WEBVTT - Iran Contra: Episode 7 - Olliewood 0:00:16.271 --> 0:00:16.711 Pushkin. 0:00:27.671 --> 0:00:29.951 The day Oliver North was fired from his job at 0:00:29.951 --> 0:00:32.671 the White House, Ronald Reagan called him on the phone 0:00:32.711 --> 0:00:35.711 and told him he was a national hero. It was 0:00:35.751 --> 0:00:39.031 a brief conversation, but Reagan found time for some gallows humor, 0:00:39.511 --> 0:00:41.871 telling North he thought Iran Contra would make a great 0:00:41.911 --> 0:00:46.231 movie someday. Reagan, a former Hollywood actor with nearly thirty 0:00:46.311 --> 0:00:49.391 years of experience in the movie business, probably didn't realize 0:00:49.431 --> 0:00:51.031 how quickly someday would come. 0:00:51.951 --> 0:00:55.031 Hollywood's already growing up its wait list for a TV 0:00:55.151 --> 0:00:57.231 mini series What's Got all the elements. 0:00:56.871 --> 0:00:59.111 Of the health. It's a very dramatic story. It's complex, 0:00:59.151 --> 0:01:00.351 but it's a dramatic story. 0:01:00.631 --> 0:01:03.270 Ali North was the rare star witness and a political 0:01:03.271 --> 0:01:07.591 scandal who had actual star quality. Norman Lear, the creator 0:01:07.591 --> 0:01:10.191 of All in the Family at good times, marvel at 0:01:10.191 --> 0:01:13.231 his stage presence. He gets tears in his eyes. Lear said, 0:01:13.871 --> 0:01:15.551 TV eats up moist eyed people. 0:01:16.231 --> 0:01:19.071 There were times when this career military man demonstrated a 0:01:19.111 --> 0:01:21.991 brilliant gift for using the media. Through the day, across 0:01:22.031 --> 0:01:25.631 the country, Americans watched as network soap operas were replaced 0:01:25.671 --> 0:01:26.711 by Oliver North. 0:01:26.911 --> 0:01:29.431 Even before the Iran Contra hearings ended in the summer 0:01:29.471 --> 0:01:32.631 of nineteen eighty seven. Journalists and producers in Hollywood were 0:01:32.631 --> 0:01:36.151 talking about who should play North on the big screen if. 0:01:35.991 --> 0:01:37.991 They ever get around to making the movie of the 0:01:38.031 --> 0:01:40.951 contra hearings. Here in Hollywood, Oliver North look alike Treat 0:01:41.031 --> 0:01:43.231 Williams would seem to be the front runner for the 0:01:43.311 --> 0:01:43.911 leading role. 0:01:44.791 --> 0:01:48.431 At one point during north testimony, Prankster's in Los Angeles 0:01:48.431 --> 0:01:50.751 covered up the H and the Hollywood sign so that 0:01:50.791 --> 0:01:52.391 it said olliy would. 0:01:52.871 --> 0:01:55.591 An anonymous scholar said he made the change quote not 0:01:55.671 --> 0:01:58.871 to condone North's actions, but to give expression to the 0:01:58.951 --> 0:02:01.071 nationwide wave of Ali mania. 0:02:03.831 --> 0:02:06.311 The scandal had everything you could want in a blockbuster 0:02:06.831 --> 0:02:11.990 international intrigue, communists, bad guys, secret rons abroad. He was 0:02:12.031 --> 0:02:14.791 an action movie, a legal drama, and a spy thriller 0:02:14.831 --> 0:02:17.550 all at once. And at the center of it stood 0:02:17.591 --> 0:02:21.391 a dashing, charismatic man of conviction, a perfect cipher for 0:02:21.431 --> 0:02:24.831 American attitudes about government, patriotism, and democracy. 0:02:25.271 --> 0:02:28.591 Is Oliver North, a hero who kept the Nicaraguan resistance 0:02:28.591 --> 0:02:32.351 alive after Congress had forbidden it, or a zealot subverted 0:02:32.431 --> 0:02:35.591 the system by repeatedly lying about his activities and shredding 0:02:35.671 --> 0:02:36.231 the evidence. 0:02:36.511 --> 0:02:39.431 The expectation in publishing circles was that North would eventually 0:02:39.471 --> 0:02:42.511 be able to get seven figures for his autobiography, which 0:02:42.511 --> 0:02:45.791 could in theory be optioned for TV and film. But 0:02:45.871 --> 0:02:48.631 that could take years, and producers wanted to capitalize on 0:02:48.671 --> 0:02:51.471 the buzz as quickly as possible. That meant they'd have 0:02:51.511 --> 0:02:54.791 to find their source material somewhere else, so they turned 0:02:54.791 --> 0:02:55.471 to journalism. 