简体中文
Is the American presidential-primary system broken? It’s a question worth asking in a year when the nation’s two major political parties have produced the most unpopular presumptive nominees in history.
For answers, look no further thanNomiNation,a new docuseries from First Look Media andVanity Fair,whose first episode premieres right here, right now (see the video at the top of this post).
The director of the series,AJ Schnack,previously directedCaucus,a feature documentary that trackedRick Santorum’ssurprise victory in the 2012 Iowa contest. This time, he’s creating a series of short-form docs that will follow the entire process, all the way from the early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire to the conventions in Cleveland and Philadelphia, whereDonald TrumpandHillary Clintonare expected to emerge as their respective parties’ standard-bearers.
Episode 1, above, focuses onJoni Ernst,the motorcycle-riding junior senator from Iowa whose endorsement was one of the most sought-after prizes among Republican presidential hopefuls this cycle. From there, Schnack will turn his gaze to New Hampshire, Nevada, and beyond.
VF.com sat down with Schnack to talk about Trump rallies, Sad Jeb, and whyBen Carsoncan’t cook a pork burger to save his life.
Vanity Fair: Why make a film about the primaries?
AJ Schnack:When this election came along, I really desired to get back in political documentary process, which I find really fascinating—where America is right now—but to do it in a slightly different way, through a series of short documentaries. Over the course of the series you would learn all about the election by looking at various people and seeing where we started.
It certainly exceeded our expectations for the experience we have while making it. We had no idea what this campaign would turn out to be.
Most Americans watched Donald Trump on television or read about him in the newspapers. But you got to see him in person. Tell me, did you see this Trump nomination coming?
I won’t say that I was totally prescient. But I will say that I went to an event in July in Iowa, and there was definitely a feeling that this was not something that was going to go away.
There were some people who showed up, almost like rubberneckers. They were curious and they probably didn’t think that he was someone they might vote for. [But] he was a reality television star. They walked away from it with an enthusiasm for him that even they didn’t quite expect.
What’s a Trump rally like?
I actually was at one where people were escorted out. There’s a sense that it’s somewhat akin to a show. I think some people have compared it to a pro-wrestling. At the height of those rallies—where there’s always someone getting thrown out, or someone trying to interrupt—it seemed almost like it was all fitting into a specific script, like in wrestling. There needs to be the bad guy and there needs to be the good guy. There was a certain element almost where—not that they would think [this] at all—the people were showing up to see someone get thrown out or to see someone get punched.
It fit the narrative.
Yeah, it fit the narrative. We’ve seen political events where people react to something like they’d just been at a boxing match or a hockey game, which is nothing I’ve ever seen before at a political rally.
What is it like seeing some candidates thrive—like Trump, Hillary, and Bernie—and then seeing some struggle, like Jeb Bush or Scott Walker?
For a candidate who’s having difficulty, it really is apparent on the ground. A couple days before Jeb dropped out, he was at an event, and a woman put her arm around him and he kind of laid his head on his shoulder, like, “Ugh.” He needed some comfort. You start to see the signs, maybe even possibly sooner than the candidates do.
**InCaucus, you filmed Mitt Romney saying that corporations are people too. That line helped tank his campaign. Did you witness any campaign-enders this go around?
**
I don’t know if we’ll know for a bit. Part of what’s interesting about campaigns is a lot of people think they know how the next six months are going to go. But, we will all have 20/20 vision when it’s done, and can look back and say people turned on Hillary Clinton because she did X. Or they turned on Donald Trump because he did Y.
By the way, the food at the Iowa State Fair looks delicious. What’s the best thing to eat there?
My favorite thing, which I ate almost every day, is the pork burger in the pork tent. It is amazingly good. You just put a few pickles on it and a bit of barbecue sauce, and it’s heaven.
Part of the ritual involves getting the candidates to cook. Did you get a pork burger grilled by a candidate?
I think I did get one that was made by a candidate. It was definitely not one made by Ben Carson, though. He did not know how to grill because he’s vegetarian—which I didn’t know until I saw him grilling.
(VANITYFAIR)
