Surprise, surprise. A number of Hollywood folks are coming out these days as, well, not-necessarily-knee-jerk-Bush-bashers. And the most eloquent of them, to me, has been Jon Voight.
Now screenwriters have their prejudices against actors – and I’ve certainly been guilty of them on occasion. Truth to tell, we’re jealous. In the Hollywood pecking order they have all the power. Hardly anyone goes to see a Roger Simon movie and not that many even go to see a Robert Towne movie. So among ourselves we writers like to disparage actors as pretty boys who mouth our words, etc., etc.
Well, I want to say right now neither I nor any other writer I know wrote Jon Voight’s words for his speech at a Washington Republican fundraiser earlier this week and many of those words are pretty smashing – and, of course, superbly delivered. He speaks directly from the heart: “I will try to get as many of my Hollywood peers to join me in helping put the Republicans back in the White House. And I will continue to fight to protect the truth of our Constitution. I will never be silent and no one can threaten me in any way or stop me from speaking what I know and believe to be the truth. There are lots of people in show business who believe what I believe.” (video here).
I’d also like to say something about Jon the man: I had only brushed up against him on a couple of distant occasions until my recent avatar. Now we have been together a few times, including for several days at the Durban II conference in Geneva, when we were both face-to-face with Ahmadinejad. Putting it simply: Voight is precisely the kind of person you would like to have with you in a foxhole. And I’m lucky – because, in a large sense, he already is.
(MORE: Interesting interview with Voight in the Washington Times here.)
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