0:02:55.711 --> 0:03:00.671 I felt that Iran Contra was a really important story, 0:03:01.111 --> 0:03:03.430 really about a constitutional crisis. 0:03:04.111 --> 0:03:07.711 This is Ben Bradley Junior. He's the son of legendary 0:03:07.791 --> 0:03:11.671 editor Ben Bradley, who Oversawtergate coverage at the Washington Post. 0:03:12.071 --> 0:03:16.671 You know, the ideologues in the Reagan administration used North 0:03:17.711 --> 0:03:21.071 as an agent to circumvent the law. 0:03:21.831 --> 0:03:24.831 Ben Bradley Junior was a reporter at the Boston Globe. 0:03:25.231 --> 0:03:27.911 In February of nineteen eighty seven, it was announced that 0:03:27.951 --> 0:03:30.551 he would chronicle the Iran Contra scandal in a book 0:03:30.631 --> 0:03:32.311 called Guts and Glory. 0:03:32.351 --> 0:03:35.951 You know, he had sex appeal. North sort of a 0:03:36.231 --> 0:03:42.391 do it yourself, a gung ho brand of patriotism and 0:03:42.471 --> 0:03:46.911 making things happen, grabbing the bull by the horns. Exploiting 0:03:47.471 --> 0:03:52.551 power vacuums and filling them. That's why I really chose 0:03:53.191 --> 0:03:57.231 North as a vehicle to tell the story of Iran 0:03:57.351 --> 0:03:59.191 Contra in this book. 0:03:59.711 --> 0:04:02.191 Bradley was still working on Guts and Glory when an 0:04:02.231 --> 0:04:05.911 outline of the book started circulating in La Mike Robe, 0:04:05.951 --> 0:04:08.351 a producer and director, first heard about it from an 0:04:08.391 --> 0:04:12.111 executive at CBS. Robe had recently produced a TV movie 0:04:12.111 --> 0:04:14.311 for the network called Murder Ordained. 0:04:14.751 --> 0:04:18.190 Unmercifully and Without Compassion. 0:04:18.671 --> 0:04:23.551 Murder Ordained was very successful. I was sort of in 0:04:23.671 --> 0:04:27.671 the good graces of CBS, and I was beginning to 0:04:27.711 --> 0:04:30.791 think about what I wanted to do next. Ann Along 0:04:30.911 --> 0:04:31.911 came Ali Maniel. 0:04:32.551 --> 0:04:35.471 Robe worked in the increasingly popular genre known as the 0:04:35.511 --> 0:04:39.551 docu drama, a kind of fictionalized nonfiction that, as Newsday 0:04:39.551 --> 0:04:42.510 put it, gave viewers instant history the way a noodle 0:04:42.551 --> 0:04:46.391 mix and hot water give us instant soup. Murder Ordained 0:04:46.471 --> 0:04:48.951 was a prime example of the form. It was based 0:04:48.951 --> 0:04:51.071 on the true story of a minister in Kansas who 0:04:51.111 --> 0:04:52.471 was accused of killing his wife. 0:04:53.151 --> 0:04:59.591 It was a crime beyond belief, starring Terry Kinney Joe Bethwick. 0:05:00.071 --> 0:05:04.311 They were very popular at the time the networks were 0:05:04.391 --> 0:05:10.431 looking for any extra boost and notoriety in sizzle that 0:05:10.711 --> 0:05:16.191 could elevate the interest in their project above that of 0:05:16.271 --> 0:05:21.950 their competition, and it became a whole new art form, 0:05:22.271 --> 0:05:24.071 an original American art form. 0:05:24.311 --> 0:05:26.911 Robe was intrigued by the idea of making a docudrama 0:05:26.951 --> 0:05:28.311 out of the Oliver North story. 0:05:28.631 --> 0:05:31.551 I was fascinated by Oliver North from the get go. 0:05:31.871 --> 0:05:35.391 I was a former military officer. I understood the pressures 0:05:35.791 --> 0:05:38.871 he was operating under. I understood a lot of his attitude. 0:05:39.751 --> 0:05:44.510 I wasn't sure if he was hiding something, but I 0:05:44.551 --> 0:05:48.471 did feel he's a heck of a performer, and he 0:05:48.671 --> 0:05:51.271 was rather spellbinding to watch. 0:05:51.671 --> 0:05:56.111 He is unquestionably telegenic. You'd perhaps say that the force 0:05:56.231 --> 0:05:57.830 is with him. He is a natural. 