The Post may be screened at The White House.
And the irony is not lost on us.
The White House has reportedly requested a screening of The Post – Steven Spielberg’s upcoming true-life drama about The Washington Post’s fight against government censorship.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the White House has requested a screening at the iconic centre of US government, as well as at the presidential retreat at Camp David.
“This weekend, filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s The Post expands into additional theaters – including the White House,” they revealed. “President Donald Trump’s team has requested, and been granted, access to the 20th Century Fox political drama for both 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and Camp David, where the president is scheduled to host a summit on Saturday and Sunday with top GOP lawmakers.”
Obviously, there’s a certain irony to this request.
The Post tells the true story of The Washington Post’s struggle for press freedom during the 1970’s following the paper’s publication of the ‘Pentagon Papers’ in 1973. And if that wasn’t enough irony for you, Tom Hanks – who plays the paper’s editor Ben Bradlee – has already revealed that he would decline an invitation to a White House screening of the film.
“I would not have been able to imagine that we would be living in a country where neo-Nazis are doing torchlight parades in Charlottesville [Virginia] and jokes about Pocahontas are being made in front of the Navajo code talkers,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “And individually we have to decide when we take to the ramparts. You don’t take to the ramparts necessarily right away, but you do have to start weighing things. You may think: ‘You know what? I think now is the time’.”
Of course, Hollywood has long supplied early movie releases to the White House.
And so, perhaps this request isn’t as surprising as it seems.
That said, President Trump has caused widespread furor in his continued war against outlets he refers to as ‘Fake News’… and most recently, provoked outcries after he stated he would be outing news outlets with numerous ‘Fake News Awards’ – just the latest in his ongoing campaign against the press.
Whether or not President Trump will attend the screening remains to be seen.
But I definitely wouldn’t expect to see Tom Hanks turning out for this one.
The Post stars Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Sarah Paulson, Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Bruce Greenwood, Carrie Coon, David Cross, and Jesse Plemons.
Steven Spielberg directed the movie, based on a script by Liz Hannah and Josh Singer.
The Post opens in cinemas on 19 January 2018.
