From a wire worker to a vice president, he married a good wife

Duane 2021-12-02 08:01:26

Cheneyism is private, and it carries the risk of launching a huge and corresponding government project before anyone realizes what the United States has promised to do. Trumpism is politics. Cheneyism is the government. Cheneyism is even more terrifying.

The last paragraph of "The New Yorker"'s latest film review on "Vice President" reads as follows: Trumpism is public and carries the risk of reawakening the hateful public sentiment that has temporarily calmed down; Cheneyism is private , The risk it brings is that before anyone realizes what the United States has promised to do, a huge and corresponding government project is launched. Trumpism is politics. Cheneyism is the government. Cheneyism is even more terrifying.

"Vice President" stills

In 2016, due to Adam McKay's "Big Short" nominated for Best Screenplay Oscar, he fell in the gym when he was frantically promoting the film, and he caught up with the strongest one of that year. With flu, the fifty-year-old thought he was going to see God.

"I'm a comedy guy, I don't run road shows very much! I ran for months for "Big Short"! Whose body can resist it?"

McKay decided to rest at home for a while, when he met an autobiography on the shelf.

An autobiography of Dick Cheney.

With his performance in "Three Billboards", Sam Rockwell, who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, played the role of President Bush Jr.

Dick Cheney is a very interesting role in American politics. Experts call him the true initiator of the Iraq War; media reported that he killed a lawyer in hunting for personal vengeance; American media called him the president’s "dark warrior" -The big villain in "Star Wars".

But watching his previous videos, you will find that he is a very gentle vice president, always standing silently behind President Bush, maintaining a calm expression. After retiring, he talked about his youth working experience in the White House. , I recalled President Bush, with respect and peace on his face, and talked about President Bush Jr., very calm.

McKay was completely in the pit. He realized that the vice president might have had the supreme power, and he had obtained more power than people imagined. Mackay started his research, and the more he researched, the more interesting he found the whole thing——

"I wanted to find some of his mistakes, but I couldn't find it at all, so I was more interested in him." McKay said in a later interview, "None of us can really understand how much he has in Washington. that power."

McKay recruited "Dark Knight" Christian Bell to play "Dark Knight" Dick Cheney; at the same time, Amy Adams played Cheney's wife Lynn Cheney

McKay's illness gradually improved, and he had the idea of ​​making a movie about the vice president.

However, Dick Cheney seemed to have foreseen that one day he would be made into a movie—possibly, he would still be a negative character in this movie. His autobiography rarely talked about himself, which made McKay unable to proceed. "Cheney is like a chameleon! He did everything he could to prevent a movie about him from appearing in the future."

In order to learn more about Dick Cheney, McKay hired a reporter to interview everyone related to Dick Cheney, including neighbors, classmates, playmates who grew up, residents of a town, etc. Fortunately , Dick Cheney’s wife, Lynn Cheney, is a writer who wrote many stories about herself and her husband, which became an important source of information for McKay.

To tell the story of Dick Cheney, we must first start with the love story between him and his wife Lynn Cheney.

"In their (Dick Cheney and Lynn Cheney) hometown, people still say that no matter who she (Lynn) marries, her husband will become the President or Vice President of the United States."

Lynn is such a strong woman.

"When I realized that the foundation of this movie might be a love story, I suddenly figured out how the story would go."

In 1963, when the indisputable Dick Cheney was still smoking and drinking, his high school sweetheart Lynn had already entered Colorado State College with super high grades, and also helped Dick into Yale. Of course, throwing a scumbag into the pile of tyrants was doomed to tragedy, and Dick was expelled in the first year. Linn did not abandon him, and was still with him. After graduation, Linn continued his studies and obtained a master of arts and a doctorate of philosophy along the way.

At the same time, Dick was in front of a wire worker who often drank and got into trouble. When Lynn got him out of the police station again, Dick wanted to make a fool of himself and apologize, "I'm sorry, Linni (Lynn's nickname)."

"Sorry? The first time I was sorry, the second time, I think I might have chosen the wrong person. You have been fired by Yale for drinking and fighting. You are now a drunk who pulls wires. You plan to live all the time. In the trailer, do we have 4 children? That’s how you planned it? Well, this is my plan, listen, unless you can cheer up, gather courage and make a difference, or I will leave you I know that a dozen boys and a few professors want to date me. "

Dick can only say, "I love you, Linni."