0:05:57.951 --> 0:06:02.751 I was working desperately to keep the hostages alive. Good grief, 0:06:02.791 --> 0:06:05.830 We'd had this stuff all over the newspapers. The Israelis 0:06:05.831 --> 0:06:07.471 were calling me every half hour. 0:06:07.391 --> 0:06:10.671 And I was Robe did have some reservations. 0:06:10.351 --> 0:06:14.671 From the very get go. My problem as a dramatist, 0:06:14.751 --> 0:06:20.231 my challenge was how do you make this terribly convoluted 0:06:20.751 --> 0:06:27.471 scheme dramatic for a mass television audience in a way 0:06:27.511 --> 0:06:33.151 that they can come to care about someone in the 0:06:33.191 --> 0:06:42.510 show and to understand the very twisted machinations of Iran Contra. 0:06:45.711 --> 0:06:47.751 At the end of the day, Robe couldn't say no, 0:06:48.471 --> 0:06:50.711 and he signed on to adapt Bradley's book into a 0:06:50.751 --> 0:06:53.991 television movie event. He and Bradley would collaborate on the 0:06:53.991 --> 0:06:58.031 screenplay while Bradley finished up his reporting. CBS wanted them 0:06:58.031 --> 0:07:01.190 to move fast. If they didn't, the Guts and Glory 0:07:01.231 --> 0:07:03.591 movie could end up being just one in a sea 0:07:03.671 --> 0:07:05.071 of Iran Contra adaptations. 0:07:05.151 --> 0:07:07.311 No matter which direction you look these days, you'll be 0:07:07.311 --> 0:07:10.151 facing North. Oliver North has been all over television, and 0:07:10.191 --> 0:07:12.071 he's soon to be all over everything else. 0:07:12.711 --> 0:07:17.071 We heard rumblings of other networks thinking about doing Oliver North. 0:07:17.671 --> 0:07:21.231 If your subject is a hot topic, you want to 0:07:21.271 --> 0:07:23.751 get on the air as quickly as you can. We 0:07:23.751 --> 0:07:25.271 looked at a lot of pressure in that way. 0:07:25.871 --> 0:07:29.271 Among Robes would be competitors was a producer named Jay Weston, 0:07:29.471 --> 0:07:31.511 who had announced his own plans to make an Oliver 0:07:31.591 --> 0:07:35.590 North biopic. North was reportedly a fan of Heartbreak Ridge, 0:07:35.871 --> 0:07:38.871 Weston's nineteen eighty six movies, starring Clint Eastwood as a 0:07:38.911 --> 0:07:42.391 fictional marine who leads a platoon during the invasion of Grenada. 0:07:41.991 --> 0:07:44.751 And an assistant in operation of the Island of Grenada 0:07:44.791 --> 0:07:46.191 to rescue American citizens. 0:07:46.231 --> 0:07:49.391 That the Island of what Grenada? 0:07:49.911 --> 0:07:53.711 For the title, Weston was considering reluctant hero, American hero 0:07:53.831 --> 0:08:02.351 gone wrong and carrying patriotism too far. But Weston's project 0:08:02.431 --> 0:08:05.551 never made it off the ground. In September of nineteen 0:08:05.591 --> 0:08:07.751 eighty seven, he told a reporter that it had all 0:08:07.751 --> 0:08:10.711 become too complicated and that life was too short to 0:08:10.751 --> 0:08:14.671 do that tough a project. Plus, with the congressional hearings 0:08:14.711 --> 0:08:17.951 over and the stream of shocking revelations dying down, Weston 0:08:17.951 --> 0:08:20.111 felt like the Iran contra story was getting kind of 0:08:20.151 --> 0:08:23.231 played out. In his opinion, there would have to be 0:08:23.271 --> 0:08:28.831 another twist, some other development that could recapture public interest. 0:08:30.031 --> 0:08:32.951 One thing that could generate that kind of heat, Weston said, 0:08:33.631 --> 0:08:38.911 was if Ali North got indicted. I'm Leon Napok from 0:08:38.910 --> 0:08:41.111 Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries. 0:08:41.511 --> 0:08:46.910 This is fiasco Iran contrast. Welcome to the National Security Council. Agent. 0:08:47.111 --> 0:08:48.950 Are you ready to do battle for the administration? 0:08:49.231 --> 0:08:49.951 Absolutely? 