Knowing how Hollywood usually works when it comes to political movies, plenty of conservatives boycotted Vice. The National Review said the film, directed by Adam McKay, "is dedicated to the apparent evil of former Vice President Dick Cheney."
But Cesar Conda, who worked as the domestic policy chief adviser for the former VP, saw the film a bit differently.
THREAD: I worked for Vice President Cheney in the first Bush term. I watched @vicemovie last night and found it highly entertaining, mainly because of the committed acting Christian Bale, cinematography & accurate account of Cheney’s American Dream story. pic.twitter.com/GQNv7pdFTQ
— CesarConda (@CesarConda) January 27, 2019
First, the acting. Conda thinks Christian Bale did a fine job portraying his former boss.
"Christian Bale was ALMOST spot on in his impression of Cheney; the tilt of the head, grin, gait, speech cadence...right down to the breathing," Conda wrote on Twitter. "Bale uses phrase 'put your oar in the water' which I recall VP used often when he wanted us to get involved in some internal debate."
He was not as impressed by some of the other casting choices, however.
"Sam Rockwell’s W was a cartoon; Will Ferrell could’ve done just as well," Conda said.
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He had some issues with Director Adam McKay's interpretation of the Iraq War, too, but in the end he says Cheney's love of country was obvious.
Vice's "theme of Cheney running the WH, nefariously engineering Iraq invasion for oil, GOP/FoxNews sowing today’s polarization is the Hollywood Fiction I expected," he explained. "But it didn’t ruin the movie for me. Cheney’s American Dream story, love of family & country shines thru."
Overall, the film reminded Conda "of what a privilege and honor it was to work in the White House for Vice President Dick Cheney."
Of course, the feeling isn't mutual for Bale. Upon accepting his Best Actor award at the Golden Globes last month, the actor called Cheney "Satan."
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