The Democratic National Convention is soon upon us, and Kamala Harris has already officially secured the Democratic Party’s nomination for President. Time to take a look at how fiction has superseded reality with some of the most memorable female US Presidents on film and television.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, will be the stars in Chicago on Monday, as the Democratic National Convention runs from tomorrow until Thursday 22 August.
This is a historic event as Kamala Harris has already officially secured the Democratic Party’s nomination for President – becoming the first woman of colour to win a major party’s nomination.
Hollywood is expected to hit the Windy City, with the likes of Uma Thurman, Yvette Nicole Brown, Anthony Anderson, Busy Philipps, David Cross and Danai Gurira set to make an appearance.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus has even dropped a big hint to The Times that she will be attending the DNC in support of Harris, adding that she plans to be “extra-involved” in Harris’ campaign to beat Donald Trump.
The award-winning actress is famous for several of her roles on the big and small screen, including Veep, the fantastic HBO political comedy created by Scottish satirist Armando Iannucci. The show, based on fictional vice-president Selina Meyer who ends up becoming POTUS, earned Louis-Dreyfus six Emmy Awards in the titular role. It ended in 2019 but viewership of the comedy has gone through the roof since Harris’s run was announced.
Louis-Dreyfus said the show played into the fact that female candidates are always more scrutinished than their male peers. She told The Times: “That is the reality and we played into it and used it to our comedic advantage. There is an episode in which a character suggests Selina open a speech with ‘As a woman’ and she said, ‘I can’t identify as a woman! People can’t know that! Men hate that and women who hate women hate that, which I believe is most women.’ So we used that for a lot of fodder. »
While there haven’t yet been any female Presidents in the US, fiction has surpassed reality a long time ago.
The earliest example dates back to 100 years ago, in the 1924 silent sci-fi comedy The Last Man on Earth, which shows a woman as President of the United States – a necessity rather than a choice, as the film depicts how all adult men die of disease « masculitis ».
Since then, there have been numerous films and TV shows that have depicted a female POTUS – including Ernestine Barrier in 1953’s sci-fi film Project Moon Base; Polly Bergen in Kisses for my President (1964); Patty Duke in the 1985 sitcom Hail to the Chief; Teresa Barnwell playing Hillary Clinton as president in an episode of the sci-fi show Sliders (1995); Natalie Portman at the end of Tim Burton’s 1996 sci-fi comedy Mars Attacks!; Glenn Close as technically the acting President in 1997’s Air Force One; and Christina Applegate as the US head of state in the 1998 comedy Mafia!.
Granted, there’s still a disproportionate number of men compared to (predominantly white) women who have occupied the fictional Oval Office – mostly on TV in recent years, with a lot rising to the fictional job after the respective male presidents resign or die. And while sci-fi movies have female Presidents more than any other genre, considering science fiction is often a precursor to real life… Maybe reality will finally catch up this year?
Time to take a look at how fiction has superseded reality with some of the most memorable female US Presidents on film and television from 2000 onwards.
President Mackenzie « Mac » Allen (played by Geena Davis) in ‘Commander in Chief’ (2006)
Geena Davis’ Mackenzie Allen was a former congresswoman and political independent drafted to be Vice President on the ticket of Republican Teddy Bridges, who soon dies of a brain aneurysm. Davis took home a Golden Globe for Best Actress for the role as the first female President. Throughout the show, several powerful men try to bring her down. She remains steadfast and stands as one of the best female Presidents on screen. Davis told The Hollywood Rerpoter that playing such an iconic role “meant a great deal” to her, as she felt it is important for both girls and boys to see powerful women onscreen.
President Caroline Reynolds (played by Patricia Wettig) in ‘Prison Break’ (2006)
Caroline Reynolds is a pretty evil POTUS. Played by Patricia Wettig, she is Vice President of the United States and frames one of our heroes Lincoln for the (fake) death of her brother. She stays Veep until the President is assassinated. And you guessed it, she poisons POTUS to get to the top job. Hardly a glowing endorsement of female Presidents, she can’t be faulted for a lack of ambition. Or for getting her hands dirty.
President Allison Taylor (played by Cherry Jones) in ’24’ (2008)
Fox’s hit TV show has had its fair share of presidents, but in the TV film 24: Redemption, President Allison Taylor is elected. She continued to hold office in seasons seven and eight. Actress Cherry Jones shared with Vulture that the touch-as-nails president, who does not cave in to terrorist demands despite the murder of her son, was not based on Hillary Clinton but was rather “a combination of Eleanor Roosevelt, Golda Meier and John Wayne.”
President of the United States (played by Stephanie Paul) in ‘Iron Sky’ (2012)
This Finnish sci-fi comedy sees Nazis return to earth in 2018, after having hid on the moon since their defeat in 1945. Yep, that’s the plot. It’s a ridiculous film – as well as one of the most expensive Finnish films ever made – with a great premise but a subpar execution. Still, the nameless President on Earth is a woman and New Zealand actress Stephanie Paul played her as a parody of Sarah Palin. Hardly a must-see film, but a fun enough comedy attempting to be a satire.