0:08:50.190 --> 0:08:52.431 On the set we would have disagreements, so. 0:08:52.471 --> 0:08:53.550 You're right about the job. 0:08:53.670 --> 0:08:56.191 Miss Paul sawn Hall. 0:08:56.351 --> 0:08:58.631 A lot of people probably thought she was a gold digger, 0:08:58.710 --> 0:09:00.831 a bimbo. I didn't want to portray her that way. 0:09:00.991 --> 0:09:03.271 His involvement in the Iran Contra arms deal has left 0:09:03.310 --> 0:09:06.030 him without a job, but with a new responsibility as 0:09:06.111 --> 0:09:07.231 Conservative spokesman. 0:09:07.590 --> 0:09:10.751 I fight any way I can fly. 0:09:12.511 --> 0:09:17.991 Episode seven, Hollywood, How Hollywood tried to turn Iran Contra 0:09:18.190 --> 0:09:21.830 into a movie while Oliver North tried to avoid going 0:09:21.871 --> 0:09:22.310 to prison. 0:09:25.030 --> 0:09:25.830 We'll be right back. 0:09:30.471 --> 0:09:33.391 As you heard in the previous episode, there were three 0:09:33.471 --> 0:09:38.471 major investigations into Iran Contra, the Tower Commission, the Congressional Inquiry, 0:09:38.871 --> 0:09:42.230 and the criminal probe of the Independent Council Lawrence Walsh. 0:09:43.351 --> 0:09:46.230 By nineteen eighty eight, the first two had completed their 0:09:46.271 --> 0:09:49.111 work and only Walsh was still chugging along. 0:09:49.550 --> 0:09:53.430 Independent Council Lawrence Walsh is saying nothing. Since his appointment 0:09:53.471 --> 0:09:57.551 fourteen months ago, he thirty lawyers and fifty investigators have 0:09:57.710 --> 0:10:01.111 poured over hundreds of thousands of documents and conducted at 0:10:01.190 --> 0:10:03.510 least fifteen hundred witness interviews. 0:10:03.670 --> 0:10:06.590 A federal grand jury in Washington has indicted four men 0:10:06.871 --> 0:10:08.631 for try to help the Contras at a time when 0:10:08.631 --> 0:10:09.751 Congress had forbidden it. 0:10:10.271 --> 0:10:13.711 On March sixteenth, nineteen eighty eight, a grand jury brought 0:10:13.751 --> 0:10:18.030 indictments against Oliver North, former National Security Advisor John Poindexter, 0:10:18.471 --> 0:10:21.830 and Richard Secord, who oversaw logistics for the Contra resupply 0:10:21.910 --> 0:10:23.751 operation and the Iran weapons sales. 0:10:24.271 --> 0:10:27.351 All are accused of having participated in the illegal diversion 0:10:27.351 --> 0:10:30.790 of Iranian arm sales profits to the Contras and Nicaragua. 0:10:30.950 --> 0:10:34.151 Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was named in sixteen counts ranging 0:10:34.151 --> 0:10:36.310 from conspiracy to obstruction of Congress. 0:10:36.351 --> 0:10:39.511 The charges included making false statements to Congress in response 0:10:39.550 --> 0:10:42.911 to early inquiries about the Contra War, obstructing the Attorney 0:10:42.950 --> 0:10:46.111 General's weekend investigation into the Iran arm sales by shredding 0:10:46.111 --> 0:10:49.670 official documents, and defrauding the IRS in the course of 0:10:49.710 --> 0:10:54.071 fundraising for the Contras. Those charges could plausibly be defended 0:10:54.111 --> 0:10:57.790 as efforts to protect the President's foreign policy agenda, but 0:10:57.871 --> 0:11:00.391 a few of the other charges Walsh brought against North 0:11:00.511 --> 0:11:04.391 were harder to frame as acts of government service. During 0:11:04.391 --> 0:11:08.631 their investigation, some prosecutors in the Independent Council's Office suspected 0:11:08.670 --> 0:11:11.191 that North had somehow enriched himself as part of the 0:11:11.231 --> 0:11:15.311 Iran Contra scheme. Their thinking was with all that money 0:11:15.351 --> 0:11:17.870 slashing around from the arm sales and the donations to 0:11:17.910 --> 0:11:20.790 the contras, North could have found a way to line 0:11:20.830 --> 0:11:24.191 his own pockets. As one member of the Walsh team 0:11:24.231 --> 0:11:27.950 reportedly told his colleagues, no jury will convict North unless 0:11:27.991 --> 0:11:31.550 they think he's a crook. In the end, the best 0:11:31.631 --> 0:11:34.870 evidence of self dealing Walsh found was a security fence 0:11:34.910 --> 0:11:37.511 that North had installed at his family home and which 0:11:37.590 --> 0:11:39.871 Richard Seacord had paid for through one of the Swiss 0:11:39.871 --> 0:11:42.671 bank accounts associated with Irankantra. 