Despite only donating to Democrats in the past, the director and writers of the new HBO film “Game Change” say that the movie is a fair and accurate portrayal of Sarah Palin and John McCain’s campaign for the White House.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the cast and executives of “Game Change” have donated over $200,000 to Democrats and none to Republicans.
“I think there’s an unfortunate tendency in politics to smear the messenger even when the message is true and I understand why because no candidate wants to re-experience a process where not only their strengths but also their weaknesses are exposed again,” director Jay Roach told TheDC.
“So, I’m respectful of the opinion but I also respectfully reject the idea that we had some agenda other than just telling the best story and as authentic a story as we possible could.”
Writer Danny Strong said this did not affect the film’s accuracy and that “Game Change” is actually “sympathetic” to Palin.
“It’s true that a lot of us are Democrats but that doesn’t make us unable to be fair and unable to be accurate,” he told TheDC.
“I think the film is non-partisan. I don’t think this is a partisan story how we tell it.”
Mark Halperin, co-author of the book “Game Change,” told TheDC that he “wouldn’t have been involved with a project that was partisan in its motivation or execution.”
While some Republicans and Palin herself have criticized the film’s interpretation of the GOP Vice Presidential nominee, Halperin called the film the most accurate and “favorable” portrayal of Palin to date.
“There wasn’t a single discussion I was in involved in and I was involved in plenty where partisanship or a political agenda played any role whatsoever and if it had I wouldn’t have been involved with it,” he said.
“There was never anyone with a slightest hint of a motivation to make it something that would be partisan…The film is, I think, in addition to being accurate, one of the most favorable portrayals of Governor Palin that has been done in the mainstream.”
McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, has said he will not watch the film because it is “based on a book that’s totally unfair and untrue, especially to Sarah Palin.”
He added, “She’s a good and decent person, and this continuing maligning of her by the liberal left is reprehensible to me.”