[But the film] wasn't designed specifically to be a political statement, ... I didn't make the film as a protest. |
[The screening ended with] more than polite applause, ... Well, Nick, I thought it would be pretty good, but I didn't expect to be moved. |
I understand what it is like to have one's son criticized in a very public way. It's very painful and it's very difficult. |
If we had someone play McCarthy, people would have said, he is (portrayed as) too harsh or too evil and as a rat, |
Some great woman is going to knock him off his feet, |
that's what I'm waiting for. |
Those were the times that we came closest to trying shut people down for what they wanted to say and what they believed in, ... That's why all three of those times scared the living hell out of me, and I know at each time if courageous people would stand up, we'd get through it. |
When we saw the rough cut in May, I turned around and said, 'George, you got this one right,' ... That's the first newsroom I've recognized on the big screen. That's the first one I could look at and say, 'I've been there,' and had that feeling and that tension, that palm sweating, camaraderie, repartee -- all of that. |