Thank You For Smoking

February 28, 2006

Lobbyists: Thumbs up to ‘Thank You for Smoking’
By Jeff Dufour

It doesn’t open for two more weeks, and it has yet to be screened even in New York or Los Angeles, but a D.C. audience got a first look at “Thank You for Smoking” at a Georgetown screening Saturday night.

Based on the Christopher Buckley novel of the same name, the indie film stars Aaron Eckhart as Nick Naylor, the chief Washington spokesman for Big Tobacco.

“I talk for a living,” he proclaims. “You know that guy who always gets the girl? That’s me. On crack.”

Each night, Naylor drinks with the other self-styled “Merchants of Death,” lobbyists for the gun and liquor industries, as they compare notes on how best to dupe the public.

The laugh-out-loud satire includes cameos by Dennis Miller, the Capital Grille and this newspaper.

So what did the targets of the film think?

“I thought the movie was a terrific parody,” said Dan Berger, senior vice president for the National Association of Federal Credit Unions. “It was really funny.”

“Nothing like sitting there for two hours watching my profession take another kick to the groin,” he jokingly continued.

Former Rep. Dan Glickman (D-Kan.), who now heads the Motion Picture Association of America, was also impressed. “It does ring true,” he said, chuckling. “If you’re going to make a point, you’ve got to make a big point.”

Undeterred by the film’s send-up of his industry, Frank Coleman of the Distilled Spirits Council stayed on message. “Let’s go have a cocktail!” he said, beaming.

And so everyone went just up the street to Blue Gin for the VIP after-party hosted by Capitol File, which sports Eckhart on its current cover. There, we caught up with director Jason Reitman, who told us he’s not out to vilify any of the industries in the film.

“It’s about spin,” he said.

So does it take a political junkie to make a movie like this? Not exactly.

“Probably like most college kids, I get most of my news from ‘The Daily Show,’” he said.

Likewise for the film’s star. When asked how much background research he did on lobbying, Eckhart sarcastically replied, “Years and years,” before confessing that he doesn’t “know anything about politics.”

“I just want my water and my electricity to stay on,” he said.