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March 28, 2005
Smits holds big lead in "West Wing" race
By Joanne Ostrow
Denver Post
NBC's revitalized "The West Wing" is building toward a showdown. The sixth season concludes April 5 with a chaotic mess of a political convention. Wouldn't you know it's the Democrats who are in disarray while the Republicans have their presumptive presidential nominee ready to campaign?
Alan Alda makes the GOP's case as Sen. Arnold Vinick, a candidate whose stance on religion lately has been a flash point.
Arrayed on the other side are Jimmy Smits, Gary Cole and Tim Matheson, as, respectively, Texas Congressman Matt Santos, Vice President Bob Russell ("Bingo Bob" from Colorado) and John Hoynes - the former vice president who resigned in a sex scandal. Each is vying for the Democratic nomination to succeed
President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen).
A poll of "The West Wing" viewers by Zogby International found Smits' Santos has the support of three-fourths of his party. Beyond that, he holds a 16-point lead over Alda's Vinick.
"I'm flattered," Smits told a telephone press conference this week, but as this year's election demonstrated, "we can only put so much credence into the polls."
Smits claims he doesn't know what the future holds for his character but promises all the current key players will be back "in some form or another" next season.
He has an open-ended development deal at ABC that kicks in following his "The West Wing" work. "I'm so lucky to be on a show that has something to say about what's going on in the world," he said. "It's really been a civics lesson for me in a lot of ways."
At the same time, Smits is about to appear as another politician, one whose constituents are out of this world. In the upcoming "Star Wars" film ("Revenge of the Sith"), he reprises the role of Sen. Bail Organa. Aficionados know Organa as the First Chairman and Viceroy of Alderaan, a fancier-sounding political title than "congressman," to be sure.
The politics depicted in "Star Wars" has "a lot more gravitas to it," he said, The decorum is "akin to the Founding Fathers with the wigs and stuff, in its futuristic way." By contrast, "West Wing" is "quick," he said. "The idea is, let the audience keep up with us."
Smits credits Raul Julia and James Earl Jones as the actors who most influenced him in his career. It was "their ethnicity, the ability to break barriers that gave this young actor permission to aspire."
His standing as a minority was something he and "West Wing" creator John Wells discussed when devising the current story arc.
Apparently, the two agreed that television might be a powerful force in reflecting or even fostering the country's readiness to see a minority candidate aim for the highest office.
As a longtime activist in Hispanic causes, Smits said the numbers and the current slate of Hispanic politicians nationally argue in favor of a prominent minority candidate emerging, and soon.
"I don't see a problem with that kind of transition happening in this country." Inevitably Hispanics, African-Americans and women are gaining top positions, he said. "We will probably see a woman candidate in the next major election aspire to a higher office," he said.
For now, Smits, a Democrat, attempts to keep his real politics and his Hollywood make-believe politics separate.
That can be a challenge. Even critics ask the actor about topics that would be more appropriately addressed to real-life congressmen - or at least to the "West Wing" writers. Asked how his character might have handled the case of Terry Schiavo, the Florida woman who is a lightning rod in the right-to-die debate, Smits demurred: "I don't have an opinion about that."
Is it bizarre to be treated as an expert just because he delivers lines from a script?
"It is very strange, but not unusual in terms of what I do. People talked to me like I was a cop before (during "NYPD Blue"), or about legal things (during "L.A. Law"). It comes with the territory."
Posted by Jo at March 28, 2005 09:20 AM