President Constance Payton (played by Alfre Woodard) in ‘State of Affairs’ (2014)
NBC’s State of Affairs ran for just one season, following CIA analyst Charleston (Katherine Heigl) who presents the daily briefing to President Constance Payton, the first African American female President of the United States. Woodard brought much gravitas to the role, and told the Huffington Post: « With Constance Payton, I had the great challenge to figure out how we would have an African-American president following the first African-American president and have the first woman when we haven’t voted a woman into that office yet. So I had to find a backstory, a real probability, a political reality, of how she got there. »
President Selina Meyer (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus) in ‘Veep’ (2014)
Selina Meyer’s presidency only began in Season 4 of Veep, after the President steps down to take care of his wife. Her chaotic tenure in the White House did not last long, as she is replaced by Andrea Savage’s Laura Montez during the Season 5 finale. That’s right – two female Presidents! However, Meyer does become POTUS once more during the final season. Meyer is hardly a stellar example to follow, as she is more obsessed by her legacy in the history books than actually doing any kind of good. However, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is fantastic in the role, making Meyer maybe not the best female President, but certainly the funniest one.
President Olivia Marsdin (played by Lynda Carter) in ‘Supergirl’ (2015)
The original Wonder Woman as POTUS… Indeed, Lynda Carter was a symbol for female empowerment as the DC character in the 1970s, and she does the same as the tactical President Olivia Marsdin. However, (spoilers) she is revealed to be an alien and has to resign. During her tenure in the White House, she seeks to protect both other refugees and people of America from alien attacks and other threats due to her experience as an alien refugee. « I used Hillary to prepare, » Carter told Variety in a 2016 interview. « I saw the way she can be warm and funny and inviting and serious. » We’re not sure who she looked to for the alien part.
President Elizabeth Lanford (played by Sela Ward) in ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ (2016)
Independence Day: Resurgence, the naff sequel to 1996’s Independence Day, features Sela Ward as Elizabeth Lanford, a POTUS who lost her entire family in the first alien attack. As fate would have it, she has to steer the country through a second invasion, and sadly, (spoiler) her character doesn’t make it to the end. Not the best ending for what seemed to be a decent enough female President with very little screen time.
President Charlie Roan (played by Elizabeth Mitchell) in ‘The Purge: Election Year’ (2016)
In the dystopian horror thriller The Purge: Election Year, Elizabeth Mitchell plays a Purge survivor who is elected President on a platform of ending the annual slaughterfest. She’s presented as noble, headstrong and in 2021’s The Forever Purge, we find out that she was succesful, as Charlie Roan was President for two terms and succeeded in cancelling the Purge during her eight years in power. More like her please. Less like the dwindling quality of The Purge films. Thank you.
President Claire Underwood (played by Robin Wright) in ‘House of Cards’ (2017)
At the end of the fifth season of the Netflix drama, Frank (Kevin Spacey) and Claire Underwood run together for the White House – and Claire is sworn in as President after Frank resigns in a cloud of scandal. The storyline was introduced as the show had to be rewritten, considering Spacey exited the show – also in a cloud of scandal. Still, Claire is a powerful and confident woman, and machinations be damned, she makes for a fine President.
President Elizabeth Keane (played by Elizabeth Marvel) in ‘Homeland’ (2017)
Elizabeth Keane, a senator from New York, is elected President in the season six finale of Homeland. She is forced to step down the next season, and necessarily so, as she’s suspicious of the CIA after surviving an assassination attempt. « At this moment, at what is happening in our world, it’s a great honour to play a female president,” Marvel told The Wrap in 2018. “I also really appreciated that they did not just paint her as this noble virtuous hero. She was a survivor. She was a very complicated individual that they created.”
President Mellie Grant (played by Bellamy Young) in ‘Scandal’ (2017)
At the end of the sixth season of the ABC drama, Bellamy Young’s Mellie Grant loses the presidential election, only for her opponent to be assassinated before he is sworn in. After much plotting, Grant is sworn in as the 45th POTUS. Presented as a fighter and a champion of women, she appoints Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) as her Chief of Staff and it is suggested that Pope would take her place after her term in office. Needless to say, she makes for a far, far better President than the real-life 45th…
President Charlotte Field (played by Charlize Theron) in ‘Long Shot’ (2019)
In this surprisingly decent 2019 odd-couple rom-com, Seth Rogen plays a journalist who reunites with his former childhood babysitter, who is now serving as Secretary of State. She’s everything he’s not (polished, successful) but still decides to hire him as a speechwriter after she reads some of his columns. It all works out for Field, as she is elected President and the two marry. When she is sworn in as the first female President, he becomes “First Mister”, having taken her last name.
President Ellen Waverly Wilson (played by Jodi Balfour) in ‘For All Mankind’ (2019)
Apple TV+’s science fiction drama sees an astronaut (Balfour) become NASA administrator, senator, and later President. And she’s also a gay woman – the first time a fictional female President is part of the LGBTQ+ community. “As a lifelong member of ‘the second sex,’ standing, sitting, acting in that Oval Office felt like conjuring a truer and more beautiful world, one that I trust a lot of us long for, » Balfour told The Hollywood Reporter.
President Janie Orlean (played by Meryl Streep) in ‘Don’t Look Up’ (2021)
In Netflix’s clumsy but enjoyable apocalyptic political satire Don’t Look Up, none other than Meryl Streep portrays President Janie Orlean, who doesn’t want to believe that there’s a comet headed to the Earth. Apparently based on both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the character is far from a noble one, as she would rather commercially exploit the comet and rake in millions in the face of global catastrophe rather than listen to scientific fact. Moral of the story at the end of Don’t Look Up – facts matter, and sometimes Presidents (male or female) should do well to remember it.
There we have it.
Although female Presidents on screen don’t always have the best writing team behind them and there’s still some way to go, maybe life will imitate art and the US will soon have its first female POTUS.
78 more days to find out…