"Then prove it to me."

Lynn looked at Dick with tears in her eyes but firmness and determination: "I can't go to an Ivy League school, I can't manage a company, or be a mayor. The world is so unfair to a girl, so I need you, but you are a useless big waste now. I have seen my mom wait for my dad to come home all night, I have seen my dad come home drunk and yelling, even worse, I don’t It’s going to repeat the same mistakes, I won’t. Can you change it? Otherwise I’m wasting time."

So, in just a few years, Dick Cheney, a wire worker, sat in the White House, the center of American power, and became an intern, working under Donald Rumsfeld, a consultant to the Bureau of Economic Opportunity. Since then, Dick has come to the periphery of power, also here, he gradually gained trust and skyrocketed.

Lynn became Dick's arm. She was funny, wise, brave and determined, and everyone liked her.

"Vice President" stills

"Many of the lines in this movie are true quotes. We don't want this movie to be too emotional, so there are very few episodes like Dick's roar."

Therefore, all the communication between the couple, Lynn and Dick, has been carefully designed. Especially in one scene, the two of them discussed before going to bed whether Dick would accept Bush’s invitation and return to politics as a candidate for the vice president. Lynn hoped that Dick would give up the invitation, but Dick hoped that Lynn would give up the invitation. Support yourself.

The voice-over lines tell us that we can't guess what they said at the time, and we also use monologues to reflect the psychological activities of the characters as in Shakespeare's plays.

Soon after, Lynn and Dick slept, and Lynn began to quote lines from Shakespeare’s plays in large amounts--

Lynn: " Your keen mind has been dancing in the King's Court for a long time. I have never been satisfied, and I have been infatuated, like the dry abyss, thirsting for the water of nothingness. And now, I have a word to say, rest. Come, rest! Yu Guo, Yu wife, you have done your vows. "

Dick: " My beloved wife, did the decline of the naked eye take away your vision? The union of you and me, the banner is about agreements and oaths? You use the flame of life to help me find the long-lost empire of glory, and now , I will hold high the fiery love, you and me, will eventually become a testimony of power. "

Speaking of this, Lynn completely stood on Dick’s side and helped him return to politics. The husband and wife joined hands again, opening a new peak in Dick’s political career and the peak of his power—it is also the trend of the world’s current wave. The starting point of the treacherous cloud.

"Vice President" stills

Power is also the core theme of the movie "Vice President".

In the movie, when Nixon and Kissinger discussed the secrets of bombing Cambodia, Rumsfeld revealed to Dick for the first time that when the president could start a war without the consent of Congress, Dick asked Rumsfeld, "We believe in What?" The other party looked at him and suddenly laughed wildly. That sardonic smile made Dick seem to understand something.

"The core of Dick Cheney's story is the impact of power, how it affects a person, a family. We rarely talk about the impact of power on people's hearts in the past."

Adam McKay, who was deeply influenced by the films of the 1970s, believes that the films of that era used superb narrative skills to express the political situation and government power in the United States. "Presidential Team", "Parallax", "72 Hours of the Condor", "TV Station" and other movies that are highly linked to American politics are all sources of inspiration for him.

"Is there anything in English words that is more boring than the word bureaucracy? The narrative style of "Big Short" is actually very powerful, and I hope it will continue to "Vice President." Cheney has the word boring on his face, he He is a bureaucratic genius. Many of his powers and strategies are carried out quietly, and we can't even notice. Cheney needs to understand how the government works better than many politicians in the White House."

McKay switched the narrative style of Dick Cheney's life story back and forth, which may have something to do with the avant-garde improvisation master Del Claus in the 1990s.

McKay once recalled in an interview that he learned a new term "deconstruction" from Klaus-"You start with a very good play and describe a world with nuanced characters. Then, you have to What I did was to completely disintegrate the scene: extract the fragments, flashbacks, exaggerate the character of the characters, and so on. "

Mackay does not believe that the traditional type can continue to be successful today.

