profound effect on my spiritual life, and that was like the final door that I had to go through. I finished reading that, and it was May Day, and I went into what turned out to be the only English-speaking Catholic church in all of France. I had not gone to church in years. I came across an Irish priest. I told him I'd stayed away from the faith for a long time, and I'd like to make a confession. He said you come to see me Saturday afternoon at the appointed hour, and I did. That was for me the journey home. Terrence was key to my awakening. Also, many of my beliefs were influenced by Dan and Phil Berrigan and the Jesuit community they helped run in New York.

Q: How did being a golf caddie affect you as a boy?

Sheen: Those years on the golf course as a caddie, boy, those people were something. They were vulgar, some were alcoholics, racist, they were very difficult people to deal with. A lot of them didn't have a sense of humor. They didn't know your name. It was always "caddie." This was before golf carts were used. If they needed to play, they were either going to hire a caddie or pull one of those rolling carts themselves. They weren't about to carry them when they could get you to carry them for a few dollars. Some of them were so cheap, selfish, and stingy. They taught me so much [laughs]. I am so grateful to those people. Because the bottom line was, for me, I thought, don't let me become that! It was one of those valuable lessons about what not to be, what not to do, how not to do something. They were ignorant, arrogant people, and they thought they were very charming and thought they had the world by the tail, with all the money and power they had.

Q: How has the game of golf helped you to develop your life philosophy?

Sheen: Anybody who plays golf will tell you that you play against yourself. I am a very conscientious golfer. I count every stroke. I learned to play that way. That is the only way I can play. It taught me to be honest. There is no greater virtue than honesty. The game is basically about yourself. Because you can cheat at golf, but you are only cheating you, so what is the point? If you are gambling and you cheat to make money then you are a thief and a liar, so it is exponential. Golf is fundamentally about being honest. I see people hit eight shots and tell me they shot five. I never say a word. It is a reminder to me of what is at stake.

Q: What was it like to work with the Living Theater in New York?

Sheen: It had a very profound effect on me. I started with them when I was nineteen and spent two-and-a-half years with them. Through them, I was introduced to Women's Strike for Peace, the ban the bomb movement. It was an avant-garde theater, filled with very liberal, progressive, intelligent, passionate, heroic people. Julian Beck was one of my mentors and heroes. He introduced me to the Catholic Workers' movement.

Q: Your favorite roles?

Sheen: Badlands and Apocalypse.

Q: Is The West Wing a liberal fantasy show?

Sheen: The key word about The West Wing is show. It is not a reality show. It has nothing to do with reality. We have a phrase we use sometimes: "Present issues of great importance," and hope this will cause some measure of public debate, because the issues are so important. But we don't advocate it, we can't be sure it is going to happen, and most of the time we don't even know what effect the show is going to have, if any. But sometimes we ring a bell, and you can't unring a bell. Sometimes we can bring an issue to the forefront and just mention it, and by just mentioning it, whether it is global warming or women's rights, or the environment, we bring attention to it. What we try to say is that it doesn't matter if you are a Republican or a Democrat or conservative or independent. You are equally responsible for your place in the culture, and you must make a contribution, and you must accept responsibility for what goes down on your watch. You have no excuse if you are a conservative not to be concerned about the environment. You are equally responsible. Future generations are not going to ask us what political party were you in. They are going to ask what did you do about it, when you knew the glaciers were melting. On the show, we are not trying to get people to eat their vegetables; we are not trying to get people to become Democrats. We are basically trying to encourage people to get involved with public life so that politics isn't left to the wealthy and privileged.

Q: Did you ever consider running for President?

Sheen: The Green Party asked me to consider running with Ralph Nader in 1996, but I nipped that idea in the bud. I said I was flattered but I was not into politics and that I was not interested.

Q: Even after all your training on The West Wing?

