There are other movies hitting theaters today, including the movie “The Front Runner.” It’s about a national sex scandal that started here in Miami. Shocker! The stars are telling Deco about the story that first broke in the Miami Herald.
In “The Front Runner,” Hugh Jackman is golden boy Gary Hart.
The Colorado senator was on a path to the Democratic nomination before the 1988 presidential election.
But hart fell from frontrunner to flop — and fast.
The Miami Herald cracked the story of Hart’s affair with a South Florida woman named Donna Rice on a boat called Monkey Business.
Hugh Jackman: “This role, I would say is the biggest responsibility I have ever had. I’ve never played someone who is alive, who I know and call a friend, while depicting possibly the worst three weeks of this person’s life.”
Hugh sees past all that and focuses on Gary Hart’s vision.
Hugh Jackman: “Gary could see into the future for many, many things. He saw the end of the Cold War before anyone else did. He saw what would happen in the Middle East before anyone else did. The thing he didn’t see was the way the press would report politics.”
Hart’s campaign manager played by J.K. Simmons tries to get his candidate through the rough water.
J.K. Simmons: “At it’s core, it’s a story of human frailty and what people do to themselves and each other.”
The Gary Hart scandal lasted just a few weeks, but 30 years later, we are still learning about it.
J.K. Simmons: “I think maybe I learned as much about Donna Rice as I did about Gary Hart.”
Seeing the media digging for dirt on politicians seems kind of normal now, but it was the Gary Hart scandal that made it common.
Hugh Jackman: “It really gives you a sense of, ‘Oh, this was a big turning point,’ ‘Oh, now I understand why the press and politicians are the way they are.'”
Vera Farmiga (as Lee Hart): “Go on Gary. Say it.”
Hugh Jackman (as Gary Hart): “There is going to be a story tomorrow about me.”
“The Front Runner” is in theaters now.
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