Rewatchables Reference

• Douglas's big final speech: 'We've got serious problems, and we need serious people. And if you want to talk about character, Bob, you better come at me with more than a burning flag and a membership card... My name is Andrew Shepard, and I am the president.'
• The Michael J. Fox 'drinking the sand' challenge: 'People want leadership, Mr. President, and in the absence of genuine leadership, they'll listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone.'
• Pool scene #2 where Sheen tells Douglas: 'Because if I wasn't one step behind you, you'd be the most popular history professor at the University of Wisconsin.' Douglas: 'Fuck you.'
• The phone call to ask Sydney on a date – she thinks it's a prank and says 'I forgot to tell you today what a nice ass you have.'

• Prologue for The West Wing – Sorkin's material that didn't make the film became the show's first season. Dialogue is 'basically identical' in places.
• Richard Dreyfuss as 'Dick Cheney 1.0' – inadvertently created the prototype five years before Cheney became VP, then went on to actually play Cheney in Oliver Stone's W.
• The 'drinking the sand' speech – eerily prescient about populism and the 2016/2020 political landscape.
• Michael J. Fox as a grown-up Alex P. Keaton.

• Martin Sheen working for the president – throws you off because you now think of Sheen as President Bartlet from The West Wing.
• The newspapers chronicling the romance – USA Today on the front page feels quaint; now it would be Daily Mail and Twitter.

• Robert Redford was originally attached to star. The hosts agree he couldn't pull off the goofy/vulnerable moments.
• Emma Thompson was Redford's choice for the female lead. Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer were also considered.
• Sharon Stone – Van had a '30-minute conversation with myself' but concluded it would just run back the 'Basic Instinct' pairing with Douglas.

Michael J. Fox yelling at George on the phone: 'Just vote your conscience, you chicken shit layman.' Bill: 'He just doused it up. They were finally like, hey man, go ahead.'

Richard Dreyfuss – barely in the movie (two scenes plus some speeches), but dominates. His talk show appearance implying Sydney is a hooker without saying it.

• Samantha Mathis as Janie.
• Nina Siemaszko (plays the sister/roommate, later on The West Wing).
• Wendy Malick.

The president's daughter could have been better cast. Bill suggests Natalie Portman (perfect age). Amanda suggests Reese Witherspoon.

• Spin City basically came out of someone seeing this movie and wanting a similar character for television.
• Rob Reiner followed Bill Clinton around the White House for two days for research.
• The White House set was later used for Nixon, 'Independence Day', and The West Wing.
• The film had three uses of 'fuck' – one more and it would have been rated R.

• USA Today – Bill says yes: 'never got better for the USA Today. The internet's about to come and knock it out.'
• President movies – this paved the way for 'Independence Day', Deep Impact, 'Armageddon', Dennis Haysbert in 24.

• The president's dating pace – taking a woman to an intimate meatloaf dinner with his teenage daughter on the second date, 48 hours after the first date. 'This man has absolutely no chill. This entire movie happens in seven weeks.'
• The president being celibate for 3+ years since his wife died is implausible.
• Sydney waltzing into the White House unannounced multiple times. 'At the end she just bursts in like Kramer.'
• The president's 12-year-old daughter is unrealistically perfect – no moods, no side-eye at the new girlfriend.

All-time yes – because The West Wing literally was this. It ran for seven seasons (four by Sorkin).

• How did President Shepard do in the 1996 election? Amanda thinks it's 'very possible that he lost.' Bill argues he wins in a landslide using Clinton 1996 as the parallel.
• Did Bob Rumson eventually find his calling on George W. Bush's cabinet?

• Van: the Virginia Ham.
• Bill: the pool cues.
• Amanda: the cable knit sweater.

• Amanda: Michael Douglas – 'I don't think this movie works without him.'
• Van: Annette Bening / Sydney Ellen Wade – 'It's really her fairy tale.'
• Bill: Aaron Sorkin – 'This is the movie where people were like, this guy is different.' It paved the way for Sports Night, West Wing, and Social Network.