Sheen: I am not a politician or a public servant. I am still a journeyman actor and a peace and justice activist. I'm a pilgrim trying to win my freedom and serve as best I can in the time I have, with this gift I've been given.

Q: Are you worried that this nation might be going down the tubes in a hurry?

Sheen: It is slip-sliding away. The last couple of years, we've witnessed the slow unraveling of a lot of very good legislation that was put into place by a lot of hard activism.

Q: What is your greatest hope for our species?

Sheen: That we survive, and come to know ourselves, and win our freedom.

Q: And your greatest fear?

Sheen: That we are not going to make it.

Q: Do you despair, or do you have hope?

Sheen: No, no, I never despair, because George Bush is not running the universe. He may be running the United States, he may be running the military, he may be running even the world, but he is not running the universe, he is not running the human heart. A higher power is yet to be heard in this regard, and I'm not so sure that we haven't already heard, we just haven't been listening. I still believe in the nonviolent Jesus and the basic human goodness present in all of us.

If all of the issues that I have worked on were depending on some measure of success, it would be a total failure. I don't anticipate success. We're not asked to be successful, we are only asked to be faithful. I couldn't even tell you what success is.

Tracking your every media move

By Brian Lowry
LA Times

June 4, 2003

Thousands -- perhaps millions -- will watch tonight's NBA Finals tipoff in a sports bar, hotel or airport lounge. The people at Nielsen Media Research don't know for certain, which seems odd, insofar as their TV ratings system governs career expectancy for much of Hollywood.

With billions and billions of dollars in ad time predicated on those ratings, you might assume the methodology would be beyond reproach, sort of like balloting in Florida. Yet until they figure out a way to plant a chip in everyone's ear at birth (something a research executive half-jokingly proposed to me recently), ratings actually fall into the best-we-can-do-for-a-reasonable-price category.

That may be about to change. Technology is hurtling along, offering a wide assortment of Orwellian options to gauge viewing and listening preferences. As with medicine, however, those advances are coming faster than we can sort out their implications and decide just how much information we all want our corporate big brothers to possess.

So enter, in a closely monitored test underway in Philadelphia, the "portable people meter," or PPM. It's a device the size of a pager that people carry around with them, picking up encoded signals in the media they consume. The individuals need do nothing, with the PPM automatically identifying what the users are watching or what radio station they're listening to.

Creepy, you say? Not so, says Arbitron, which is conducting the trial with the cooperation of Nielsen. After all, the current TV ratings sometimes require letting people install boxes in their bedrooms, and the radio version, almost Jurassic by today's standards, asks you to keep a diary of your listening habits.

"What we're asking people to do is less invasive than allowing meters in their homes," said Roberta McConochie, Arbitron's director of client relations for the venture, who recently briefed research executives in L.A.

Still, that's just one of the innovations that could alter how media use is measured. TiVo, the digital video recorder loved in Los Angeles and New York City and mostly ignored in between, has announced plans to make "second-by-second specific viewing patterns" within TV programs available on a subscription basis. In a nutshell, that means selling advertisers data on which programs are most likely to keep viewers glued through ad breaks, an attribute referred to in the trade as "stickiness." Or oiliness, depending on your point of view.

TiVo is received by fewer than 1% of U.S. homes, but those 700,000 tech-savvy types constitute a far larger (if less representative) sample than Nielsen. Although individual viewer information isn't being doled out, whether that sample (also known as "paying customers") feels queasy about being turned into lab rats is one of those bridges yet to be crossed.

The benefits of Arbitron's portable system are fairly clear, considering the variety of places where people can watch TV or hear radio. "People's lifestyles have morphed into on-the-go media consumption," McConochie said, noting that teenagers and kids -- age groups hard-pressed to clean up their rooms, never mind record their media use -- are "much better captured by PPM."

Perhaps the most amazing part about the PPM, however, is that it's taken this long to get there. After all, advertisers recently committed $9.2 billion for next season's network prime-time lineups alone, so you would think they want to ensure they're getting every last eyeball -- especially with the advent of TiVo, remote controls and other devices that help people avoid commercials.

