James Cameron and Rob Reiner have little in common on the surface.
The directors traffic in wildly different fare. Cameron made his name with gut-check action movies like “The Terminator” and “Aliens.” Reiner’s best features touch on the human condition -and the funny bone – as in “Stand by Me” and “The Sure Thing.”
But they both share a left of center ideology, hardly breaking news in Hollywood circles.
It’s how they handle their ideological peers that sets them further apart. And it’s hardly flattering to Cameron.
Reiner is currently promoting “Flipped,” his latest coming of age yarn which, some say, is a throwback to his best directorial efforts. And to chat up the movie he’s going on conservative talk shows hosted by the likes of Hugh Hewitt and Mike Gallagher.
Those talkers don’t see eye-to-eye with Reiner, to be blunt, but the director was man enough to engage them in friendly debate and savvy enough to know the show’s huge audiences could be compelled to see his new film as a result. I heard parts of both interviews and enjoyed both the give and take and the respect offered up by all parties.
Cameron isn’t as friendly to his ideological foes. He calls those who disagree with him on global warming “swine” … and worse.
And, recently, when he was challenged to debate right-minded folks on the subject he chickened out.
Both Cameron and Reiner have made great movies, although Cameron has a slight artistic edge in my book. But forgive me for respecting Reiner a bit more these days.
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
No matter what anyone’s political leanings, it is always bad form (and bad business) for directors, writers and actors to P.O. half their potential audience by “waxing poetic” about their view of the world as presented by MSNBC.
Agreed, Mike B.
Looks like I’m breaking out my copy of “Princess Bride” this weekend in celebration of my new found respect for Rob.
What I find mind boggling is that the attitude of most of the Hollywood elitists on the left seems to be: “We only want fans who believe what we believe.”
When they come out so vehemently for their leftist causes, as in Cameron’s case, and insult those who don’t believe the same, that is the only logical conclusion.
Recently one of my all time favorite recording groups (which will remain nameless) came out vehemently against the Arizona Immigration law, in effect saying, if you don’t believe this law is bad we don’t need you as a fan.
And the fans obliged. Their Facebook fans were disappearing at what should’ve been, to them, an alarming rate. The comments on their page also reflected the national polls as well, with around 70% siding with Arizona. I didn’t comment, I just dropped the page from my list.
So with Hollywood in the end it’s not about the money for most, it’s about ideology. Kudos to Reiner for not insulting those who disagree with him. (I’d hate to have to stop watching “Princess Bride”!)
Reiner’s politics marred “The American President”. But if he can sit down with conservative talkers and be civil, even polite, I respect that.
Frankly, I don’t see Cameron as a liberal. I see his rainforest hystericals and anti-Bush rants in the league with… gosh, Jay Leno collects cars, Travolta is a Scientology head, Jackie Gleason was an UFO type, Frank Sinatra had toy trains, and so on and so forth — rather an expensive whim.
Meathead is something else – he’s really into liberal politics, from dope to gay marriage (hasn’t he persuaded Olson to join the lawsuit against prop 8?)
I don’t remember hearing about Cameron going for $ 35.000 dinners for Clinton or Obama – while Reiner is a total addict at throwing money for those kind of junkets -
And as filmmakers, Cameron certainly is huge technical figure, but his movies are not to be discussed under art’s shine – while Reiner, is an agreeable light-weight, again not to be discussed under art’s shine -
If only left-leaning sites had the same kind of respect for Cyrus Nowrasteh. Excellent column, Christian, and kudos to Reiner for manning up!
However, considering Reiner ran neck-and-neck with Scorsese and Tim Burton as my fave 80s/early 90s directors, when both had perfect runs (yes, I like Last Temptation and North), with all due respect to Terminator and Aliens, I’d give the artistic nod to Reiner over Mr. Cameron. As good as some of movies pre-Avatar were, ever since The Abyss I think he’d be better served by chopping 20-30 minutes of his run-times.
Oh, thanks for mentioning the severely underrated Sure Thing, our generation’s It Happened One Night.
Well, I don’t know that Reiner is less of a coward, he’s just a whole lot smarter. I’m not going to see his movies either…it would be like voting for a Rino. He’s trying to tap into conservative wallets and we need to say “No”…not until things change in Hollywood. I’m not saying his movies are bad, I really enjoy his movies, even with their leftist slant. But, until our republic is fully restored, all of my extra money is going to convservative candidate campaigns.
Best regards,
Gail S
http://www.backyardfence.wordpress.com
You forgot to mention my favorite Reiner film, When Harry Met Sally.
I think it’s a little easier to forgive Reiner for his liberalism because he basically came into the public’s consciousness playing America’s most famous liberal (of infamous, depending on your view) on “All In the Family”. Mike Stivic actually turning out to be a liberal isn’t a shock to the system in the way that others like Cameron ‘coming out’ with their beliefs are, and — as noted — Reiner doesn’t fall either into the Cameron/Al Gore category of being unwilling to be challenged on their beliefs, or into the Oliver Stone/Danny Glover/Sean Penn area of having beliefs that are so anti-American they make it impossible to watch any of their performances/productions without thinking about their personal ideology.
If you can’t respect those who disagree with you, who can you respect? Kudos to Reiner for being man enough to sit down and talk. Both sides of the political spectrum can learn a lot from men like him, liberal and conservative.
If everyone had his attitude – that people are above politics – we would see a lot more solutions to our problems.
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Thumbs up to Reiner. I respect anyone that is willing to stand up for what they believe in in mixed company and remain gracious during the proceedings.
I would compare Mr. Cameron to Richard Wagner, a creative genius, but not so nice a person.
When looking at people like Cameron and Reiner from the right, there doesn’t appear to be much different.
But as a former lefty, when you view them from the left, they are quite different.
Cameron is in it purely for the publicity, that’s obvious. Reiner is a true believer. And while I completely disagree with pretty much everything he stands for, I can at least respect the fact that he’s in the fight for what he believes, not what he can gain.
Good for Rob Reiner. I heard him interviewed by Dennis Miller. While I don’t agree with him, he seemed a reasonable and fair individual. I’ll gladly see his movies, but I won’t drop a dime on Cameron.
Well at least Reiner isn’t a chicken!
Reiner is, like his father, a genius at understanding people. His films are part of the American story. His political beliefs are his own business.