. This film is a political drama written by
premiered on HBO on May 25, 2008. The DVD was released on August 19, 2008.
. It begins with the election on November 7 and ends with the
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
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
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 United States Supreme Court; and finally the adversarial postures of the Supreme Courts of
, Pollack withdrew from the project due to a then-undisclosed illness. Pollack died of cancer on May 26, 2008, one day after
premiered on HBO. Director
. 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
Building and outside its front exterior in Tallahassee, Florida. Some scenes were filmed in
, granted permission for the filming of a major motion picture on the Court's property.
| Actor/Actress |
Character |
Notes |
Kevin SpaceyKevin Spacey is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and crooner. He grew up in California, and began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television...
|
Ron Klain Ronald A. "Ron" Klain is the Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States, Joseph Biden and the former Chief of Staff to the Vice President under Al Gore. He is an influential Democratic Party insider...
|
Nominated for Emmy Award The 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 21, 2008, at the newly opened Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst, and Ryan Seacrest and televised in the United States on ABC.The Creative Arts Awards...
, Golden Globe AwardThe 66th Golden Globe Awards Ceremony was broadcast on January 11, 2009, from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, United States on the NBC TV network...
and SAG Award |
| John Hurt John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor. Hurt initially came to prominence for his role as Richard Rich in the 1966 film A Man for All Seasons, and has since retained a career as a lead and supporting actor of many popular motion pictures, including: Watership Down, Midnight Express, Alien, The...
|
Warren ChristopherWarren Minor Christopher is an American diplomat, lawyer, and public servant. During Bill Clinton's first term as President, Christopher served as the 63rd Secretary of State...
|
|
Laura DernLaura Elizabeth Dern is an American actress, film director and producer. Dern has acted in such films as Smooth Talk , Blue Velvet , Fat Man and Little Boy , Wild at Heart , Jurassic Park and October Sky...
|
Katherine HarrisKatherine Harris is an American Republican politician, former Secretary of State of Florida, and former member of the United States House of Representatives. Harris won the 2002 election to represent Florida's 13th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. She held that post...
|
Won Golden Globe Award The 66th Golden Globe Awards Ceremony was broadcast on January 11, 2009, from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, United States on the NBC TV network...
; nominated for Emmy AwardThe 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 21, 2008, at the newly opened Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst, and Ryan Seacrest and televised in the United States on ABC.The Creative Arts Awards...
and SAG Award |
Tom WilkinsonThomas Jeffrey "Tom" Wilkinson OBE is an English actor.- Personal life :Wilkinson was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, the son of Thomas Wilkinson, Sr., a farmer. At the age of four, he moved with his family to Canada, where they lived for several years before returning to England and running a pub...
|
James BakerJames Addison Baker, III is an American attorney, politician, political administrator, and political advisor.He served as the Chief of Staff in President Ronald Reagan's first administration and in the final year of the administration of President George H. W. Bush...
|
Nominated for Emmy Award The 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 21, 2008, at the newly opened Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst, and Ryan Seacrest and televised in the United States on ABC.The Creative Arts Awards...
and Golden Globe AwardThe 66th Golden Globe Awards Ceremony was broadcast on January 11, 2009, from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, United States on the NBC TV network...
|
Denis LearyDenis Colin Leary is an American actor, comedian, writer, and director. He is known for his often biting comedic style and his chain smoking. Leary is the star and co-creator of the television show Rescue Me now in its fifth season....
|
Michael Whouley Michael Whouley is an American Democratic Party political consultant who specializes in get out the vote operations. Whouley is President of the Dewey Square Group, a consulting firm that works for both political and corporate clients as lobbyists and campaign strategists.Whouley, who spent his...
|
Nominated for Emmy Award The 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 21, 2008, at the newly opened Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst, and Ryan Seacrest and televised in the United States on ABC.The Creative Arts Awards...
and Golden Globe AwardThe 66th Golden Globe Awards Ceremony was broadcast on January 11, 2009, from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, United States on the NBC TV network...
