‘Swing Vote’: Talking Movies, Politics with Kevin Costner
By Emily Christianson, Hollywood.com Staff
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Monday, August 04, 2008
HW: What's your real life opinion on today's politicians? These characters in the movie change their minds so much.
KC: Look, it's a complicated thing. What you start with is a human behavior. So while we comedically show that they're willing to flip flop there's not any of us that don't really understand that if two men or women, whomever, are competing for the biggest job in the free world and it coming down to a single vote – it's not unrealistic to think that they would in their deepest darkest recesses be willing to flip flop. It's not unrealistic to think that those who are guiding them would say, 'Look, just do this. Okay? Just do it. We'll fix it tomorrow. We'll do the wrong thing today in order to do the right thing tomorrow.' It's a slippery slope.
HW: When did you first really feel like your vote counted?
KC: Well, I think a lot of us feel that it doesn't and I can't take myself out of that club. When you do the math you think, 'I don't matter.' But that's when we're thinking selfishly. That's when we're thinking, 'Yeah, I guess mathematically I don't really matter.' But when you start to think of yourself as a part of the whole, as a part of the fabric of America that's when you realize that your vote does matter.