Looking for Mr. Right (Page 3)

Nonsupporting Actors

Horowitz is lucky; he has no competition. In a company town, where thousands of people vie for each job, no one else is looking to be the Mr. Right who leads Hollywood's conservatives. Not even NRA president Charlton Heston, the elder statesman of Hollycons, attempts to recruit other film celebrities for the right. "I don't proselytize," he says. The vacuum Horowitz was able to fill existed partly because the heavies most often fingered as conservatives or Republicans–Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Selleck and Kevin Costner–have engaged in little overt political activity. Their politics, erratic or lacking coherence, have not been those of the committed.

In 1988 Willis attended a fundraiser for a Democrat running for Senate. The following year, he and Demi Moore worked with radical-to-legislator Tom Hayden to shut down a nuclear power plant in California. In a Playboy interview near that time, Willis sounded like the stereotypical Hollywood lib. Citing water pollution and ozone depletion, he moaned, "We are literally destroying the planet." He blasted Reagan for dubbing the Soviet Union "the evil empire." He said military corporations had killed the Kennedy brothers and were "setting up [Vice President] Bush to be the next President." Willis argued that "this country needs a leader who can say, 'I want to help the people.'" Who did he have in mind? Hayden, the darling of LA's left. Then, one presidential election later, Willis was at the Republican National Convention in Houston–backing Bush. In last year's Armaggedon, Willis is first seen driving golf balls at a Greenpeace ship protesting oil drilling–a self-mocking reference to his politics but also a reminder of his dramatic flip-flop.

"He's 'Get off my back, I don't like taxes,'" says Horowitz. "It's basically leave-me-alone politics. He's not involved in anything." The same is true for Mel Gibson, who is known for opposing abortion rights and being critical of gay rights activism. "I've never even met him," Horowitz notes.

Kevin Costner is frequently cited as a celebrity Republican, although he no longer is. He did socialize and golf with President Bush, and in 1992 the Bush re-election campaign leaked word that he would appear in a commercial for the President. Costner, then a registered Republican, had no intention of aiding Bush, according to a close associate of Costner. He was a Clinton supporter. "We had to tell the Bush campaign to stop saying he was going to do ads," the associate says. Before the 1996 election, Costner switched his registration to Independent. He gave $5,000 to the Democratic Party and attended the Democratic convention. Still, he continues to receive invitations to GOP fundraisers, and in February the New York Times referred to him as a Republican. "He's not a particularly political guy," says the associate.

In the early nineties Tom Selleck shot a commercial for the conservative National Review. But in 1992 he made a $1,000 donation to the presidential bid of Democratic Senator Paul Tsongas. Five years later, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd reported that Republicans were urging Selleck to run for the Senate in California–a story Selleck quickly shot down. His political profile has been low ever since. However, Heston reports that Selleck has agreed to do an ad for the NRA. "He's not a Republican," says an actor who knows him. "He's an independent." In assessing Selleck's politics, a former producer points to his last major role: a gay television reporter in the gay-friendly film In & Out. "That was not a role or a movie to please social conservatives," she observes.

In 1997, after undergoing heart surgery, Arnold Schwarzenegger quipped, "We made, actually, history, because it was the first time ever that doctors could prove that a lifelong Republican has a heart." But as a longtime GOPer, Schwarzenegger has provided little tangible support to his party. In recent years, according to federal campaign records, he made one measly contribution of $1,000 to the Republicans. "He campaigns occasionally for the national Republican ticket, but he doesn't make a big deal out of it," says an LA publicist. In 1992 Schwarzenegger joined George Bush in New Hampshire and asked voters to "send a message to Pat Buchanan: Hasta la vista, baby." When Jesse Ventura, who has appeared in two Schwarzenegger films, was sworn in as Minnesota governor, Schwarzenegger attended the inauguration, as a friend.

Kurt Russell is irritated that he gets tagged as a Republican and conservative. "Republicans will call me [soliciting contributions], and I'll say, 'Sorry, fellow, I'm not a Republican.'" Instead, he has bonded with the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington. Recently, he hosted a Cato dinner in Los Angeles with José Piñera, a labor minister under Chile's General Pinochet in the seventies. Piñera, who pioneered the privatization of Chile's retirement program, has been a crucial player in Cato's attempt to privatize Social Security. Russell votes for Libertarian candidates, but he does not provide financial or PR support to the party. When Gingrich appeared at the Wednesday Morning Club, Russell, who considers Gingrich a friend, introduced him. But Russell, who has not otherwise participated in the club, made sure to declare, "I'm not a Republican, I'm a Libertarian."

• « Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next »

• Get The Nation at home (and online!) for 68 cents a week!
• If you like this article, consider making a donation to The Nation.
• Reprint this article. Click here for rights and information.