The American President

Comedy, Drama, Romance

Michael Douglas	President Andrew Shepherd
Richard Dreyfuss	Senator Bob Rumson
Annette Bening	Sydney Ellen Wade
Michael J. Fox	Lewis Rothschild
Samantha Mathis	Janie Basdin
David Paymer	Leon Kodak
Martin Sheen	A.J. MacInerney
Anna Deavere Smith	Robin McCall
Shawna Waldron	Lucy Shepherd
Anne Haney	Mrs. Chapil
Josh Malina	Stu
Gail Strickland	Esther MacInerney
Nina Siemaszko	Beth Wade
Wendie Malick	Susan Sloan
Beau Billingslea	Agent Cooper

Director	Rob Reiner
Producer	Rob Reiner; Charles Newirth
Writer	Aaron Sorkin
Cinematography	John Seale
Musician	Marc Shaiman

When newly-hired lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening) meets with U. S. President Andrew Shepherd (Michael Douglas) to present the case of the environmental concerns group she represents, she succeeds in turning his head personally as well as politically. Once their high-profile romance begins, President Shepherd's political rival, Senator Bob Rumson (Richard Dreyfuss), finally has his opening to start a negative campaign against Shepherd. Rumson begins a nasty smear campaign to support his own run for president, the sort of campaign his party had longed to use during the previous election, but which was deemed inappropriate to run against a widower such as Shepherd. As though that wasn't enough, just when the negative campaigning begins to really spin out of control, Wade and Shepherd's romance finds another obstacle. This time, it comes in the form of a political showdown between the bill that Shepherd believes will get him re-elected and the bill that Wade's group is lobbying for, which could force them both to choose between the relationship and their political careers.