|
| Ed Begley, Jr. Edward James "Ed" Begley, Jr. is an American actor, game show panelist and environmentalist. Begley is perhaps best known for his role as Dr. Mark Craig's intern, Dr. Victor Ehrlich on the television series St. Elsewhere, for which he received six consecutive Emmy Award nominations...
|
David BoiesDavid Boies is a lawyer and Chairman of Boies, Schiller & Flexner. He has been involved in various high-profile cases in the United States.-Early life and education:...
|
|
| Bob Balaban Robert Elmer "Bob" Balaban is an American actor, author and director.-Personal life:Balaban was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Eleanor and Elmer Balaban, who owned several movie theatres and later was a pioneer in cable television...
|
Ben Ginsberg This article is about the attorney Benjamin L. Ginsberg. For the businessman, see Benjamin Ginsberg Benjamin L. Ginsberg is a partner and lobbyist for Patton Boggs LLP, where he has represented political parties, political campaigns, candidates, members of Congress and state legislatures,...
|
Nominated for Emmy Award The 60th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 21, 2008, at the newly opened Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. They were hosted by Tom Bergeron, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel, Jeff Probst, and Ryan Seacrest and televised in the United States on ABC.The Creative Arts Awards...
|
| Bruce McGill Bruce Travis McGill is an American actor who has an extensive list of credits in film and television.-Early life:McGill was born in San Antonio, Texas, the son of Adriel Rose , an artist, and Woodrow Wilson McGill, a real estate and insurance agent...
|
Mac StipanovichJohn McKager Stipanovich is a Florida lobbyist of the Republican Party. He is best known for his part in the 2000 Florida election recount, where he advised Katherine Harris of how to proceed with the election. Mac Stipanovich's nickname is "the Knife"....
|
|
| Paul Jeans |
Ted OlsonTheodore Bevry Olson was the 42nd United States Solicitor General, serving from June 2001 to July 2004. He is a major figure in the conservative legal movement.-Early life:...
|
|
| Bruce Altman Bruce Altman is an American film and television actor. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. -Filmography:*Touched by an Angel *Nothing Sacred *Cop Land*Changing Lanes*L.I.E....
|
Mitchell Berger |
|
| Alex Staggs |
Craig WatersCraig Waters has been the public information officer of the Florida Supreme Court in Tallahassee since June 1, 1996. He is best known as the public spokesman for the Court during the 2000 presidential election controversy, when he frequently appeared on worldwide newscasts announcing decisions of...
|
|
| Doug Williford |
Mark Fabiani |
|
Gary BasarabaGary Basaraba is a Canadian actor best known for playing American police officers. He appeared as Sergeant Richard Santoro on Steven Bochco's Brooklyn South and Officer Ray Heckler on Boomtown....
|
Clay Roberts |
|
| Stefen Laurantz |
Joe Allbaugh Joe M. Allbaugh is an American political figure in the Republican Party. After spending most of his career in Oklahoma and Texas, Allbaugh came to national prominence working for Texas governor George W. Bush and helping manage his 2000 presidential election campaign...
|
|
| Mitch Pileggi Mitchell Craig "Mitch" Pileggi is an American actor. Pileggi is known for playing FBI assistant director Walter Skinner on the long-running popular series The X-Files. He also had a recurring role on Stargate Atlantis as Col. Steven Caldwell...
|
Bill DaleyWilliam Michael Daley served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 1997 to 2000 and is a lawyer and business executive. On November 5, 2008, Daley was named to the advisory board of the Obama-Biden Transition Project....
|
|
| Jayne Atkinson Jayne Atkinson is a Tony Award-nominated American film, theater and television actress. She is best known for the role of Karen Hayes on 24...
|
Theresa LePore Theresa LePore is a former Supervisor of Elections for Palm Beach County, Florida. She is most notable as the person who designed the infamous "butterfly ballot", used in the 2000 presidential election...
