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American Dreamz Picture 4
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American Dreamz Production Notes "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." - Andy Warhol
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 Glued to the Tube: The Cast and Crew Dissect Reality Television“ I'm talking human. And by human I mean flawed. And by flawed I mean freaks. Find me some freaks.”
-“American Dreamz” host Martin Tweed
In signing up for the project, the cast and crew were forced to reflect on questions such as, “Why are we watching these shows? Why are so many Americans enthralled with cheering for their favorites: for the underdog, for the most deserving, for the most talented? Is it a fad, or is there something deeper behind it?”
Notes Weitz, “Part of the appeal of `American Idol' or in this show `American Dreamz' is the idea that we can take somebody and make a star out of them. There's nothing better than sitting in the comfort of your living room and not dealing with your problems…and being thrown into the deepest desires of real people. Everybody in some way is consumed by a dream here, for better or for worse.”
The filmmakers and the cast offered multiple views and theories about why reality television has come to occupy the country's-and world's-attention. Hugh Grant offers, “I don't want to know that these shows are somewhat staged, just so long as it's fascinatingly repellant-that's all I care about. I think if I had a choice between having dinner with someone who is a completely worthless reality TV star or Hollywood royalty, I'd go for the worthless reality TV star every time. They're more interesting.”
Mandy Moore adds, “Reality shows provide the escapism we crave. I feel these shows are like sporting events without actual athletes. People who aren't into sports can tune in every week and vote to keep their people in the playoffs and then, hopefully, get down to the finals. It's perfect.”
“I really think that everybody wants to root for something…everybody loves it,” actor Chris Klein notes. “Why do people go to baseball games and NASCAR races? It's (to watch) people striving to do their best while others root them on.”
Tony Yalda takes a different perspective on the “rooting them on” aspect of the show…feeling it can often come from a more competitive place. He says, “When we watch `American Idol,' we love tuning into the horrible auditions and delude ourselves by thinking, `Yes, they're awful, and I'm better than they are.'”
Jennifer Coolidge reflects, “I think what happened for a lot of people was that reality television seemed to offer something refreshing and real. The reality shows were actually more real, truer to people than the absurd sitcom. You can tune into a reality show and feel, `Oh, my God, this is real.' But now, we have come the full spectrum to a place where a lot of the reality shows are not so real.”
Comic Seth Meyers simply wishes he “could figure it out. It's so beyond me how riveted we are by it, because I find it very uncomfortable to watch real people being real somewhere other than in regular life. So, I think I'm sort of on the outside looking in on this reality phenomenon.”
Sam Golzari agrees, “It's amazing living in and working in Hollywood. You quickly find out what reality shows are actually like, with these shows about Hollywood and the dreamers in it. When you air that around the world, specifically the Middle East, people think it's real-the American dream.”
The backdrop of a reality set allowed Weitz to play out his characters' storylines quite well. He found that not only is a home audience strangely affected by reality programs, but so too are the players on the set. Weitz concludes, “There's a scene in the finale of the show where the President is giving a completely pat, imbecilic speech about how he likes how the contestants exude what's best about America. They see what they want and they go for it.
“It's the kind of speech that one would totally gloss over,” he continues. “But backstage, Omer, who's deciding whether to blow himself up is hearing this speech, and it has tremendous meaning to him. It's at this point he makes his decision about whether or not to go through with the plot.”
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