What If: Spike Lee Directed a Remake of Mr. Smith goes to Washington?
Written by Cameron Geiser
Recently after rewatching the original 1939 Frank Capra directed Mr. Smith goes to Washington, I was a bit torn between the first two acts of the film, and it’s third. In this day and age, the wide-eyed naivety of our lead character Jefferson Smith (James Stuart) is downright painful to behold. The character’s steadfast belief in the good nature of congress and politicians in general is almost sickening. However, it’s the third act where the vicious tactics of the legislature come into play and Mr. Smith sees the dissociation between what politics should be versus how they actually unfold- that’s where the good stuff is. After a while, I got to thinking about how a remake of the political drama would take shape in today’s world. Firstly, we’d have to get rid of the naive notion of a character waltzing into Washington and having a strong belief in the objective goodness of politics and congress, but rather turn that character arc on it’s head from the beginning. As this idea was taking shape and I was considering who would be a good fit to most effectively realize this story. One name popped into my head and I couldn’t imagine anyone better. That name was Spike Lee.
This time around it would be a tonal flip, or the opposite emotional and political evolution of our main character. Instead of a wide-eyed freshman senator coming into Washington and then slowly having the truth of our corrupt system being revealed to him with a world shaking perspective change- our Mr. Smith would enter the political fray already knowing that the system is corrupt and flawed and then proceed to fight vociferously in the legislature, eventually winning successes that he initially thought impossible. Thus, proving to himself and the public that real powerful, effective change IS possible and that the system can work for the good of the people through fighting the good, policy based, fight.
We don’t necessarily need to go into plot points as much with this one, it’s more about who Spike Lee is as a film director and how he would approach the material. Spike Lee has always been supremely excellent at covering controversial topics and people. He’ll make you look directly at the uncomfortable truth of any given situation, and that’s the key here. I doubt any other working director could so fiercely tackle a political drama of this caliber while creating an atmosphere where frank discussions about how our political system has failed so many people for so long could take place. With this kind of story material, we’d need a provocateur filmmaker to make it worthwhile.
I see the beginning of the story with Mr. Smith waiting, in the rain, in line as a civilian to vote in a local election. He’s interviewed by happenstance and when asked why he’s voting in such a small local election with the lowest stakes in the state, he goes off on a heated diatribe about corruption in local politics. His monologue goes viral and he decides to launch a long shot campaign for the senate. I imagine this to be a long opening montage of this campaign with the title-card finally dropping as he wins his senate seat, an unprecedented political revolution. The real story begins after this through his fraught senate career as he becomes a prominent voice in Congress. As the filibuster was such a pivotal point in the first film, I’d personally at least involve one plot point to it’s dismantling at the hands of Mr. Smith. The Filibuster should be shown as a tool used to degrade and obstruct productive legislation as a reason to get rid of the antiquated political device. Below I’ve listed a few policy goals the character could allocate time and scenes to, but none of them are specifically required. I’ve also listed a cast to surround Mr. Smith with characters both antagonistic and sympathetic to Mr. Smith and his political agenda.
What would Mr. Smith fight for?
•Banning lobbyists from Washington and making their political influence illegal.
•Banning PACs and SUPERPACs, Money isn’t speech, and Corporations must be taxed at a reasonable rate if they want to do business in the United States of America. You cannot have your headquarters located in a different country and avoid taxes and still do business in the U.S.
•Healthcare is a right, you shouldn’t be damned to die because you can’t afford Healthcare.
•Raising the Minimum wage
•Privacy concerns with the NSA, CIA, FBI etc.
CAST
John David Washington as Mr. Jefferson Smith.
Passionate, but can deliver biting social commentary with calmness and clarity.
Lil Rey Howery as a local journalist on the Hill.
Sarcastic, admires Mr. Smith’s intentions but does not believe he will succeed.
Seth Rogen as Mr. Smith’s assistant.
Diligent and diplomatic, willing to do the hard work.
Jon Hamm as an FBI agent that threatens Mr. Smith against voting for bills or not to bring a specific bill to the floor for a vote, et cetera.
The antagonistic.
Leonardo DiCaprio as a friendly Senator who’s the first to vouch for Mr. Smith in one of the initial policy fights. Sympathetic.
Chris Rock as an influential Senator known for whipping the votes effectively and can be motivated under the right circumstances to join or threaten any certain cause.
Not adhering to a certain set of principles, instead morally adapting to the situation at hand.
Willem Dafoe as the Majority Leader of the Senate.
Antagonistic.
Ryan Gosling as a younger republican antagonist Senator.
Maybe from the south?
Denzel Washington as an elder statesman politician whose fiery spirit is rekindled by the new senator’s zeal for righteous and truly just laws and reforms.
George Clooney as the President of the U.S..
Someone generally liked by a majority of people; amenable and open to change but wouldn’t push for it himself. Wouldn’t put his re-election on the line for a potential backlash from a policy proposal.
Cameron Geiser is an avid consumer of films and books about filmmakers. He'll watch any film at least once, and can usually be spotted at the annual Traverse City Film Festival in Northern Michigan. He also writes about film over at www.spacecortezwrites.com.