|
|
| Marcia Jean Kurtz Marcia Jean Kurtz is an American film, stage, and television actor and director. She has appeared in such films as The Panic in Needle Park, In Her Shoes, Dog Day Afternoon and Big Fan. Kurtz won an Obie Award for her performance as Doris in Donald Margulies' The Loman Family Picnic...
|
Carol Roberts Carol Antonia Roberts is a Florida politician of the Democratic Party. She is best known for her part in the 2000 Florida election recount, where she served on the Palm Beach County canvassing board....
|
|
| Mary Bonner Baker |
Kerey Carpenter |
|
| Bob Kranz |
Bob Butterworth Robert A. Butterworth is an American attorney and politician from the U.S. state of Florida.-Early life and career:Butterworth was born in Passaic, New Jersey, and moved to Florida with his family as a child. He received a degree in business administration from the University of Florida in 1965,...
|
|
| Raymond Forchion |
Jeff Robinson |
|
| Steve DuMouchel |
John Hardin Young John Hardin Young is a trial lawyer who has a reputation for work in election law and electoral recounts. He was on the team of lawyers for the Democratic National Committee during the 2000 Florida Election Recount and the Bush v. Gore case, and is portrayed in the HBO film "Recount"...
|
|
Marc MacaulayMarc Macaulay is an American actor.He was born in New York City but mainly raised in Central Florida. He graduated with a BFA in theater...
|
Robert ZoellickRobert Bruce Zoellick is the eleventh president of the World Bank, a position he has held since July 1, 2007. He was previously a managing director of Goldman Sachs, United States Deputy Secretary of State and U.S. Trade Representative, from February 7, 2001 until February 22, 2005.President...
|
|
| Antoni Corone |
Tom Feeney Thomas Charles "Tom" Feeney III, usually known as Tom Feeney , is a Republican politician from the state of Florida. He represented . He was defeated in the 2008 election by Democrat Suzanne Kosmas.-Early life:...
|
|
| Matt Miller |
Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Florida. He is a prominent member of the Bush family: the younger brother of former President George W. Bush; the older brother of Neil Bush, Marvin Bush and Dorothy Bush Koch; and the second son of former President...
|
|
| Terry Loughlin |
William RehnquistWilliam Hubbs Rehnquist was an American lawyer, jurist, and a political figure who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the Chief Justice of the United States. Considered a conservative, Rehnquist favored a federalism under which the states...
|
|
| Judy Clayton |
Sandra Day O'ConnorSandra Day O'Connor is an American jurist and was the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006...
|
|
| William Schallert William Joseph Schallert is an American actor who has appeared in many films and in such television series as The Smurfs, The Rat Patrol, Gunsmoke, The Patty Duke Show, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Leave It To Beaver, The Dick Van Dyke Show, and Get Smart.-Life and career:Schallert was born in...
|
John Paul StevensJohn Paul Stevens is the senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He joined the Supreme Court in 1975 and is the oldest member of the Court. He was appointed to the Court by Republican President Gerald Ford. Stevens is widely considered to be on the liberal side of the...
|
|
| Bruce Gray Bruce Gray is a Puerto Rican-born Canadian actor.-Early years:Gray was born Robert Bruce Gray in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Canadian parents...
|
Anthony KennedyAnthony McLeod Kennedy is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, having been appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1988...
|
|
| Michael Bryan French |
David SouterDavid Hackett Souter David Hackett Souter David Hackett Souter served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1990 until his retirement on June 29, 2009. Appointed by Republican President George H. W. Bush to fill the seat vacated by...
|
|
| Howard Elfman |
Stephen BreyerStephen Gerald Breyer is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1994, and known for his pragmatic approach to constitutional law, Breyer is generally associated with the more liberal side of the Court.Following a clerkship with Supreme...
|
|
| Jack Shearer |
Antonin Scaliais an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was appointed in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan having previously served on the D.C. Circuit and in the Nixon and Ford administrations, and teaching law at the Universities of Virginia and Chicago...
|
|
| Benjamin Clayton |
Clarence ThomasClarence Thomas is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, having served since 1991. Justice Thomas is the second African American to serve on the nation's highest court, after Justice Thurgood Marshall, whom he succeeded.Thomas grew up in Georgia, and graduated from...