0:11:42.391 --> 0:11:46.751 A gift by Sea Cord of the security systems. 0:11:46.790 --> 0:11:50.511 The acceptance by North of the security system. 0:11:49.910 --> 0:11:54.550 The fence cost thirteen eight hundred dollars. Walsh characterized it 0:11:54.590 --> 0:11:57.551 as an illegal gratuity and alleged that North had tried 0:11:57.550 --> 0:11:59.991 to cover it up after the Iran Contra scandal broke. 0:12:00.590 --> 0:12:06.151 North's obstruction of our investigation by developing false documents to 0:12:06.231 --> 0:12:08.231 conceal his acceptance. 0:12:07.670 --> 0:12:08.391 Of that gift. 0:12:08.950 --> 0:12:11.631 North had allegedly gone onto a department store and used 0:12:11.631 --> 0:12:14.710 a floor model typewriter to fabricate a pair of backdated 0:12:14.790 --> 0:12:17.071 letters in which he discussed paying for the fence with 0:12:17.111 --> 0:12:18.590 the contractor who had installed it. 0:12:18.790 --> 0:12:22.590 Meanwhile, the Walsh investigation continues, which could mean more charges 0:12:22.590 --> 0:12:25.511 against those named today or against others in the Iran 0:12:25.550 --> 0:12:26.231 Contra affair. 0:12:26.910 --> 0:12:30.671 The prospect of criminal trials for North, Poindexter, and Seacort 0:12:30.790 --> 0:12:33.431 invited a host of new questions about how the Iran 0:12:33.511 --> 0:12:37.271 Contra scandal would play out. Would Reagan be called to testify, 0:12:38.151 --> 0:12:40.910 and if any of the accused were found guilty, would 0:12:40.950 --> 0:12:45.471 they be pardoned. Reagan downplayed that possibility, but he made 0:12:45.511 --> 0:12:47.550 clear that he was standing by Oliver North. 0:12:48.511 --> 0:12:52.391 I still think Haley North is a hero. And at 0:12:52.391 --> 0:12:54.430 the other hand, in any talk about what I might 0:12:54.471 --> 0:12:56.271 do or pardons and so forth, I think with the 0:12:56.310 --> 0:12:59.991 case before the courts, that's something I can't discuss now. 0:13:00.710 --> 0:13:04.670 But I just have to believe that they're going to 0:13:04.710 --> 0:13:07.111 be found innocent, because I don't think they were guilty 0:13:07.111 --> 0:13:08.751 of any law breaking or any crime. 0:13:12.631 --> 0:13:15.790 In the meantime, Ali North was beginning his second act. 0:13:16.231 --> 0:13:19.391 While awaiting trial, North has been giving speeches. Last week, 0:13:19.471 --> 0:13:22.951 this one in Virginia, raised eighteen thousand dollars for his defense. 0:13:23.511 --> 0:13:26.751 I don't believe that there's anything wrong with faithfulness to 0:13:26.830 --> 0:13:28.511 this country or its ideals. 0:13:29.151 --> 0:13:32.511 North started touring the country, meeting his fans and raising 0:13:32.550 --> 0:13:36.070 money for his legal defense fund. In the process, he 0:13:36.111 --> 0:13:39.391 morphed into something between a politician and a motivational speaker. 0:13:39.471 --> 0:13:41.910 Friends of Oliver North paid twenty dollars each to listen 0:13:41.950 --> 0:13:42.910 to a pep talk this. 0:13:42.871 --> 0:13:45.271 Morning, one hundred and fifty dollars each to hear the 0:13:45.310 --> 0:13:48.551 man who fought Congress. They love him and his cause. 0:13:49.111 --> 0:13:50.110 That the man's a hero. 0:13:50.751 --> 0:13:52.111 I wish we had more likely help. 0:13:52.151 --> 0:13:54.790 He's just what we need in America, somebody who stand 0:13:54.830 --> 0:13:55.751 up and protect our land. 0:13:56.310 --> 0:13:59.190 North was invited to address Washington's football team before the 0:13:59.231 --> 0:14:02.991 Super Bowl. He also delivered the commencement speech at Liberty University, 0:14:03.391 --> 0:14:06.470 where he was introduced by the school's founder, Jerry Folwell. 