Old Bill
Being the Amazing Journeys and Stunning Rise of William H. Taft
Old Bill focuses on
William Howard Taft's decade of diplomatic missions across the globe, as overseas Governor and Secretary of War, during the first years of the 20th century, immediately preceding his successful bid for the Presidency in 1908.
Taft is characterized as a likeable, jovial but dedicated statesman, who represents America's imperial aspirations, during the era: at once well-meaning and sincere, but also somewhat paternalistic, and capable of gross ignorance towards the needs and desires of the native people of the lands he visits. Taft is the ultimate "good cop": friendly, accommodating, but with an unwavering faith in the correctness of the rule of law.
Basically, he represents the best and worst qualities of America, at the turn of the century. Moreover, he embodies the hopes, dreams, and outlook of an America that was just beginning to assert itself as a player in the world's political scene, just as Victorian England starts coming apart under the weight of its own excesses.
Taft's journeys are framed as a kind of Odyssey-like quest towards the White House, with each colorful new locale presented in a way that suggests how America might have perceived it to be, during that era.
Ironically, to achieve the sense of "diplomatic whimsy" I'm aiming for, it would require the eye of a Frenchman: director
Jean Pierre Jeunet, best known for movies like
Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain and
A Very Long Engagement.
I see
Old Bill as being akin to
Big Fish, not quite a faithful biography; more interested in shamelessly conveying one man's *impressions* of a time and place, rather than historical facts.
To achieve the mix of nuance, humor, authority, and vulnerability needed to portray Taft, I chose...
comedian
Drew Carey in a career-reviving dramatic turn as the future President (who coincidentally also hails from Taft's home state of Ohio). In spite of Carey's relative youthfulness, the guy is actually pushing 50 this year, making him approximately the right age to play the consular heavyweight. Just slap a puffy 'stache on him, and we're all set.
Taft's saga begins in 1900, when
President William McKinley (a stern
Alan Dale) appoints Taft as the chairman of a commission to organize a civilian government in the new colony of the Philippines. Taft initially opposes the annexation of the islands and tells McKinley that his real ambition is to become a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He reluctantly accepts the appointment when McKinley suggests that he would be "the better judge for this experience."
The stress of relocation bears its toll on Taft's socialite wife
Nellie (
Kristin Scott Thomas, basically reprising her usual social-climber role in a
fin de siecle context). However, Taft basks in the glow of the (perceived) admiration he receives from the "little brown Americans" , who eat up his grand promises of modern "civilization".
His journey next leads him to the Vatican, where he meets aging
Pope Leo XIII (the "Pope of the Working Man" and "The Social Pope", played here by sagely
Sir Michael Gambon), with whom he has an interesting conversation about the relationship between religion, technology, and the government. He successfully negotiates the purchase of lands in the Philippines owned by the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1904, young and relatively inexperienced
President Theodore Roosevelt (played with showmanship and earnest gusto by
Jack Black) appoints trusted elder Taft as Secretary of War.
In this new role, Taft meets with the
Meiji Emperor of Japan (characterized as an inscrutable warrior by
Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa), who alerts him of the probability of war with Russia.
In 1906, Roosevelt sends troops to restore order in Cuba during the revolt led by
General Enrique Loynaz del Castillo (portrayed with vicious glee by
Danny Trejo), and Taft temporarily becomes the Civil Governor of Cuba, personally negotiating with General Castillo for a peaceful end to the revolt.
In 1907, Secretary Taft helps supervise the beginning of construction on the Panama Canal, in a majestic set piece highlighting the spectacle of modern engineering.
All of this leads up to "Old Bill's" victorious Presidential campaign in 1908.