Beyond the dollars at stake, it's intriguing to hear how the PPM provided radio-usage data "quantum leaps ahead of what people are capable of reporting in a diary," McConochie said, such as previously unheard-of single-day ratings. In one example, Howard Stern's tune-in soared when Pamela Anderson came into the studio, suggesting not all scantily clad guests are created equal.

Equally fascinating is the PPM's capacity to capture channel-surfing so long as the airwave-rider stays perched on a channel at least 10 to 12 seconds, meaning it would register if you catch a few minutes of "Gladiator" (again) on HBO.

Nevertheless, I felt a chill drift up my spin when McConochie cited the device's ability to track which "retail environments" people patronize -- using the same silent code to cross-reference what stores they shop in with their viewing patterns -- or perform a similar trick linking TV viewing and movie attendance. Without being paranoid, it all sounds a little like "The Matrix," minus the slow-motion.

Yet whether you dread or embrace it, the day is coming when media consumption will be indexed with buying patterns to form one vast database -- all in the name of conveying more precise targeting information to those who see the public as a commodity to be bought and sold. That's terrific news for advertisers but a bit scary to anyone inclined to question if Rupert Murdoch and other guardians of pipelines into the home can be trusted not to abuse the privilege.

Meanwhile, I'll keep watching my TiVo and try to banish the sneaking suspicion that the little fellow in the company's logo -- and God knows who else -- is watching me right back.

'West Wing' Gets Focus

If you need a demonstration of just how serious networks are about reaching younger demos, look no further than the focus groups scheduled last week asking 25-to-36-year-olds to help NBC determine how to woo them back to "The West Wing."

Kelton Research, a firm that lists NBC among its clients, offered to pay participants who "are a current 'West Wing' watcher, or if you used to watch and no longer do ... to discuss the show and provide NBC and Warner Bros. with the feedback they need to shape next season."

For the record, I have met people in the 25-to-36 age group, and while many seem nice enough, I don't want them deciding what direction "The West Wing" should take.

The e-mail stated the research will be used to craft characters, plot lines and promos, though promos will apparently be the primary use. You can practically see the log lines destined to arise from that input: "Blond Ambition -- Donna Moss and Ainsley Hayes (guest star Emily Procter) leave the West Wing for a sun-splashed spring break in Florida, where they meet a good-looking bachelor (former "Dawson's Creek" star James Van Der Beek) who is a Republican lobbyist. Will love or politics conquer all? Wednesday at 9 -- right after 'For Love or Money.' "

Series creator Aaron Sorkin should be flattered. He left the show after writing the vast majority of episodes, and they need to consult an entire demographic to replace him.

Then again, he turns 42 this month, so he wouldn't be eligible for the focus group either.

Brian Lowry's column appears Wednesdays. He can be reached at brian.lowry@latimes.com.

'West Wing,' '24' provide civics lesson

25th Amendment gets a workout in presidential plots
ROBIN A. ROTHMAN
Knight Ridder
Charlotte Observer

The not-so-well-known 25th Amendment came up on two shows recently. On Fox's "24," President David Palmer (Dennis Haysbert) was ousted by a single vote when Vice President Prescott (Alan Dale) tested the application of Section 4, which provides for the involuntary removal of the president from office. The scheme worked, and he convinced the Cabinet to question the president's competency.

The show's use of the section may have been a stretch. OK, a huge stretch. But not necessarily wrong.

"It's interesting because Section 4 of the 25th Amendment is almost silent on what constitutes being `unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,' " says Daniel Ponder, an associate professor of political science at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs who teaches a course on The Presidency. "It is pretty much up to the interpretation of the VP and the Cabinet."