0:14:06.710 --> 0:14:10.790 The first questions always ask, why are you having an 0:14:10.790 --> 0:14:14.190 indicted man to speak to the students at Liberty University. 0:14:15.351 --> 0:14:18.750 I said, well, we serve a savior who was indicted. 0:14:18.991 --> 0:14:21.271 His involvement in the Iran Contra arms deal has left 0:14:21.311 --> 0:14:24.071 him without a job, but with a new responsibility as 0:14:24.151 --> 0:14:25.311 conservative spokesman. 0:14:25.511 --> 0:14:28.911 With the nineteen eighty eight election approaching, North became one 0:14:28.911 --> 0:14:31.311 of the most popular spokesman for publican candidates. 0:14:31.311 --> 0:14:32.151 On the campaign trail. 0:14:33.031 --> 0:14:36.231 Pretty soon people were wondering when Ali North might make 0:14:36.271 --> 0:14:37.631 a run for office himself. 0:14:38.031 --> 0:14:41.151 There has been talk of a political career for Oliver North, 0:14:41.391 --> 0:14:44.271 even though he has no experience and no money. North 0:14:44.551 --> 0:14:47.311 is a hero to conservatives. He is now free to 0:14:47.311 --> 0:14:52.551 speak publicly and to criticize Congress. Political careers have been built. 0:14:52.631 --> 0:15:01.671 Unless While North traveled and prepared for his trial, Mike 0:15:01.830 --> 0:15:04.071 Robe was hard at work on the script for Guts 0:15:04.071 --> 0:15:07.391 and Glory. One of the questions he was asking himself 0:15:07.551 --> 0:15:10.151 was how do you craft a multi layered character or 0:15:10.151 --> 0:15:12.471 out of someone most viewers are going to either love 0:15:12.590 --> 0:15:14.551 or hate before they even see the movie. 0:15:15.391 --> 0:15:18.991 The problem that I had with Oliver North as I 0:15:19.071 --> 0:15:24.031 got into his story was that what he believed with 0:15:24.151 --> 0:15:29.551 all his heart was in the beginning understandable and somewhat admirable, 0:15:30.231 --> 0:15:35.271 But he was done in in his passion and his 0:15:35.431 --> 0:15:42.750 failure to have perspective on those acts which were illegal 0:15:43.191 --> 0:15:47.870 and horribly detrimental to the process of government in the US. 0:15:49.311 --> 0:15:52.710 There was another problem too. Even though the real life 0:15:52.751 --> 0:15:56.151 story all over North was full of exciting scenes and details, 0:15:56.710 --> 0:15:59.791 from a screenwriter's perspective, it was missing something crucial. 0:16:00.151 --> 0:16:04.031 One of the challenges of writing the script was to 0:16:04.071 --> 0:16:09.511 give voice to an opposing, ethical, moral, legal point of 0:16:09.590 --> 0:16:14.590 view when it came to the Shenanigans that North was 0:16:15.151 --> 0:16:15.830 carrying off. 0:16:16.710 --> 0:16:20.911 As Robe saw it, Oliver North needed a foil, someone 0:16:20.951 --> 0:16:24.151 to challenge his point of view, to generate conflict and 0:16:24.191 --> 0:16:28.711 introduce a moral counterweight. The trouble was Robe didn't think 0:16:28.751 --> 0:16:32.271 that person actually existed in the Reagan White House. Bud 0:16:32.311 --> 0:16:35.590 McFarlane apparently didn't fit the bill. 0:16:34.791 --> 0:16:40.191 And I resorted, out of necessity, frankly, to a much 0:16:40.311 --> 0:16:46.031 used docu drama device called the composite character, and I 0:16:46.151 --> 0:16:48.191 named him Aaron Sykes. 0:16:48.511 --> 0:16:53.031 I'm looking for, mister Sykes. Oh that's me, Oliver North, reporting, Sir, 0:16:53.311 --> 0:16:54.230 Major US. 0:16:54.111 --> 0:16:59.230 Marines, Aaron Sikes, Tiger, Princeton University. Welcome to the National 0:16:59.231 --> 0:17:00.551 Security Council, Major. 