Main Cast: Tom Selleck, Laura Linney, Nancy Travis, Teri Hatcher, Bob Gunton, Bruce McGill, Faye Dunaway
Release Year: 2000
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
Tom Selleck stretches his dramatic range by playing a liberal Democrat in this comedy-drama satirizing the underside of party politics. Governor James Pryce (Tom Selleck) is a well-respected politician with a strong reformist streak who is a shoo-in for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, thanks to a well-run primary campaign organized by his manager Lauren Hartman (Laura Linney), and the savvy speechmaking and moral support of his wife Jenny (Nancy Travis). Now Pryce has to pick a vice-presidential candidate, which proves to be not all that simple. Senator Parker Gable (Robert Culp) helped give Pryce his start in politics, and his wife Meg (Faye Dunaway), a Queen Bee on the Washington social scene, has asked Pryce to consider Gable as VP. Pryce believes Gable would be the right man for the job, but he's well known to chase anything in a skirt, and Pryce thinks his nomination would be a scandal waiting to happen. Besides Gable, the two most likely choices for Pryce's running mate are Senator Mitchell Morris (Bruce McGill), whose strong links to a number of corporate benefactors make Pryce nervous, and Senator Terrence Randall (Bob Grunton), whose outspoken support of campaign finance reform does not sit well with Shawna Morgan (Teri Hatcher), the fundraising expert who has been filling Pryce's war chest. Running Mates was produced for the TNT cable network, where it first aired on August 13, 2000; Gerald Rafshoon, the film's executive producer, has an inside perspective on Washington wheelings and dealings, having served as White House director of communications under President Jimmy Carter. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Robert Culp - Sen. Parker Gable; Caroline Aaron - Jody Daniels; Wayne Pere - Larry; Phillip Brock - Fermin; Matt Malloy - Sam; Rachel Wilson - Heather
Credit
Mali Finn - Casting, Ron Lagomarsino - Director, Albert S. Ruddy - Executive Producer, John Debney - Composer (Music Score), Alan Caso - Cinematographer, Andrew Gottlieb - Producer, Claudia Salter - Screenwriter, Keith Rogers - Re-Recording Mixer
Michigan Governor James Reynolds Pryce (Tom Selleck) is a popular liberal politician who, while running for the office of the President of the United States, finds out to what a great degree his life and career are influenced by the women in his life. As a front-runner for the Democratic Party presidential candidate, Pryce owes the success of his campaign to his manager Lauren Hartman (Laura Linney) and his wife Jennifer (Nancy Travis). Pryce has not yet chosen a vice-presidential running mate and has a hard time making the decision. Senator Parker Gable (Robert Culp) was something of a mentor to Pryce in his early political career but Gable is a womanizer which makes Pryce uncomfortable with making him the vice-presidential candidate. Nevertheless, Gable's Washington socialite wife Meg (Faye Dunaway) considers Gable to be the best choice and tries to exert pressure over Pryce to make this happen. Pryce's other choices are Senator Mitchell Morris (Bruce McGill), a lobbyist whom Pryce dislikes due to his close ties to Big Business, and Senator Terrence Randall (Bob Gunton) who is disliked by Pryce's shallow Hollywood campaign fundraising manager Shawna Morgan (Teri Hatcher). Being previously sexually involved with Lauren, Meg and Shawna before marrying Jennifer is a fact that makes listening to their advice all that much harder for Pryce. All four women are seemingly more intent on exerting control over Pryce and winning their own personal battles against each other rather than honestly trying to help him make the correct political decision.
Running Mates was intended to give the viewers a somewhat realistic although humorous and exaggerated insight into politics and decision making of presidential campaigns. For that reason, Gerald Rafshoon was brought on-board. Rafshoon was the media manager during Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign as well as his tenure in the White House.[2][3][4][5][6][7] A private screening of the film was held for Carter after which he agreed that the film was, indeed, "realistic".[3][4][7] In an interview with Lou Dobbs on CNN Today, Rafshoon admits that there were "intentional" similarities between the film's characters and living persons on whom the characters were partially based, even admitting that "they're all public figures so they can sue us".[5]Tom Selleck was picked for the role of Governor Pryce because he is politically independent, having donated money to both the Republican and the Democratic parties, as well as that Rafshoon believed that "[Selleck]'s got the look and the heft" for the role, making it easy for viewers to "buy him as presidential candidate".[6]
