How Geena Davis paved the way for America’s first female president

An aging commander-in-chief is struggling with health problems, prompting his younger, female vice president to step up. That, of course, is the story of the 2024 presidential election, in which Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee, replacing the ailing Joe Biden. But it’s also the plot of a television show – almost 20 years ago.

The series, Commander in ChiefThe film, which premiered in 2005, starred Geena Davis as the first female vice president in American history, chosen to help an older, white male political candidate appeal to other constituencies. Does this sound familiar? However, there are notable differences between the show’s political fiction and the political realities of the 2024 race. For one, fictional President Teddy Bridges is a Republican, while Mackenzie, portrayed by Davis, is an Independent. Oh, and in the series (spoiler alert!) the president dies, leading to the first female commander in chief.

The show was initially an overwhelming success with audiences House in the reviews. But the film lost momentum and was canceled after just one season, raising questions about whether America was ready for a female president, even a fictional one. The Hollywood Reporter I met with some of the key players who helped Commander in Chief to talk about the show’s legacy and what, if anything, it says about the 2024 election.

When asked if he believed that Commander in Chief Series creator Rod Lurie helped prepare America for the reality of its first female president: “Without a damn doubt.” He recalls telling the show’s exec, “If we all do our jobs… we’re going to change the world .” Because what we are going to do is get the whole world to become familiar with the term “Madam President.”

Davis expresses a similar sentiment, hoping “that seeing a female president on screen would normalize the idea for people.” Lurie says the idea of ​​a series about the first female president was a “well” idea (so good, that she was a given) and ABC bought her off the pitch until a big star came along. Previously, there were almost no portrayals of female presidents in Hollywood. The rare exception was Polly Bergen in the 1964 comedy. Kisses for my president. Bergen would later be cast as President MacKenzie Allen’s mother Commander in Chief. (Glenn Close portrayed a female vice president in the 1997s Air Force One.)

Since then, much has been written about the role of popular culture in “normalizing,” as David puts it, the status of certain underrepresented groups in society. will and grace and comedian Ellen DeGeneres are credited with being instrumental in changing the image of gay Americans and, in turn, the modern LGBTQ equity movement. A survey by Kaplan Thaler taken the following year Commander in Chief premiered, noted that “76 percent of Americans are familiar with it Commander in Chief58 percent are now taking the idea of ​​a female presidential candidate more seriously.”

Lurie recalls an interview with a group of reporters in which one accused him of being a stooge for Republicans because his president (although an independent) served in a Republican administration. Another reporter then asked him if he was trying to pave the way for President Hillary Clinton. “It wasn’t me,” Lurie notes. “But I was definitely trying to pave the way for a female president.” Davis recalls that future Democratic nominee Clinton was a fan of the show. At one event, “Bill Clinton came in and saw me, he said, ‘My President!’ He said it was his and Hilary’s favorite show. [They] never missed it.”

Although Davis won a Golden Globe for her performance, the show ultimately foundered due to internal politics, including Lurie’s firing. “Their logic was that I was late with the scripts.” The network then brought in legendary showrunner Stephen Bochco, known for his dark, iconic series Hill Street Blues And NYPD Blue. “The tone and central conceit of the show has completely changed. “It almost went from asking why we should have a female president to asking why we shouldn’t,” Lurie claims, although he admits his own tenure on the show was far from perfect. “I made some mistakes.” Bochco would soon exit – he called his experience on the show “terrible” – and the series ran on rental basis.

“I always think about what broader impact the show would have had if I had had a longer ‘administration,'” Davis explains. Anne Sweeney, once called the “most powerful woman in Hollywood” for her tenure as ABC Television Group’s first female president, says she thinks so: “Commander in Chief was an important show that aired in 2005. Back then, women held far fewer seats in the House of Representatives and in positions of influence in our government than we do today.” In 2005, there were 14 women senators in the United States. Today there are 25. In 2005, there were 74 women in Congress. In 2024 there will be 126.

Melissa Silverstein is currently the artistic director of the Athena Film Festival, but is best known for founding the website Women and Hollywood, which “educates, advocates, and advocates for gender equality and inclusion.” During the Commander in Chief At the time, she was working at the White House Project, an organization founded to create social changes that could pave the way for America to elect its first female president. She believes Commander in Chief has helped pave the way for more promising candidates, but also for different types of candidates. She says that back then, female candidates were bombarded with coverage about “hair, hemlines and husbands,” more superficial criticisms that male candidates rarely faced.

Lurie recalls that these were topics he and Davis discussed at length when formulating the fictional President Allen. They didn’t want to entertain the idea that a female leader had to suppress her femininity by avoiding topics like fashion, but they also had to acknowledge the unfair double standards that often surround female politicians.

Surprisingly, when contacted for this article, Lurie said that few members of the press had contacted him about it Commander in Chiefeven though they had approached him about his 2000 film The contenderIn it, Joan Allen played a senator hoping to become vice president whose political career is upended by a sex scandal.

Some Harris supporters in Hollywood feared that her critics would try to damage her candidacy by spreading attacks on her personal life. “Even though she was elected and not appointed to her positions, there are still vulgar comments about her,” Lurie noted. For Lurie, the fact that such attacks do not appear to have taken place shows how far we have come since then The contender And Commander-in-Chief, Projects he developed after the birth of a daughter inspired him to create content that centered the experiences of powerful, complex women.

Davis not only served as the fictional president of the United States, but also became a real leader in the field of gender justice. Shortly before the show began, she founded the Geena Davis Institute, also inspired by her daughter. She notes: “I was horrified to see that there were far more male characters than female characters in what was actually made for and aimed at young children. I didn’t initially plan to go that far, but I found that no one I had told had noticed what I was seeing. In fact, every single person in the industry I spoke to said, “No, this is no longer a problem, this has been fixed.” Something was wrong and that convinced me of the need to do the research,” which is what the Geena Davis Institute focuses on. A 2019 report found that “nearly a third of powerful female characters wore revealing clothing, compared to less than 10 percent of similar male characters.”

Davis adds: “I always say that gender inequality in the entertainment industry can be fixed overnight. It doesn’t have to be done in stages or phases. The next movie or TV show, commercial, or video game you make can be gender balanced with diverse women in lead roles, supporting characters, and extras. We can easily create worlds where women are half the characters and do half the interesting things.”

Although Davis declined to comment on the 2024 election, former ABC executive Sweeney didn’t hold back in an email. “We know that representation is powerful and important,” she says. “My hope for this election year is that a female president becomes a reality and not just an inspiring fictional character from our past.”