Which is harder: turning a bodybuilder-actor into a governor or an alcoholic into a president?
According to political consultant George Gorton, who advised Arnold Schwarzenegger during his recent successful gubernatorial bid in California and Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin in his run for reelection, each has its challenges, but only one could get you killed.
"Entirely different experiences," Gorton said. "You're dealing with the oligarchs in Russia. It can be frightening. It's one of those things you have to work yourself up to. If you're dealing with Arnold Schwarzenegger, he's just about the nicest guy in America."
On Sunday, Showtime premieres "Spinning Boris," a darkly comic look at the efforts by Gorton (Jeff Goldblum) and colleagues Dick Dresner (Anthony LaPaglia) and Joe Shumate (Liev Schreiber), who are secretly hired to help Yelstin gain a second term in 1996.
Already facing questions about his health after two heart attacks, Yeltsin had another problem, Gorton said.
"I don't want to say bad things about him, but he was not necessarily a great politician. He may have been in his younger days, but he drank a lot by the time I got on the scene. During the campaign, he flew to Canada. On the way, he stopped in Ireland. The airplane stopped, the steps went down, the red carpet went out and he never got out.
"Finally, the red carpet rolled up, the Irish prime minister was left standing there and the explanation that the press secretary gave was that he had too much to drink. Do you believe that?"
According to Gorton, Yeltsin wasn't the only one drowning his sorrows. "I drank more in the six months I was there than in the entire rest of my life."
Part of that was the stress of mounting a U.S.-style campaign in a newly democratic foreign country, but the rest was fear. It began with the man who financed the consultants.
"Time magazine didn't want to use his name," Gorton said, "and Showtime didn't want to use his name. I don't want to say his name, so I don't think you'd want to, either, believe me. Honestly, he's not a guy you want to upset. He's big time. He's more influential now than he was when I met him."
The movie opens with Gorton making a panicked phone call to his home answering machine, leaving a message just in case he doesn't make it back.
"I was very happy to get out in one piece," he recalled.
