Wag the Dog (film)

Wag the Dog

(film)

Wag the Dog is a 1997 film starring Robert De Niro about a Washington spin doctor who distracts the electorate from a U.S. presidential sex scandal by hiring a Hollywood producer Dustin Hoffman to construct a fake war with Albania. The scheme enlists the musical talents of Mark Knopfler (musical producer) and Willie Nelson (who creates a theme song for the 'war').

Wag the Dog was produced and directed by Barry Levinson. Hilary Henkin and David Mamet co-wrote the screenplay. The film is based on the novel American Hero by Larry Beinhart. The book, however, differs greatly from the picture. In the book the president is specifically George Herbert Walker Bush (in the movie he is unnamed) and the fake war operation is explicitly Desert Storm.

The film explores serious themes, such as the manipulation of the mass media and public opinion, with a comedic sensibility. The film drew attention at the time for similarities to the Clinton sex scandal, although the movie also makes reference to the Persian Gulf War as an example of war used as an electoral tactic. The idea of war as a creation of the media is not, of course, original to the movie. The French postmodernist Jean Baudrillard's ideas in particular are relevant to a discussion of the movie — see for example his essay The Gulf War Did Not Take Place.

The title of the movie is taken from the joke: "Why does a dog wag its tail? Because a dog is smarter than its tail. If the tail was smarter, the tail would wag the dog." Interpretations differ as to the meaning of this metaphor. Some suggest the dog is public opinion, and the tail represents the media; the dog is the media, and the tail is political campaigns; or the dog is the people, and the tail is the government. Or, when considering the personal relations in the movie, the dog is the president and the tail represents his PR assistants, who immediately assume the authority for the damage control. Moreover, the expression "the tail wagging the dog" refers to any case where something of greater significance is driven by something lesser.

Tagline : A Hollywood producer. A Washington spin-doctor. When they get together, they can make you believe anything.

Cast
Dustin Hoffman - Stanley Motss

Robert De Niro - Conrad Brean

Anne Heche - Winifred Ames

Denis Leary - Fad King
Willie Nelson - Johnny Dean

Andrea Martin - Liz Butsky

Kirsten Dunst - Tracy Lime

William H. Macy - CIA Agent Charles Young

John Michael Higgins - John Levy
Suzie Plakson - Grace

Woody Harrelson - Sergeant William Schumann
Michael Belson - President
Suzanne Cryer - Amy Cain
Jason Cottle - A.D.

David Koechner - Director