Writer/director of Palin movie talks about film’s Cinderella story

Matt K. Lewis Senior Contributor
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Stephen Bannon, writer and director of The Undefeated, a new documentary about Sarah Palin, has a message for the haters. “This woman is not a victim at all,” he insisted during our recent conversation (listen here).

The Undefeated, which shares a title with the 1969 John Wayne film, tells the story of Palin’s rise from Alaskan anonymity to political fame. “The story is a story of a person’s rise from obscurity with no connections,” Bannon said. “She’s like 99.999 percent of the American people.”

According to Bannon, this film challenges the preconceived notions many Americans hold about Palin.  “There’s a very interesting leader here that people have dismissed as kind of a flake or a kook or a Caribou Barbie or a hockey mom with lipstick,” said Bannon.  But, he insisted, “This is a person of substance,” calling Palin a “a very serious, not just leader, but political leader.”

Although Bannon typically limits his film to 80 minutes, this film runs two hours long to fully capture Palin’s journey.  “I don’t think you get the cathartic experience … of the convention speech unless you’ve seen everything she’s struggled [with] and gone against,” he said. “You realize that in the convention speech she’s actually talking about herself in a very deep way.”

Despite those who have dismissed Palin, Bannon is confident that this film will open people’s eyes about her. “If you show them something and respect their intelligence … they’ll respond to it,” he said.

Bannon has written and directed films such as Battle For America, Fire from the Heartland, Generation Zero, and In the Face of Evil. Listen our full conversation here. Or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.

Matt K. Lewis