HBO has made a name for itself for not only delivering strong original content like “The Sopranos” but deeply biased documentaries like “Reagan.”
Now, HBO’s main competitor Showtime is backing a new documentary on Vice President Dick Cheney. The channel hired R.J. Cutler, the producer behind the pro-Clinton documentary “The War Room,” to give us a new look at President George W. Bush’s vice president and confidante.
Tentatively titled, “The World According to Dick Cheney,” the film will take a look at one of the most powerful vice presidents in history. Here’s director R.J. Cutler’s take on the upcoming film from a Showtime press release:
Like it or not, we live in a world defined by the domestic and international vision of Dick Cheney — perhaps the single-most influential non-Presidential figure in American political history,” said Cutler. “But for all the debate that his re-emergence in the public eye has caused, the fact is that Cheney the man remains an enigma, and the manner in which he utilized his power and experience to become such a dominating political figure, have been left largely unexplored. This documentary will shine a balanced and multi-dimensional light on this truly polarizing figure.
Will “The World According to Dick Cheney” be a fair representation of the veteran political figure? We’ll have to wait and see, but consider this snippet from a piece Cutler wrote about how “The War Room” got such unfettered access to Clinton’s campaign.
Our final hurdle was going down to Little Rock to get James [Carville] on board. We sat with him and told him what we wanted to do, and he said, “I get it, I totally understand. But you have to understand that the only thing that matters in my life is getting Bill Clinton elected president. Anything else is a distraction. Why would I possibly want to do it?”
I thought I knew the answer to James’s question: You’ve got to do it for history; you’ve got to do it so that people can see how amazing you are; you’ve got to do it because you’re about the change the world.
No official air date has been announced, but if the film takes a decidedly anti-Cheney stance don’t be surprised if it hits small screens close to the Nov. 2012 elections.