Palmer's recourse might have been an appeal to Congress after four days (which, with the show's real-time format, would have been four seasons from now), but it never came to that. As the clock ticked toward 8 a.m., he was vindicated, reinstated and slapped with a flesh-eating disease -- just in time to arouse our curiosity about next season.

If Palmer should be physically incapacitated for the next season, guess which amendment goes back into effect? Go on, guess. And Prescott remains next in the line of power.

Meanwhile, over on NBC's "The West Wing," fictional President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen), in the midst of frantic grief over his kidnapped daughter and mild memory loss caused by his multiple sclerosis, invoked Section 3 of the amendment. He asked his Cabinet, including Secretary of Commerce Mitch Bryce (played by, get this, Alan Dale!) to remove him from office.

And then things got tricky.

Busted for an extramarital affair with a journalist, and his odd idea of pillow talk (divulging classified information), Vice President John Hoynes (Tim Matheson) submitted his letter of resignation several episodes ago.

That Bartlet was operating VP-less when he made the crucial decision to step down was more than a clever plot twist. It was a civics lesson, a cliffhanger, and a perfect set-up all in one.

The civics lesson: The presidency went to the next-highest-ranking elected official, the speaker of the House, who had to resign his office in order to accept the position of president pro tempore.

The cliffhanger: The speaker of the house is a Republican. Welcome John Goodman to the cast. The set-up: As Aaron Sorkin -- the show's creator, executive producer and primary writer -- bequeaths "West Wing" unto John Wells ("ER," "Third Watch"), he provides him with infinite plot possibilities for what'll be a make-or-break season.

It was one heck of a story line. But was it actually accurate?

"The only part of it that's not believable to me is that he would willingly, voluntarily give up the presidency to the other party even for a little while," says Ponder.

The alternative? Select a new vice president, which entails congressional approval. "If they did it under emergency provisions, they could do it within a few days," Ponder says.

Like "24," the situation seemed far too urgent and volatile to spare that time. So Goodman it is.

Which leaves us with only one remaining question: Does that make Roseanne the first lady?

Posted on Fri, May. 30, 2003

From Zoey to Franny

Moss, first daughter on 'The West Wing,' plays a sassy adolescent in a coming-of-age tale at the Geffen.
By Barbara Isenberg, Special to The Times
LA Times

Strangers keep stopping Elisabeth Moss on the street.

Perhaps that has something to do with the 20-year-old actress obviously knowing what happens next to her character, Zoey Bartlet, on NBC's "The West Wing."

The kidnapping of the president's daughter at the end of the season inspired a cliff-hanger. But Moss isn't talking. "If I told them," she says, "it would ruin the surprise for them."

Actually, Moss admits, she hasn't yet seen the episode in which, high on Ecstasy, Zoey is snatched from a nightclub. The night it aired last month, she was shooting a movie in New Mexico and now, she explains, all her time is consumed with the play she's rehearsing at the Geffen Playhouse.

Better to talk about the smart, sassy adolescent she plays in Richard Nelson's play "Franny's Way." A coming-of-age story set in Greenwich Village in 1957, the play premiered in March 2002 at New York's Playwrights Horizons and makes its West Coast debut Wednesday at the Geffen. Moss is one of three actors from the original production reprising their roles here.

Moss inhabits 17-year-old Franny, a fledgling writer who changes her name from Francis in honor of J.D. Salinger's fictional heroine. Narrated by a 60-ish Older Franny (played by stage veteran Penny Fuller), the play takes two teens and their grandmother from upstate New York to a Manhattan apartment crowded with not just family but also loss and languor, secrets and yearnings.

"Franny is a young woman who feels she is ready to be independent," explains Nelson, winner of a Tony for his book of the musical "James Joyce's The Dead" "She's grown up enough and just wants to burst out of her somewhat sheltered life in Millbrook, N.Y. In the play, she finds out independence isn't as simple as she thinks."