|
|
| Bradford DeVine |
Charles T. WellsCharles T. Wells was a member of the Florida Supreme Court from 1994 until March 3, 2009, when he retired. He was appointed by Governor Lawton Chiles. He served as Chief Justice from July 1, 2000, until June 30, 2002. He is perhaps most noted for presiding over appeals brought to the Court as...
|
|
| Candice Critchfield |
Judge Myriam Lehr |
|
| Annie Cerillo |
Barbara Pariente Barbara Joan Pariente is an attorney and jurist from Florida. She was chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court from July 1, 2004, until June 30, 2006. Pariente is the second woman to hold the position of chief justice and has served on the court since 1997...
|
|
| Brewier Welch |
Harry Lee AnsteadHarry Lee Anstead was a Justice of the Florida Supreme Court from 1994 to January 5, 2009, and he served as Chief Justice from July 1, 2002 until June 30, 2004...
|
|
| Derek Cecil Derek Cecil is an American actor who was the star of the now defunct TV series Push, Nevada. Derek was born in Amarillo, Texas on January 15, 1973.He graduated from the University of Houston.Cecil made many appearances on the TV series Pasadena....
|
Jeremy Bash Jeremy B. Bash is the Chief of Staff to Leon Panetta, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.Prior to that, Bash served as Chief Counsel of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the U.S. House of Representatives...
|
|
| Robert Small |
George J. Terwilliger III George J. Terwilliger III is an American lawyer and politician. He is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of White & Case LLP and is a former United States Deputy Attorney General and acting United States Attorney General. Terwilliger, of Vermont, was nominated February 14, 1992, by...
|
|
| Patricia Getty |
Margaret D. Tutwiler Margaret DeBardeleben Tutwiler is a former Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the US State Department, serving from December 16, 2003 to June 30,2004. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 9, 2003 to replace outgoing Under Secretary Charlotte Beers...
|
|
| Christopher Schmidt |
John E. SweeneyJohn E. Sweeney is a politician from the U.S. state of New York. A Republican, he represented New York's 20th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from January 1999 to January 2007. He was defeated for reelection in November 2006 by Democrat Kirsten...
|
|
| Antoni Corone Antoni Corone is an American actor and producer who lives in Hollywood, Florida.He was raised in Willoughby and Wickliffe, Ohio. When character player Corone launched his screen career in the mid-'80s, producers immediately foresaw a perfect niche for him, and started casting him as rugged,...
|
Tom Feeney Thomas Charles "Tom" Feeney III, usually known as Tom Feeney , is a Republican politician from the state of Florida. He represented . He was defeated in the 2008 election by Democrat Suzanne Kosmas.-Early life:...
|
|
| Olgia Campbell |
Donna BrazileDonna Brazile is an American author, educator, and political pundit affiliated with the Democratic Party. She was the first African-American to direct a major presidential campaign....
|
|
| James Carrey |
Chris Lehane Christophe Steple Lehane is an American political consultant on opposition research for the Democratic National Committee and various other organizations...
|
|
| Brent Mendenhall |
George W. Bush George Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
|
|
| Grady Couch |
Al GoreAlbert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. is an American environmental activist and former politician who served as the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He is an author, businessperson, former U.S. Senator and former journalist...
|
|
| Carole Wood |
Tipper GoreMary Elizabeth Gore , commonly known as Tipper Gore, is an author, photographer, former Second Lady of the United States, and the wife of Al Gore...
|
|
reviews). Mark Moorman of
Some criticized the movie for its mixture of fact with fiction. In an interview with
stated in response 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
as an example.
, 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
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.' "
, who was sent by Gore to supervise the recount, has objected to his portrayal in the film. According to the
Baker agreed that the film exaggerated his rival's stance: 'He's not that much of a wuss.' said Matea Gold of the
has objected to the amount of swearing he does in the film, and was also uncomfortable with a scene involving a broken chair.
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.