'I'm not Going to be More Political. I'm Interested in These Characters'

As Christian Toto writes, “I’ll have what Doug Liman’s having:”

You gotta give credit to Fair Game director Doug Liman. He can keep a straight face while giving some pretty incredulous quotes to the press.

Consider this interview snippet from a Q&A over at Movieline.com regarding the political context of his new movie, a look at the Valerie Plame affair:

I let the politics go. Some of my producers who are more liberal than I am said, “Let’s be more political.” I said, “I’m not going to be more political. I’m interested in these characters, and I’m interested in the politics as we know them to be facts. I’m not going to go after people just because I don’t like them — or because somewhere in my gut I feel they’re guilty even though I don’t actually have any facts to back it up.”’

Those who have seen “Fair Game” realize this is poppycock.

The film has an overt political agenda, making Valerie Plame and hubby Joseph Wilson into heroes – if not applicants for sainthood — and the Bush administration into the real Evil Empire.

Isn’t a phrase like “I let the politics go” — particularly in a project that’s so overtly political in the first place — the Hollywood equivalent of “I’m not in it for the money?”

Related: And starring Sean Penn as Humphrey Bogart.