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Jan 9, 1998 · Wag the Dog: Directed by Barry Levinson. With Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Anne Heche, Woody Harrelson. Shortly before an election, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join efforts to fabricate a war in order to cover up a Presidential sex scandal.
Wag the dog is, as a political term, the act of creating a diversion from a damaging issue usually through military force. It stems from the generic use of the term to mean a small and seemingly unimportant entity (the tail) controls a bigger, more important one (the dog).
A 1997 film, directed by Barry Levinson, brought about a shortened version of the idiom, and added a new meaning. In the film, titled Wag the Dog, fictional political fixers orchestrate the invasion of a country in order to distract from a presidential sex scandal.
Two weeks prior to reelection, the United States president lands in the middle of a sex scandal. In need of outside help to quell the situation, presidential adviser Winifred Ames (Anne Heche ...
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Trailer for Barry Levinson's film starring Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Anne Heche, Denis Leary, Willie Nelson, Andrea Martin, Kirsten Dunst, William H. Macy, John Michael Higgins, Suzie...
Conrad Brean (Robert De Niro), a top spin doctor, is brought in by presidential aide Winifred Ames (Anne Heche) to take the public's attention away from the scandal. He decides to construct a fictional war in Albania, hoping the media will concentrate on this instead.
Dec 20, 2022 · The Oral History of Wag the Dog. Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Barry Levinson, and more look back at the political satire so ahead of its time it practically saw the future. By Kristopher...