It's a part she couldn't resist, Moss says during a break. "I don't know how Richard does it, but he knows adolescent girls with such a truth, it's truly astounding. Very often, you have to pretend you're older and try to be mature and sophisticated. It's so much fun to just be full of life and lose your inhibitions. I knew instinctively I had to do it."

So, two weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the Los Angeles-based actress was in New York, auditioning. "I just saw myself in Franny. When I went into the audition, I said to Richard, 'This is me.' Afterward, he said, 'Yeah, you do know this character.' "

Apparently so. Sitting on a rock in Central Park later that same day, too nervous to eat the bagel in her hand, Moss was talking with her mother on her cell phone when another call came in.

Learning she'd gotten the part, she says, "I started jumping up and down on this rock like a complete fool, not even caring if anybody was looking at me. As I'm sure they were.

"It meant so much more than getting a part. I was hyperventilating."

That's how Moss talks. She punctuates many remarks with a giggle, and offstage as much as onstage in rehearsal she seems authentically ingenuous. "She has that woman-child thing going," comments Playwrights Horizons' casting director, James Calleri. "She's very mature but doesn't seem like she's gone out of adolescence yet."

Moss' adolescence, like her childhood, has been largely one of performing. Moss' parents are both in the music industry — her father, Ron, manages jazz musicians and her mother, Linda, plays blues harmonica — and she's been acting since she was 6. She had a recurring role on the '90s CBS series "Picket Fences," and at 10 she played the lead in the long-running Los Angeles children's musical "Big Tush, Little Tush." Even then, recalls LeeAn Lantos, co-author of the musical's book, "she was always right on the money and very professional."

The young actress was the voice of a sick possum in the animated feature "Once Upon a Forest" in 1993. She played Baby Louise in CBS' "Gypsy" in 1993 and young Ashley Judd in NBC's "Naomi & Wynonna: Love Can Build a Bridge" in 1995.

But despite that success, her prime focus was ballet until, she says, she played a runaway teen in the 1999 film "The Joyriders," with Martin Landau. "It was the first time I wasn't playing somebody's daughter and had an actual story and life of my own to play," she says. "I realized what acting was and how much fun it can be. I decided you couldn't be a professional ballerina and still make movies and do plays, so I went for acting. And I'm so glad I did."

There have already been a dozen films, including Wayne Wang's "Anywhere But Here," James Mangold's "Girl, Interrupted" and Lawrence Kasdan's "Mumford."

"She's not your classic Hollywood ingénue," observes James Lapine, who directed her in the HBO film "Earthly Possessions." "She's very real. She feels familiar in a good way, like someone you would know or be related to."

For "The West Wing," where she's created the role of Zoey, Moss had to audition three times, she says. Series creator Aaron Sorkin auditioned many "great actresses" for the part, he says, but, "she was special. She's a very honest actress. She doesn't pose. She doesn't do a voice."

She's also serious about her work, Sorkin adds. And Moss apparently knows the value of being prepared. The first thing she did when she got the part in "Franny's Way," she says, was stop at a bookstore to buy Salinger's classic "Franny and Zooey," which she's now read several times. And before beginning rehearsals for the show last year, her New York stage debut, she went to Manhattan early just to do voice training at New York University.

Moss, writer-director Nelson recalls, was rather quiet at the start of New York rehearsals, but she's now showing "a lot more confidence."

"We've changed many things in the play since New York, and not only is she willing to make changes but she is willing to re-explore the play as if it were the first time," he adds.

Re-creating her original role was, Moss admits, "scary before we started rehearsals." "The first experience was so wonderful and unique, I was a little nervous that this time wasn't going to be as good," she says. "But if it's possible, it's so much better. I feel like although I'm not that much older. The further away I get from that period, the more clearly I see it and the better I can play it.

"Franny comes to Greenwich Village to experience real life, and, boy, does she get real life," Moss continues, "and the excitement Franny would get from coming to Greenwich Village from Millbrook, N.Y., is the same excitement I get from coming to the theater and walking onstage and having an audience there. I probably learned just as much doing this play that Franny learns in the play. In a different way."

