Interview on NBC 'Today': The Manchurian Candidate
(l-r) Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Jonathan Demme

This interview was a while ago now (July, 2004). American NBC's Katie Couric interviewed Washington, Streep, and Demme (the director) about their film, The Manchurian Candidate. I found a certain section of the interview transcript particularly interesting. Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep seem to clash to some degree when politics arises in the conversation. It surprised me, because given the fact that so many in Hollywood are Democrats (anti-Bush), I had naturally assumed that Denzel Washington was one of them. I don't know. Maybe he is. But he seems to go on the defensive here. Anyway, I always enjoy reading about the views and political ideas of the famous.



...But lately, it seems the worlds of Hollywood and politics have collided, due in large part to Michael Moore's controversial "Fahrenheit 9/11" and the lengthy list of luminaries who attended that recent fundraiser for Senator John Kerry.

Streep: "Oh, I was there."
Couric: "I know you were there. And in fact, I read your quote. You said -- you talked about President Bush and his invocation of religion and you said—"
Streep: "No, of Jesus."
Couric: "Of Jesus, sorry. ‘Through the shock and awe, I wondered which of the megaton bombs Jesus, our president's personal savior, would have personally dropped on the sleeping families in Baghdad.’"
Streep: "It was a question about when you put Jesus on the campaign bus to stump for you, you have to really listen to what he says, because he says, ‘If a man smite thee on the cheek, let you turn the other that he may smite it also.’ And he says, ‘He who lives by the sword dies by the sword.’ And he says, ‘Love thine enemy.’ Jesus could have raised an army against the people that persecuted him. He didn't. So that's what I was pointing out in my speech, and I couldn't really imagine Jesus, like I couldn't imagine how Jesus would vote. Jesus was the Prince of Peace. Would the Prince of Peace vote for a war President?"
Washington: "And it's open to interpretation. Jesus also went into the temple and kicked everybody out."
Streep: "That's kicking the money-changers out of the temple."
Washington: "Well, you're right. So—"
Streep: "The money-changers should get out of Congress, I agree. And I agree, but he didn't—"
Washington: "He didn't. He didn't only say turn the other cheek though. You’ve got to read the whole book. That's not what all he said."
Streep: "Oh, I do read the whole book."
Washington: "I do too. And that's not all he said."
Streep: "What does he say that said 'pick up a stick and kill somebody?'"
Washington: "Like I said, he did go into the temple and cleared the place well—"
Streep: "Of money, yeah."