Eerie Silence in Hollywood as Anti-War Stars Vanish
Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2003 11:31 am
In the weeks leading up to war in Iraq actors Martin Sheen, Mike Farrell, Sean Penn and Janeane Garofalo joined a cast of thousands in a fierce Hollywood resistance played out in protest marches and from the sofas of television talk shows.
But with the war in its waning hours, all is quiet on the western coast -- leading conservatives to suggest that Garofalo and her fellow travelers are in full retreat from a public backlash and feeling chastened by a swift American victory.
Garofalo, working hard on her upcoming ABC sitcom, did not respond to interview requests for this story. But she told the Washington Post last week that her anti-war stance had been a "positive" experience that had helped her career.
"Before this I was a moderately well-known character actress," she told the paper. "Now, I'm almost famous."
A spokeswoman for Penn, who infuriated many Americans by visiting Iraq in December on his own fact-finding mission, said the actor was not granting interviews. Sheen's publicist said the man who plays president on "The West Wing" was "not talking to anybody right now."
Farrell said that the ability of U.S. troops to topple Saddam Hussein's regime in relatively short order has not softened his opposition to the war.
"An illegal war is an illegal war no matter what the result. We'll never know now what could have been achieved through peaceful means."
Prof. Howard Suber, founding director of UCLA's film and television producer's program, said the eerie silence from Hollywood was to be expected once American troops were on the ground in Iraq.
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Here's the full story:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=13&u=/nm/20030427/ts_nm/iraq_hollywood_dc
But with the war in its waning hours, all is quiet on the western coast -- leading conservatives to suggest that Garofalo and her fellow travelers are in full retreat from a public backlash and feeling chastened by a swift American victory.
Garofalo, working hard on her upcoming ABC sitcom, did not respond to interview requests for this story. But she told the Washington Post last week that her anti-war stance had been a "positive" experience that had helped her career.
"Before this I was a moderately well-known character actress," she told the paper. "Now, I'm almost famous."
A spokeswoman for Penn, who infuriated many Americans by visiting Iraq in December on his own fact-finding mission, said the actor was not granting interviews. Sheen's publicist said the man who plays president on "The West Wing" was "not talking to anybody right now."
Farrell said that the ability of U.S. troops to topple Saddam Hussein's regime in relatively short order has not softened his opposition to the war.
"An illegal war is an illegal war no matter what the result. We'll never know now what could have been achieved through peaceful means."
Prof. Howard Suber, founding director of UCLA's film and television producer's program, said the eerie silence from Hollywood was to be expected once American troops were on the ground in Iraq.
------------------------
Here's the full story:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=13&u=/nm/20030427/ts_nm/iraq_hollywood_dc