Next is Deborah Kampmeier's film "Virgin," in which Moss plays a lead character she describes as a "young girl in a conservative religious family who learns how to stick to what she believes in." And she just completed work on a Ron Howard film, "The Missing," a Western set in 1885 that stars Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones.

Nothing else is scheduled just now, Moss says. "I've been back and forth between Washington, D.C., to do 'West Wing,' Santa Fe for 'The Missing,' New York for my boyfriend and here. This is the first time I've been in one place for more than two weeks, and I'm kind of just enjoying that at the moment. It's nice not to live out of a suitcase."

*

'Franny's Way'

Where: Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood

When: Tuesdays-Thursday, 7:30 p.m.; Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 4 and 8:30 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m.

Ends: July 20

Price: $28-$46

Contact: (310) 208-5454

British and American television dominate Rockie awards in Banff

JUDY MONCHUK
Canadian Press

Tuesday, June 10, 2003


BANFF, Alta. (CP) - A journalistic thriller charting the political survival of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who returned to power just 48 hours after a coup, was the big winner Monday at the Banff Television festival.

Chavez - Inside the Coup was the unanimous choice for the $50,000 grand prize at the 24th annual Rockie Awards saluting the best in international television. The Irish/British/German co-production was also honoured as top information and current affairs program. Jury president Trina McQueen praised the documentary for combining energy, pace and remarkable insider footage of the months prior to the government overthrow in April 2002.

"Intelligence, passion and humour illuminates this controversial tale of big oil, international intrigue, class struggle, revolution and ultimately the hopes of people for real democracy," said McQueen.

A seven-member international jury awarded the prize from a field of 83 nominees in 14 categories.

Canada's lone award came in performance programming for Le Mozart Noir - Reviving a Legend, co-produced by the CBC, BBC and TV5 in England.

Made in Canada star Rick Mercer was given the Sir Peter Ustinov award for comedy.

Mercer said he was humbled to win an award that has been won in the past by such well known comedians as the late John Candy and comic genius John Cleese.

"Looking at the list of previous winners, the only way I would normally get into a gathering with them would be as a waiter," he joked. "Then security would show up and I would have to leave."

Mercer said everything he had ever done of consequence and comedy was done at the CBC.

"That's where I want to stay," he said.

Mercer starts a new show on CBC in January called The Rick Mercer Show, in which he goes back to political satire and skewering politicians.

Sopranos creator/writer David Chase was given the Award of Excellence. Chase's much-lauded, ultra-violent mob show has twice won Rockies as best continuing series.

Chase said he was very impressed with the way Canadian audiences embraced the Sopranos.

"You put this on in prime time uncut," he gushed. "I thought that was so brave."

He also praised HBO for taking a chance on the project.

"Instead of having a business that runs on fear they have a business that runs on excitement," Chase said. "It's really a novel thing."

British productions dominated the awards, winning or sharing six categories, while American programs captured five.

Best TV movie went to Britain's Tomorrow La Scalia, a comedy about a group of opera singers who try to revive their lagging careers by staging a production of Sweeney Todd at a maximum security prison.

Daniel Deronda, a British-American co-production, based on George Eliot's historical novel, was top mini-series.

White House drama The West Wing was named best continuing series - winning over edgier HBO programs Oz, Six Feet Under and The Sopranos.

Bryce Zabel, CEO of the Academy of Television, Arts and Sciences, accepted the award on behalf of the show's producers.

"This was an enormously competitive category," he said. "I would like to suggest it has something to do with the writers and the quality of their vision."

Zabel also paid tribute to Aaron Sorkin, who is leaving The West Wing for other ventures. His remarks drew the largest applause of the evening.

HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, developed by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, won best comedy over mainstream American sitcoms including Everybody Loves Raymond and That 70s Show. Canadian audiences have only recently been able to see Curb Your Enthusiasm on cable after it was honoured at the Golden Globe awards.

Japan's Drawing A-Bomb Memories, a powerful documentary which recalls the horrors of the Hiroshima bombing through artwork of the survivors, was best history program. It was also winner of the President's Prize for best high definition entry, which comes with $25,000.

Russia, which has never won at the Rockies, was honoured with two awards. Best children's program went to Spartak and Kalashnikov, a touching story of a boy and his sheepdog, which uses humour to draw attention to the problems of homeless children. Top animation went to About a Fisherman and a Fish.

Sir David Attenborough was honoured for almost 50 years spent as a writer, producer and narrator of nature and wildlife programs.

© Copyright 2003 The Canadian Press

West Wing's speaker not the real deal

Beacon News Online

Who would have thought it?

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, a Republican from right here in Illinois, is now president.

It's true! I saw it happen on TV. Maybe you saw it, too. The president invoked the 25th Amendment, and ceded power to the speaker of the house.

Now, before all you friends and acquaintances of Yorkville's own Denny Hastert deluge the White House with e-mails and phone calls, note that I did NOT say it was Hastert who became President. I said an Illinois Republican who is speaker of the house.

While that sounds tantalizing close to real life, it is actually in the fictional world created by The West Wing, NBC's acclaimed drama about life inside the Beltway. The season-ending episode recently had the speaker taking over as leader of the free world after President Josiah Bartlet's daughter is kidnapped. President Bartlet invoked Section 3 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which allows the president to step down and temporarily hand over the duties of the presidency to the next in line; usually the vice president.

But in West Wing world, the VP just resigned in scandal, and the speaker is next.

As the season ended, people saw dramatic low angle camera shots from the waist down of the Secret Service leading the speaker to the White House. In the final scene, the camera moves upward to reveal the speaker is played by — John Goodman! He accepts the president's transfer order, and ends the scene by telling the president, "You are dismissed."

It was at that point when the show aired a few weeks ago that Brad Hahn, press secretary for the REAL speaker of the house, yelped at the TV.

"Denny would never handle it like that," Hahn said.

Still, Hahn admitted he has gotten many questions from people about the episode, about what Hastert thinks, about whether the television speaker is supposed to be the real life speaker.

Like any drama based on real-life, characters on The West Wing have similarities to real-life characters. Presidential press secretary C.J. Craig obviously has elements of Dee Dee Myers, Bill Clinton's first press secretary, who has served as a consultant for the show.

The entire show, in fact, is built around the way the West Wing worked when Clinton was president. Consequently, the show holds much more favor, it seems, with Democrats than Republicans.

Hahn chuckled when he admitted that as a regular watcher of the show, he probably is a rarity among Republicans. And that includes Denny.

"I doubt he watches it," Hahn said.

Which means Hahn has never heard a word from Hastert about whether he not he likes the way the Hollywood speaker is portrayed.

The West Wing Web site at NBC.com even links with Hastert's Web site, as a reference for people to get more information about the speaker of the house. And with John Goodman now portraying the speaker, they share another similarity besides being Illinois Republicans: their, um, physique. In fact, Hahn said he thinks that reason alone is why some people say the West Wing speaker was designed to mirror the real thing.

"But there was nothing about that character that in any way resembles Denny Hastert," Hahn said. "Denny has made a reputation as a person who gets along with people. That character made people uncomfortable."

Well, Brad, don't feel bad. According to Internet fan sites of The West Wing, fans of the show don't like John Goodman as the speaker, either.

Listen to this comment from one fan: "John Goodman? Get serious. This was a great episode until that happened. If they needed a big arrogant Republican type guy, there are much better choices! Somebody like Brian Dennehy, maybe?"

As Denny already knows from his line of work, everybody's a critic.

