AMC Documentary targets Hollywood Republicans

The filmmaker used to be a Democratic speech-writer.
ZAP2IT.COM
Hollywood is traditionally thought of as a town and an industry where most people's politics sit well to the left of center. But according to a new documentary, this tradition may be changing a bit.
In "Rated R: Republicans in Hollywood," premiering Tuesday at 10 p.m., on AMC, New York-based documentary filmmaker and former Democratic speech-writer Jesse Moss heads to Los Angeles to see what it means to lean to the right in the entertainment capital. Moss follows the contentious but successful gubernatorial campaign of Republican movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"Do politics matter in Hollywood?" Moss asks. "And if they do, was Hollywood changing, was it really as left-wing as we all think? I hope the audience draws their own conclusions, but what I discovered is that I think there's a change afoot in Hollywood. There's less of a stigma attached to being a conservative or a Republican."
Tied to election
Moss ties this to Schwarzenegger's election. "You see in the film that, for young Republicans, young conservatives, it was like political cover for them. It energized them and mobilized them, brought them together, gave them role models. They've found a new confidence."
But the conservative voice in Hollywood is not monolithic, as writer, actor and game-show host Ben Stein, a former Nixon speech-writer, expresses doubts about Schwarzenegger's abortion-activist beliefs.
Moss also weighs the cost of swimming against the political tide, saying, "As you see in the film, there are people who expressed concern whether their political views will stigmatize them."
More than a half-century after the infamous era of the Hollywood blacklist, in which even a suggestion of Communist leanings could and did torpedo careers and ruin lives, Moss seeks to learn if any sort of reverse discrimination is going on.
Moss interviews such conservatives as filmmaker John Milius ("Red Dawn"), Pat Sajak ("Wheel of Fortune") and abortion protester Patricia Heaton ("Everybody Loves Raymond") -- who talk about the risks of openly discussing hot-button issues.
Also on hand is Drew Carey, a self-defined Libertarian (which he describes as "a conservative who still gets high"), who comments that his views have cost him some jobs.
Moss also talks to William Morris agent Sam Haskell. "He said that he didn't feel like having conservative views had ever hurt him or hurt his clients. Of course, he can't speak for the whole industry."
Writer-director -- and active Republican -- Lionel Chetwynd ("Ike: Countdown to D-Day," "The Hanoi Hilton") offers an opposing view ... with qualifications.
Here's the difference
"When you talk about blacklisting, does it go on? Yes," he says. "Is it understood? No. They don't make the connection. I would make this distinction: With the blacklist, if you were a Communist, you didn't work. It didn't matter how well you did, you were not going to work.
"What we have here is a white list. There is a list, and the difference [with] a white list is, you're not really acceptable in polite company."