Al Gore, Leading Man? Gore Stars In Global Warming Documentary

[KittyWampus]

Warmer Al Gore finds a new stump
*Former vice president asserts his global warming warnings in a documentary.
By Tina Daunt, Times Staff Writer

Al Gore, leading man?

To borrow a cliché from the Hollywood marketing playbook, the new global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" stars the former vice president as you've never seen him before.

Al Gore wheeling his own suitcase through airports, taking off his shoes and emptying his pockets at security. Al Gore firing up crowds with his one-man PowerPoint presentation show on arctic melt rates, devastating heat waves and dangerous changes in ocean currents. Al Gore cracking jokes, reflecting candidly on his own foibles.

The failed presidential candidate doesn't immediately come to mind as the kind of charismatic star Hollywood might turn to to dramatize a pet cause. But his quest caught the attention of a group of filmmakers — among them "Pulp Fiction" producer Lawrence Bender — who have translated it to the screen in a documentary slated to premiere Tuesday at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

Although the 90-minute documentary might not sell out the multiplexes, the screening has sold out at Sundance and Gore's appearances around the country are drawing throngs. Last week at Vanderbilt University in Gore's hometown of Nashville, 1,100 people filled a large auditorium, with 300 turned away by fire marshals.

Gore was loose and funny. "I used to be the next president of the United States," he told the audience, drawing a roar of laughter.

"I don't find that to be very funny," he deadpanned. "I'm a recovering politician."

Afterward he was mobbed, like a rock star.

In short, Gore has seemingly lost the stiffness that was the hallmark of his vice presidency and White House run as he traipses from campus to campus and country to country spreading a serious message: Unless we stop our polluting ways, we're doomed.

Article goes on to talk about how Gore got involved in making the movie. Very interesting, must read.

http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/cl-et-gore18jan18,0,883893.story

[hatrack]

1. Thanks for the heads-up on this

Sounds like an interesting movie!

:toast:

[KittyWampus]

2. Here's a little bit more info

As for appearing more personable in the documentary, Feldman said: "The world of politics can really distort a person's public persona. And that is especially true in a presidential campaign. There are real limitations to how much anyone can convey through the prism of the press. Perhaps one of the things that the film will accomplish is to give people a more unfiltered glimpse of this man, and through him, some insight into a very important issue."

Global warming has been a passion of Gore's since he was a student a Harvard University, where one of his professors warned in the 1970s that carbon dioxide would have a devastating effect on the Earth's environment.

"This is an issue like no other," he told the students at Vanderbilt.

After losing the presidential election six years ago, Gore pulled together a nonpartisan slide show on the effects of global warming and took it on the road, making hundreds of appearances since then at universities and colleges, and for lawmakers, environmentalists and anyone else who will listen.

Early last year, longtime environmentalist Laurie David, wife of "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David, saw the presentation and was impressed. She asked Gore to hold forums in Los Angeles and New York. She invited like-minded activists, including Bender. Bender and Laurie David said they were so moved by the message that they agreed to make a movie based on Gore's work.

"I said to Laurie, 'This has to be done on a mass scale, it's too important,' " Bender said. "I thought it could be an amazing feature film."

They quickly pulled together a team of filmmakers, including director Davis Guggenheim (with many television credits, including episodes of "NYPD Blue"), advertising guru Scott Burns (the creative force behind the "Got Milk?" commercials) and Lesley Chilcott (a line producer known for keeping projects on track).

They met Gore at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco in May to pitch the idea for a documentary.

"We were really nervous," Bender said. Burns said that if Gore rejected their request, he planned to argue that a film could help reach more people: "Either make a movie or do the presentation 450-million times."

It didn't take much convincing.

[KittyWampus]

3. kick

[bryant69]

4. HE appeared twice on Futurama

The commentaries for those episodes on the DVDs said he was very funny in person (his performances were quite good in my mind). "I can tell you we aren't. The universe."

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com