Therefore, McKay put politics, love, feminism, American history and other elements in the movie "Vice President", " What people want is a multi-layered story, and they want you to surprise them. "

In the film, McKay tried various narrative methods, interspersed with various timelines. He turned the love story of Dick Cheney and Lynn and their family story into one clue, and turned Dick Cheney’s political career in the White House and his increasing political power into another clue, turning this " The life stage of the "quiet" vice president combined with a major turning point in American history-finally presented the multiple faces of the "real power" who stood behind President Bush after 9/11 and during the Iraq War.

"Vice President" stills

"I only present the situation."

"Vice President" is indeed a movie that jumps between various situations.

The video of the U.S. Secretary of State’s declaration of war on Iraq was still playing the first second. The next second was Dick and his family sitting in a quiet countryside for a meal and chatting. The national televised speech stated that the United States is going to rescue the Iraqi people for peace and justice. The next scene is that Iraqi citizens are avoiding death in horror.

In the middle, when Cheney retired from politics, became a consultant for an oil company, and made a lot of money, he was enjoying the family fun at his home in the country, talking about the "American Idol" program, and watching it with Lynn every day. Let the children grow up happily——

Here, the subtitles are actually rolled-the end of the whole play.

" When I wrote this, I immediately had the idea that this movie can be over! He (Dick) has a great job, his wife is writing a book, and his family is very happy. "

Of course, this is an interlude in the middle. In this way, McKay showed the watershed in Cheney’s life, and thus highlighted the importance of his decision to return to politics as Vice President Bush Jr.

Prior to this, McKay also filmed a whole episode of the process of meeting and falling in love between Dick and Lynn since childhood. However, when he edited this clip into the movie, he found that the tonality was completely different. In the end, he decided to cut this clip into a separate black and white short film and put it on the Blu-ray disc.

"Vice President" stills

Since Trump came to power, the political situation in the United States has become even more frantic. At this time, when filming "Vice President", McKay also has his deep meaning.

"I have always cared about the history of our country, how our government works, and those corrupt, crazy stories. I want to discuss these topics more publicly rather than just hiding them under the cloak of comedy. It’s an angle to jokingly satirize politics, but as if the roof has collapsed, once the load-bearing beams of your house start to fall on you, it’s really time to'well, it's time to be more explicit.'"

McKay said in an interview that "Vice President" is not just about the life story of Dick Cheney, the vice president. It is a movie about how the Republican Party rises, and the ultimate consequence is for the U.S. government. A huge irony.

"No one of us now believes that the government can solve any problems, and the government really can't solve any problems."

When McKay was interviewed, it coincided with President Trump shutting down the US government.

"We rarely talk about power now. The last time we talked about power, we were talking about Hitler and Stalin."

McKay wrote at the end of the movie:

In the Iraq War, 4,550 American soldiers were killed and the casualties exceeded 32,325. Since 2001, the suicide rate among U.S. military personnel has increased by 31%.
As a result of the war, more than 600,000 Iraqi civilians were killed.
The Bush-Cheney White House claimed to have lost 22 million emails, including millions of emails written before the Iraq War. The memorandum on torture and undocumented supervision gave the president almost unlimited power under the unified execution theory.

This article was originally published in "Movie" magazine, author Cheng Cheng, public account: dianying2001

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Extended Reading
  • Chaim 2022-04-23 07:02:00

    A biographical film with a clear stand. Cheney is very Republican, America comes first, America is invincible, and America is hegemonic, and his loyalty and tenderness to his family show the spirit of protecting the calf and his political philosophy. In fact, ZZ has nothing to do with justice and evil. In the end, it is just the most influential and subversive reality show. Behind the lofty words, is the brightest stage and the most stylish appearance.

  • Miller 2022-03-25 09:01:08

    Four-star acting, three-star script, two-star editing

Vice quotes

  • Paul Wolfowitz: Who wants to be an anonymous source?

    Douglas Feith: Make sure you work in the phrase, "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud." That focus-grouped through the roof.

  • Colin Powell: [storming towards his Chief of Staff] Larry, have you seen this speech?

    Lawrence Wilkerson: Yes, sir. It's bone-thin. I saw at least five pieces of disproved intel in there.

    Colin Powell: Who wrote it?

    Lawrence Wilkerson: They said it was the president, but I think you can guess who really wrote it.