Harvey Weinstein invites Michele Bachmann to premiere of his new film
Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has a new political satire coming out in a few months and he'd like Michele Bachmann to co-host its American premiere in Iowa -- or so says a statement he released Tuesday at the Toronto Film Festival.
The film, Butter, stars Jennifer Garner as the ambitious wife of a butter sculpting champion who decides to participate in the contest after her husband unexpectedly retires. Garner's character, said to have Bachmann-like traits, has also been compared to Sarah Palin in previous movie summaries.
In an appearance last month on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, Weinstein, a major donor to Democratic candidates and causes, described the character this way: "She's tall. She's good looking. And she's a little frightening. And it takes place in Des Moines, Iowa."
At the Toronto premiere of Butter, another of the film's actresses, Olivia Wilde, read aloud Weinstein's statement.
"I know Michele will already be in Iowa for the caucus, so we can save some money on airfare and travel," Wilde read. "I would of course be more than happy to fly in the other leading members of the Tea Party movement to make an entire day of it."
As Weinstein's statement continued, its tone grew increasingly cheeky.
"We could take some math classes in the morning to help balance the budget, brush up on the Constitution in the afternoon, play some ping-pong and then maybe some verbal ping-pong on gay rights and women's rights (especially the right to choose). But at night we can all go hand-in-hand to the premiere of Butter, a fun and important film where we'll share some popcorn and laughs. These are the kind of bipartisan effort that makes America great."
In what may be pure coincidence, Bachmann has herself won a butter carving contest at the Minnesota State Fair in 2002 when she was a state senator. Bachmann's office sent a press release about the event noting that she had been named grand champion and first place winner in the celebrity contest for carving a glass of milk with a heart shape emblem inscribed with "Drink Milk."
The future congresswoman also carved the number "4" into the glass, as a reminder to children that they needed four servings of milk each day.
The Bachmann camp did not respond to a request for a comment about Weinstein's invitation.