Recount Information

Recount is a 2008 television film about the 2000 United States presidential election. The political drama was written by Danny Strong, directed by Jay Roach, and produced by Kevin Spacey, who also stars in the film. It premiered on HBO on May 25, 2008. The DVD was released on August 19, 2008.

Plot

Recount chronicles the 2000 U.S. presidential election Bush v. Gore case between Governor of Texas George W. Bush and U.S. Vice President Al Gore. It begins with the election on November 7 and ends with the Supreme Court ruling, which stopped the Florida election recount on December 12. Key points depicted include Gore's retraction of his personal telephone concession to Bush in the early hours of November 8; the decision by the Gore campaign to sue for hand recounts in Democratic strongholds where voting irregularities were alleged, especially in light of the statistical dead heat revealed by the reported machine recount; Republican pressure on Florida's Secretary of State Katherine Harris in light of her legally mandated responsibilities; the attention focused on the hand recounts by media, parties, and the public; the two major announcements by Florida Supreme Court spokesman Craig Waters extending the deadline for returns in the initial recount (November 21, 2000) and ordering a statewide recount of votes (December 8, 2000), and later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court; and finally the adversarial postures of the Supreme Courts of Florida and the United States, as well as the dissenting opinions among the higher court's justices.

Production

Director

In April 2007, it was announced that Sydney Pollack was going to be the film's director; by August, weeks away from the start of principal photography, Pollack withdrew from the project due to a then-undisclosed illness. Pollack died of cancer on May 26, 2008, one day after Recount premiered on HBO. Director Jay Roach replaced Pollack.

Filming

The film was filmed mostly in Tallahassee, Florida. Many scenes were shot in city hall, the federal courthouse, and in front of the Florida Capitol building. Other scenes were shot on location on November 3 and 4, 2007, inside the actual courtroom of the Florida Supreme Court building and outside its front exterior in Tallahassee. Some scenes were filmed in Jacksonville, Florida. This was the first time a Chief Justice of Florida, in this case R. Fred Lewis at the request of Craig Waters, granted permission for the filming of a major motion picture on the Court's property.

Cast

Actor/Actress	Character	Notes
Kevin Spacey	Ron Klain	Nominated for Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award
John Hurt	Warren Christopher
Laura Dern	Katherine Harris	Won Golden Globe Award; nominated for Emmy Award and SAG Award
Tom Wilkinson	James Baker	Nominated for Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award
Denis Leary	Michael Whouley	Nominated for Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award
Ed Begley, Jr.	David Boies
Bob Balaban	Ben Ginsberg	Nominated for Emmy Award
Bruce McGill	Mac Stipanovich
Paul Jeans	Ted Olson
Bruce Altman	Mitchell Berger
Alex Staggs	Craig Waters
Doug Williford	Mark Fabiani
Gary Basaraba	Clay Roberts
Stefen Laurantz	Joe Allbaugh
Mitch Pileggi	Bill Daley
Jayne Atkinson	Theresa LePore
Marcia Jean Kurtz	Carol Roberts
Mary Bonner Baker	Kerey Carpenter
Bob Kranz	Bob Butterworth
Raymond Forchion	Jeff Robinson
Steve DuMouchel	John Hardin Young
Marc Macaulay	Robert Zoellick
Antoni Corone	Tom Feeney
Matt Miller	Jeb Bush
Terry Loughlin	William Rehnquist
Judy Clayton	Sandra Day O'Connor
William Schallert	John Paul Stevens
Bruce Gray	Anthony Kennedy
Michael Bryan French	David Souter
Howard Elfman	Stephen Breyer
Jack Shearer	Antonin Scalia
Benjamin Clayton	Clarence Thomas
Bradford DeVine	Charles T. Wells
Candice Critchfield	Judge Myriam Lehr
Annie Cerillo	Barbara Pariente
Brewier Welch	Harry Lee Anstead
Derek Cecil	Jeremy Bash
Robert Small	George J. Terwilliger III
Patricia Getty	Margaret D. Tutwiler
Christopher Schmidt	John E. Sweeney
Olgia Campbell	Donna Brazile
James Carrey	Chris Lehane
Brent Mendenhall	George W. Bush
Grady Couch	Al Gore
Carole Wood	Tipper Gore
Mark Lamoureux	Reporter
Tom Hillman	Brad Blakeman
Adam LeFevre	Mark Herron

Reception

Awards and nominations

2008 Emmy Awards:

• Won: Outstanding Made for Television Movie
• Won: Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special (Jay Roach)
• Won: Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries or Movie
• Nominated: Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie
• Nominated: Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special
• Nominated: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie (Kevin Spacey and Tom Wilkinson)
• Nominated: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie (Bob Balaban and Denis Leary)
• Nominated: Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie (Laura Dern)
• Nominated: Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special

2009 66th Golden Globe Awards:

• Won: Laura Dern - Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
• Nominated: Denis Leary - Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
• Nominated: Tom Wilkinson - Best Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
• Nominated: Kevin Spacey - Best Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
• Nominated: Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television

2009 Directors Guild of America Award:

• Won: Jay Roach - Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movies for Television/Miniseries

2009 Writers Guild of America Award:

• Won: Danny Strong - Best Writing in Long Form - Original

Reviews

Recount received a rating of 76% from critics aggregated by Rotten Tomatoes (13 fresh and 4 rotten reviews). Mark Moorman of Het Parool, gave the film a rating of four stars on a scale of five, calling Recount an "amazing and funny reconstruction".

Response to fictionalization

Some critics have made charges of bias against the film. Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Recount may not be downright blue, but it's not as purply as it wants to appear. Despite its equal time approach, Recount is an underdog story, and thus a Democrat story." Film critic Roger Ebert disputed claims of bias in his review of the film, stating, "You might assume the movie is pro-Gore and anti-Bush, but you would not be quite right."

In an interview with CNN's Reliable Sources, director Jay Roach responded that the film, "wasn't 100 percent accurate, but it was very true to what went on....That's what dramatizations do: stitch together the big ideas with, sometimes, constructs that have to stand for a larger truth." Roach cited All the President's Men as an example. Jake Tapper, an ABC newscaster who was a consultant for the film also stated in response that the film is "a fictional version of what happened" and "tilts to the left because it's generally told from the point of view of the Democrats." The Washington Post further stated that Tapper noted that "while some scenes and language are manufactured, 'a lot of dialogue is not invented, a lot of dialogue is taken from my book, other books and real life.' "

Warren Christopher, who was sent by Gore to supervise the recount, has objected to his portrayal in the film. According to the San Jose Mercury News, Christopher: Baker agreed that the film exaggerated his rival's stance: "He's not that much of a wuss," said Matea Gold of the San Jose Mercury News.

Democratic strategist Michael Whouley has objected to the amount of swearing he does in the film, and was also uncomfortable with a scene involving a broken chair.

In contrast, Bush legal advisers James Baker and Benjamin Ginsberg have largely given the film good reviews; Baker even hosted his own screening of it, though he does refer to the film as a "Hollywood rendition" of what happened.

Gallery