Mike Nichols 

US 
 

It's hard to believe that it's been some 30 years since Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor spewed verbal abuse at one another in Nichols' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The Academy Award-winning director sees some curious parallels between that, his first film, and his latest. "They both deal with a complicated love affair", Nichols says - unexpectedly. "These are people, in both cases, who love each other in ways that are not immediately clear to other people."  

Set during the early '90s, Primary Colors is told from the perspective of Henry Burton (Adrian Lester), an idealistic young black man who, reluctantly and then later enthusiastically, becomes part of the entourage surrounding Jack Stanton (John Travolta), a governor of an unnamed Southern state who is running for President. As one of Stanton's key advisers, he is privy to the secrets behind the candidate, which include womanising, dissembling and outright lying. Nichols, who emigrated to the US from Nazi Germany in 1939, was immediately drawn to this tale of American politics and media intrusiveness. "I thought it was a great story, as well as a great way into some questions about our actual lives at the moment in our political process." 

Stanton was originally to be played by Tom Hanks, but in the end, Nichols turned to John Travolta. "I immediately knew that he was the guy for it, because he DOES have enormous charisma as well as great concern for and connection with, people." Emma Thompson may not have seemed an obvious choice for the icily ambitious would-be First Lady, but she was first on Nichols' list. "She has a unique combination of characteristics, her high intelligence, goodness, wit and her beauty. She just seemed the ideal person for the part." 

Nichols acknowledges that if it not been for the spate of Clinton scandals, Primary Colors would have been differently perceived. "I think it would have been somewhat less startling, but not a great deal. It's still concerning itself with things that are very much woven into the fibre of our national consciousness, and the events that accompany it. It was just eerily close to things that have been happening over the past months." 

Despite the film's immediate political interest, Nichols insists that Primary Colors also deals with broader issues of celebrity and media intrusiveness. "We all know that something has happened. On the one hand, metaphor has moved sideways from fiction to real life, starting with the Bobbits through OJ, Princess Diana and now Clinton. Metaphor is such a strong part of these public events, the rise of scandal and the headlines, I think that everybody is wondering how we get the toothpaste back in the tube. Decisions like the one which had the judge throw out the Paula Jones case, will help clean up some of the toothpaste." And on that very timely decision, the director is delighted with the outcome. "I felt such enormous relief and pleasure, that maybe now everybody can get back to work and drop this nonsense." 

Nichols points out that the American public is ambivalent about the controversy dogging the Clinton presidency. "The polls tell us that a huge majority of Americans wish that the media could leave the President alone and let him have the private life that we all do, but that same public runs up the ratings on the sleazy TV. shows. " 

There were rumours that Clinton pressured Nichols to tone down his film. Totally false, says its director. "But there's nothing you can do about it. After I was through being pissed (off), I thought for some time, 'Remember this when you read a newspaper or watch TV; don't forget this is horseshit.' I had hoped that when people saw the movie, it would slow down and maybe stop. I hoped that the movie clarified this. Maureen Dowd (New York Times) wrote a whole column when the movie wasn't even cut together. She already had an opinion. In fact, I wanted it [the movie] to be balanced. We worked very hard on its being balanced."  Paul Fischer.