06/02/03

They Wonk Hard For the Money

By JOYCE WADLER
The New York Times

The Partnership for Public Service had a dinner to honor PAUL VOLCKER, the former Federal Reserve chairman, and AARON SORKIN and the cast and producers of "The West Wing." And because Mr. Volcker is such a wild man, given to wearing copious bling-bling with his MARC ECKO sweats, and is also about to release his rap CD about monetary policy, we had to stop by.

Check it out: "Volcker create / Higher bank rate / Make us all wait /Till some jobs create / Now the man so cool / Start new school / Get ready streamline / New unemployment line?"

O.K., we made that last part up. We stopped by to see if we could catch up with Mr. Sorkin, the "West Wing" creator and writer, who is leaving the show.

Mr. Sorkin, as so often happens with our little outings, was a no-show at last week's dinner at Cipriani 42nd Street, but we were able to chat with JOHN SPENCER, who plays Leo McGarry, the White House chief of staff. He wore a gold bow tie and vest and was accompanied by an old high school flame who introduced herself as TOOTS MARIANO. It is a finding of Boldface, confirmed by sociologists, that a person of either sex, wearing gold and accompanied by anyone named Toots, is feeling, or about to be feeling, very good about life, and this was our impression of Mr. Spencer. "We're on vacation, blessedly," he said, when asked about the show.

So what will happen with the show now, with a new writer?

"Well, I believe Aaron and Tommy may come back — I hear a rumor — for the first two or three," Mr. Spencer said, referring to TOMMY SCHLAMME, an executive producer, who is also leaving the show. "Which would be great, because it would help in the transition."

("Tommy Schlamme" — Is that a name or what? We hope he comes back, too, because it has just become our favorite Boldface name. Just reciting it on this gray gloomy day makes us feel good.)

So Mr. Sorkin and Mr. Schlamme may really be coming back?

"I hear possibly he may write the first two. I know nothing."

You ever ask ANDREW CARD, the real White House chief of staff, if he watches the show?

"I never asked him. I wouldn't be that presumptuous. I never asked PRESIDENT CLINTON or PRESIDENT BUSH either. I assume from conversations that they have all at least seen it. But you know, we are in entertainment and sometimes, you know, it's rather frivolous to ask people who have the free world resting on their shoulders."

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, the evening's master of ceremonies, seemed disinclined to engage in lengthy conversation, or much of any conversation.

Do you advise on "West Wing," give them pointers? we asked.

"No," Mr. Stephanopoulos said.

Because someone on the staff said he reads your book like a bible for the show.

"I would like everybody to read my book," Mr. Stephanopoulos said.

(TOMMY SCHLAMME, TOMMY SCHLAMME, TOMMY SCHLAMME!!!)

The Manhattan district attorney, ROBERT MORGENTHAU, was very amiable, though he speaks so quietly that we frequently had to ask him to repeat himself. He told us that an employee of someone involved with the party had been subpoenaed by the district attorney's office on a child pornography charge — although of course, he would not say who.

Did Mr. Morgenthau ever go to a party and see someone his office is investigating?

"All the time. It's O.K. as long as they're not sitting next to me," he said. Then, a few minutes later, spotting an art dealer who, with three business associates, has been accused of cheating the government of $26.5 million in unpaid taxes, he said: "I see that LARRY GAGOSIAN is here. But I'm not handling that."

Speeches were made; the names of THEODORE ROOSEVELT and WINSTON CHURCHILL were invoked; TED SORENSON and JERRY NADLER were spotted in the audience. Then DONNA SUMMER and her band came on to provide the evening's entertainment.

"I'm a public person and I work hard, and I want to dedicate this to all you hard-working public people," she said before moving into her hit "She Works Hard for the Money."

She did and the women in the room seemed to love her.

Mr. Volcker looked stoic. The only man in the bunch we saw grinning broadly was Mr. Spencer.

With Campbell Robertson
Lyrics by David Cay Johnston