0:17:00.511 --> 0:17:04.631 And I made him a colleague of Oliver Norse at 0:17:04.631 --> 0:17:09.791 the National Security Council, a man who fictionally knew Oliver 0:17:09.791 --> 0:17:14.110 from most of his career and became the voice of 0:17:14.671 --> 0:17:19.671 reason when it came to judging Oliver North's misdeeds. Listen, 0:17:19.711 --> 0:17:22.671 ALEI for those maps for the contras. 0:17:23.071 --> 0:17:26.511 Yep, But I thought we weren't allowed to pass on 0:17:26.551 --> 0:17:28.071 any kind of military intelligence. 0:17:28.471 --> 0:17:30.430 Well, the CIA can't, I can't. 0:17:31.911 --> 0:17:32.911 But that's not what we're. 0:17:32.751 --> 0:17:35.391 Hearing, boy, Aaron Sykes. 0:17:35.870 --> 0:17:39.390 Robe created a White House official with misgivings, someone who 0:17:39.511 --> 0:17:41.191 is willing to push back against North. 0:17:42.071 --> 0:17:45.350 There's a line I remember at one point when North 0:17:45.511 --> 0:17:50.871 is facing expulsion from the NSC. North is our right, 0:17:51.271 --> 0:17:55.910 and he he says to Aaron Sykes regarding all of 0:17:55.951 --> 0:18:01.271 his transgressions, he doesn't care because the end justifies the means. 0:18:01.671 --> 0:18:04.031 The end justifies the means. 0:18:04.271 --> 0:18:04.830 Damn right. 0:18:05.031 --> 0:18:08.551 And Sykes retorts, but that's not what America's about, colonel. 0:18:08.791 --> 0:18:11.950 But you don't understand. America is about the means. 0:18:12.071 --> 0:18:15.390 Wake up and smell the dog crap, Aaron. We're fighting 0:18:15.390 --> 0:18:16.511 for democracy down. 0:18:16.390 --> 0:18:20.551 There by keeping it a secret from democracy here. Sell 0:18:20.590 --> 0:18:21.750 that somewhere else, colonel. 0:18:22.191 --> 0:18:27.031 And that's the way in which Aaron Sykes became the 0:18:27.231 --> 0:18:32.271 conscience of Oliver North, but also the rebuttal from so 0:18:32.350 --> 0:18:37.751 many Americans who were polarized and critical of what North represented. 0:18:39.390 --> 0:18:42.551 With a tight deadline from CBS, Robe and his team 0:18:42.630 --> 0:18:44.951 got started on the other major part of pre production, 0:18:45.590 --> 0:18:46.511 finding the cast. 0:18:46.951 --> 0:18:51.751 Once the mini series was announced, there was this national furor, 0:18:51.870 --> 0:18:55.110 this big brujja over who should play Home? Are there 0:18:55.231 --> 0:18:59.311 crazy things like al Pacino should play Oliver North or 0:18:59.711 --> 0:19:03.671 vera facet is obviously Von Hall. That was very popular. 0:19:04.311 --> 0:19:07.871 I kind of recall, however, there wasn't quite as big 0:19:07.911 --> 0:19:10.590 as a flood of interest in playing Oliver North himself, 0:19:10.630 --> 0:19:13.950 which is kind of ironic and maybe that can be 0:19:14.031 --> 0:19:16.190 chalked up to liberal Hollywood. 0:19:16.630 --> 0:19:19.590 The production team eventually founded There Oliver North in One 0:19:19.711 --> 0:19:23.671 David Keith, a Tennessee farm boy turned up and coming actor. 0:19:23.711 --> 0:19:26.551 Who was probably best known at the time in his 0:19:26.751 --> 0:19:30.670 role as Richard Gear's buddy and officer and a gentleman. 0:19:30.911 --> 0:19:32.031 I'm just not like you, Mayo. 0:19:32.590 --> 0:19:34.511 I can't shit all over people and just sleep like 0:19:34.511 --> 0:19:35.311 a baby at night. 0:19:36.150 --> 0:19:38.951 And I was fine with that choice. I was fine 0:19:38.991 --> 0:19:42.271 with David as an actor. I think he was okay 0:19:42.311 --> 0:19:45.511 with me as a director. What I didn't know was 0:19:45.590 --> 0:19:49.751 that he was a staunch conservative Republican and I wasn't. 0:19:50.071 --> 0:19:59.630 Maybe bullshit to you, buddy, but I wasn't raised that way. 0:20:01.551 --> 0:20:03.630 One of the most sought after roles in Guts and 0:20:03.671 --> 0:20:06.830 Glory was that of Fawn Hall North secretary who had 0:20:06.830 --> 0:20:10.191 testified before Congress about shredding documents and smuggling them out 0:20:10.191 --> 0:20:11.591 of North's office in her clothes. 