Yet another saga about the Kennedy era is on the television horizon. This time: a triple-tiered ”docudrama” about John and Robert Kennedy; their well- recorded, difficult dealings with the late, long-time FBI director J. Edgar Hoover; and the relationship of all three men to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement of the 1960`s.
The four-hour TV mini-series, ”Hoover vs. The Kennedys: The Second Civil War,” recently completed production in a film studio in Toronto, with plans for a fall broadcast on the nearly 100 independent television stations around the country that form the loosely knit network of syndicated programming referred to as Operation Prime Time (OPT). Judging from a recent visit to the set, the project is bound to cause controversy; in fact, it already has.
According to producer Daniel Selznick, the mini-series is a direct outgrowth of ”Blood Feud,” the 1983 OPT mini-series about the tempestuous relationship between Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy and the late Teamster union leader James Hoffa. Selznick and his long-time partner Joel Glickman produced the previous Kennedy TV saga, and the two men have teamed with Toronto-based producer Paul Glickman to mount the current mini-series, budgeted, according to Selznick, at $8 million.
”This is a lot hotter,” promised Selznick, pointing out that insurance on potential legal damages resulting from the mini-series cost $5 million, as compared to $1 million for the Kennedy-Hoffa story. ”We are including a lot of facts that just recently have become known and we`re entering a lot of sensitive areas,” he added.
Discussing the nearly-five year development of the project and the details of the final shooting script recently, Selznick said some aspects of the story spanning eight tumultuous years of American history, 1960-68, are so sensitive that two versions of the completed mini-series are planned. One, for foreign broadcast markets; and another, expurgated along lines suggested and in some cases demanded by OPT officials, for broadcast in this country.
”There`s a valid case to be made for a (different) U.S. version,”
acknowledged Selznick.
The nature of the sensitive material? In most cases, explicit sexual references to extra-marital relations on the part of both President Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. Selznick specifically cited ”a shower scene”
involving Kennedy and the late Marilyn Monroe, which he said will be included in the unexpurgated version of the mini-series, but altered for the U.S. broadcast to represent ”a Jacuzzi scene.” He said Kennedy, played in the mini-series by Robert Pine, will be seen stepping out of the Jacuzzi, dressed in a bathing suit, while Monroe, played by Heather Thomas, will be seen sitting on the side of the Jacuzzi, robed.
Selznick said OPT insisted that ”all” explicit references to King`s extra-marital relations–the producer said there were three such scenes planned for the mini-series–be deleted from the American version.
Both Selznick and Saltzman repeatedly said in Toronto that they wanted to include the provocative, intimate details of Kennedy`s and King`s alleged behavior because ”Hoover was obsessed by such sexual behavior and used the information to hold over (the two leaders and his dealings with them), and, also, because (their behavior) was well-documented.” The producers also maintained that these private aspects of the men`s lives ”makes them more human.”
”I`d like to think that I am one who is sensitive to such portrayals,”
said Selznick, who is the son of the late, legendary Hollywood producer David O. Selznick. He said he once considered bringing legal action against the producers of another TV mini-series, ”Movieola,” because the drama inaccurately portrayed his father in a romantic alliance with the late Joan Crawford.
”We have not included all of this (behavior) because it sensationalizes, but because it`s all part of the true story,” said Selznick.
The producers cited other controversial elements of the drama, such as connections made between organized crime and the 1960 presidential campaign, as well as the Kennedy assassinations; also, scenes linking Hoover and the F.B.I. to ”cover-ups” of evidence on the assassinations. Selznick said negotiations still were underway with OPT officials to determine what material would and would not be included in the American version of the mini-series.
”The first and most important goal is to get this on the air, which is a small miracle in the first place,” said Selznick, adding, ”if we have to clean up our act a bit, in order to be accommodating, it`s a small price to pay.”
Selznick said that he, personally, conducted most of the research and
”first-person interviews” that have led to the current script by Lionel E. Seigel, veteran writer of such TV series as ”Peyton Place” and ”Rich Man, Poor Man.” The mini-series is being directed by Michael J. O`Herlihy, whose TV credits include the mini-series ”Backstairs at the White House.”
Selznick cited numerous books about the Kennedy years; in particular, John Davis` ”The Kennedys: Dynasty and Disaster,” on which he said he has based most of the ”revelations” about the role of organized crime included in the mini-series. But the producer, who also has worked as a journalist, stressed the importance of direct interviews with living participants in the Hoover-Kennedy-King saga. He said still others read and commented on the script.
”I took a deep breath, and hoped that key people would agree to see me,” recalled Selznick, noting that he had been in ”the doghouse,”
especially with ”the Kennedy people,” as a result of ”Blood Feud.” He said ”a curtain of silence” already had descended on the part of the Kennedy family, so that he did not attempt to interview family members for the current project. He also said he did not attempt to contact King`s widow, Coretta Scott King, because ”we were dealing with the delicate subject of King`s extra-marital relationships.”
Among the key people interviewed for the project, according to Selznick, were: Burke Marshall, a former member of the Kennedy administration; Clarence Jones, a King ”confidant” and a close observer of the civil rights movement; Harris Wofford, another member of the Kennedy administration and a special assistant to President Kennedy in the civil rights area; and Courtney Evans, who served under Hoover at the F.B.I. Evans was present on the Toronto set.
The principals present at the time of the recent visit to Toronto differed in their opinions about the slant the mini-series was taking on the key historical figures. Jack Warden, who plays Hoover, said the former F.B.I. chief was portrayed fairly, even ”heroically,” from Hoover`s point of view. LeLand Gantt, the young actor cast as King, said his character and his personal behavior was portrayed ”realistically” and made King seem ”more human.” And actor Nicholas Campbell, a dead-ringer for Robert Kennedy, said the mini-series poised the former attorney general as ”the good guy,” Hoover as ”the bad guy,” and presented both President Kennedy and King as men who were capable of ”mistakes and indiscretions.”
”Of course, there have been a lot of other Kennedy dramas,” said Selznick. ”All we`re trying to do is get a little bit more to the real truth, with as little ambiguity as possible, and, hopefully, with no cop-outs because, after all, these years marked a turning point in American history.”
