Rory Kennedy, RFK's Daughter, Chats About Her HBO Film on Helen Thomas

The HBO doc about journalism legend Helen Thomas, Thank you, Mr. President, is now slated for is first airing next Monday. My colleague at E&P, Joe Strupp, interviewed the director, Rory Kennedy, today and has a full report at our site, see link below.

Here are a few highlights:

-- It opens with this: "When Rory Kennedy told her mother, Ethel Kennedy, that she was going to make a documentary about Helen Thomas, the former Mrs. Robert Kennedy responded, 'Do you really want to do that? She was awfully hard on Jack.'"

Eventually, though, her mother understood what the veteran documentary-maker with the famous name wanted to do, even allowing her to interview Thomas at her famed Hickory Hill home in McLean, Va., over five days in the spring of 2007.

-- "She has a compelling personal story, she was very determined to be a journalist at a young age," Kennedy says. "I think it is also the story of the role of journalism in America and the role of journalism in a democracy."

--The film takes square aim at Helen Thomas' latest battles with President George W. Bush, opening with a press conference in which Thomas asked Bush why he wanted to go to war.
"Your decision to invade Iraq has caused the deaths of thousands of Americans and Iraqis," Thomas says in the clip. "Every reason given has turned out not to be true. My question is, why did you really want to go to war?"

A question Bush deflected, claiming he did not want to got to war. "After that, I became persona non grata," she says in the opening piece of the interview with Kennedy. "There is a blackout now, I believe, until the end of his term."

Kennedy admits part of the film's effort is to show how Thomas's direct questioning and tireless investigation is being lost in today's White House press, particularly in the run up to the Iraq War.

"Has the media been asking the hard questions?" Kennedy says. "I do share her analysis of what happened in the lead-up to the war, the press did not do their job adequately. The press has changed over the past 30 years. Helen has remained true to her craft, despite the shift."

--Kennedy did ask Thomas if she ever used her sexuality in the job. Thomas' answer: "I never had the potential ... nobody made a pass at me, darn it!"

Link

Comments

[Jamesdean]

On the one hand you have Helen Thomas and on the other hand you have those jokers in the mainstream media who call themselves journalists. Instead of making a fool of themselves day in and day out, they should try and learn the A,B,C of journalism from Helen Thomas.

[lioness39]

Helen Thomas is a grande dame in the truest since of the term. I have followed that lady through many a press conference where she asked tough questions and demanded straight answers. I thought it was a real compliment when GWB banned her from his press conferences - testimony to her hard line on core issues.

[GiannaX]

I so look forward to watching this!

[speeddeeps]

I know what you mean here is the link

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BC_B3OBmb0Y

[Sportswoman]

Terrific project idea! I have a collection of JFK's wittiest press conference highlights, and Ms Thomas is fully present in her audaciousness which, when compared with the moderate complacency of some journalists at the time, makes her stand out in contrast. One question that was funny related to women's rights. She asked President Kennedy:
"What are you doing for women?"
A huge grin erupted on his face as he cast his eyes downward, while fiddling with his notes. That moment of a smiling pause created chuckles in the roomful of men, as that question could have been taken for a ride on all kinds of nuanced roads. Instead, he simply said, "Well, obviously not enough," which brought the house down. JFK knew how to handle the toughest of people and she was one of the toughest women--and journalists--of her time. From what I've read, she had the utmost respect for JFK.