0:20:11.991 --> 0:20:13.910 When I first moved to Hollywood, I had kind of 0:20:13.951 --> 0:20:18.430 a little career going playing older actresses in younger flashback scenes. 0:20:18.991 --> 0:20:22.231 That's Amy Stock. She had started her career playing the 0:20:22.311 --> 0:20:25.031 younger version of Joan van Ark's character on the soap 0:20:25.031 --> 0:20:26.390 opera Notts Landing. 0:20:26.630 --> 0:20:29.710 You know, I was very generic blonde, and so when 0:20:29.751 --> 0:20:32.791 Fawn Hall came around, Yeah, the resemblance was pretty striking. 0:20:33.511 --> 0:20:35.870 Stock had just wrapped an arc on the hit drama 0:20:35.991 --> 0:20:38.591 Dallas when she landed the audition for Guts and Glory. 0:20:38.830 --> 0:20:43.191 I went for the initial call, and I'm pretty sure 0:20:43.551 --> 0:20:46.950 it was either the shredding scene between Oliver North and 0:20:46.991 --> 0:20:50.711 Fawn Hall. Are you sure? Hell? 0:20:50.830 --> 0:20:50.870 No. 0:20:52.231 --> 0:20:55.471 I wanted to show this to my grandkids, but I've 0:20:55.511 --> 0:20:58.831 never disobeyed an order in my wife, or was. 0:20:58.791 --> 0:21:02.910 The interview when she walks into oliverant North's office. 0:21:03.071 --> 0:21:05.830 So you're right about the job, miss Hall. 0:21:06.390 --> 0:21:09.351 Fawn Hall, Miss Hall, if you'd like to come aboard, 0:21:09.590 --> 0:21:09.991 I'd be on. 0:21:11.551 --> 0:21:15.231 And then I was called back basically because I looked 0:21:15.271 --> 0:21:17.751 so much like her. I'd like to think is because 0:21:17.751 --> 0:21:20.390 I was a great actress. But you know, I think 0:21:20.431 --> 0:21:23.231 it was morcause I looked a lot like her and 0:21:23.271 --> 0:21:25.390 then got the part and was. 0:21:25.991 --> 0:21:28.950 Thrilled Major North's office. 0:21:32.511 --> 0:21:35.590 And I immediately said, I want to meet Vawn Hall. 0:21:35.630 --> 0:21:37.991 I want to talk with her. I want to get 0:21:37.991 --> 0:21:40.671 close to her as I possibly can get about her 0:21:40.711 --> 0:21:41.910 story and her side of things. 0:21:42.671 --> 0:21:45.751 Stock wanted to do Faun Hall justice, both because it 0:21:45.791 --> 0:21:48.830 was her first time playing a real person and because 0:21:48.830 --> 0:21:51.311 she felt Hall's portrayal in the media had been rather 0:21:51.471 --> 0:21:52.231 one dimensional. 0:21:52.951 --> 0:21:56.150 Well, I'm just going to say it. She came across 0:21:56.191 --> 0:21:58.590 as kind of shallow, you know, like a glory seeker 0:21:58.630 --> 0:22:01.870 in the newspaper, and she had this tiny, minor role 0:22:02.551 --> 0:22:06.271 important in what happened as it turns out. But a 0:22:06.311 --> 0:22:08.911 lot of people felt that she was trying to promote 0:22:08.951 --> 0:22:13.071 herself to during this whole thing, and I didn't want 0:22:13.110 --> 0:22:16.150 her to come across that way, so I tried to 0:22:17.471 --> 0:22:19.390 tried to make her as honest as possible, that she 0:22:19.471 --> 0:22:21.511 truly believed that what she was doing was right. 0:22:22.350 --> 0:22:24.510 Stock tried to schedule a meeting with Hall to get 0:22:24.551 --> 0:22:28.071 a better idea of her experience and motivations, but Hall 0:22:28.150 --> 0:22:31.230 did not want to talk. The rumor was that she 0:22:31.271 --> 0:22:34.271 had hoped to play herself in the movie, but that 0:22:34.390 --> 0:22:38.031 idea was ultimately shot down. As Robes said at the time, 0:22:38.590 --> 0:22:40.670 it would have blurred the line between the illusion of 0:22:40.711 --> 0:22:46.870 reality and reality itself. Stock did not give up. She 0:22:46.991 --> 0:22:49.511 knew that Vaughan Hall had moved to Los Angeles after 0:22:49.511 --> 0:22:52.270 her star turn in the Iran Contra hearings. She had 0:22:52.271 --> 0:22:54.630 started hanging out with celebrities and was said to be 0:22:54.671 --> 0:22:59.190