John McCain, Culture Warrior.(upcoming hearings involving motion picture industry)(Brief Article)

Later this spring, at about the time the film industry lines up to collect the Oscar statuettes they award themselves in March, studio executives are scheduled to be swearing to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth back in Washington in U.S. Senate hearing rooms. Leading the Hollywood witnesses through their oaths, and the questioning that will follow, will be John McCain, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, ex-fighter pilot turned culture warrior.

McCain emerged as the Senate's point man against Hollywood last fall, when he presided over hearings about a Federal Trade Commission report revealing that studios aggressively market R-rated films to children. That placed him at the center of a storm that could eventually hit L.A. harder than the Santa Ana winds.

Already, Entertainment Weekly has tagged McCain "Judge Dread." Certainly the ex-POW will be harder to marginalize than some of the other members of congress who have sparred with Hollywood. For one, John McCain is more agile at cozying up to the press. He personally returned TAE's call asking about his next move. Plus, McCain enjoys an affection from film industry players that eludes other conservative politicians.

"I've known John a long time," Warren Beatty told the Los Angeles Times last year, "I love the guy." Dreamworks' David Geffen, Universal's Ron Meyer, and Warner's Alan Horn have all written checks to McCain. During the presidential primaries, McCain held a $1,000-a-person fundraiser at the Beverly Hilton and had no problem filling the room.

Even more unusual is the fact that McCain has his own little movie deal brewing. In late 1999, riding high in presidential politics, McCain sold the film rights to his military memoir, Faith of Our Fathers, to Barry Diller's USA Films for $100,000. One script draft has been completed, and actor Ed Norton has reportedly expressed interest in it. McCain himself has talked about the potential film with Robert Duvall. Some insiders say this deal may be more about Hollywood trying to ingratiate itself with a powerful Washingtonian than about actually making a movie. In any case, after what McCain seems to have planned for the industry in the wake of the FTC report and the hearings last fall, he may not be able to get a flight to LAX, let alone a premiere in Westwood.

John McCain was slow to tune in to the issue of ...