''Recount'' is a 2008 political drama

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

about Florida's vote recount during the

2000 United States presidential election The 2000 United States presidential election was the 54th quadrennial United States presidential election, presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 2000. Republican Party (United States), Republican candidate George W. Bush, the gover ...

. Written by

Danny Strong Daniel William Strong (born June 6, 1974) is an American actor, film and television writer, director, and producer. As an actor, Strong is best known for his roles as Jonathan Levinson in '' Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and Doyle McMaster in ''Gilm ...

and directed by

Jay Roach Mathew Jay Roach (born June 14, 1957) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the ''Austin Powers'' film series, '' Meet the Parents'', ''Dinner for Schmucks'', '' The Campaign'', '' Trumbo'', and '' Bombshell''. Roach also ea ...

, the television film stars

Kevin Spacey Kevin Spacey Fowler (born July 26, 1959) is an American actor. He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, obtaining supporting roles before gaining a leading man status in film and television. Spacey has received various accolades ...

Bob Balaban Robert Elmer Balaban (born August 16, 1945) is an American actor, author, comedian, director and producer. He was one of the producers nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture for ''Gosford Park'' (2001), in which he also appeared. Balab ...

, Ed Begley Jr.,

Laura Dern Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, and five Golden Globe Awards. Born to actor Bruce Dern and ac ...

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors. Director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in t ...

Denis Leary Denis Colin Leary (born August 18, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. A native of Massachusetts, Leary first came to prominence as a stand-up comedian, especially through appearances on MTV (including the comedic song "Asshole (song), Assh ...

Bruce McGill Bruce Travis McGill (born July 11, 1950) is an American actor. He worked with director Michael Mann in the movies '' The Insider'' (1999), ''Ali'' (2001), and ''Collateral'' (2004). McGill's other notable film roles include Daniel Simpson "D-Day" ...

, and

Tom Wilkinson Thomas Geoffrey Wilkinson (born 5 February 1948)Born January–March 1948, according to the ''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com is an English actor of film, television, and stage. He has rece ...

. It premiered on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

on May 25, 2008. The television film was nominated for eleven

Primetime Emmy Awards The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...

, winning three for Outstanding Made for Television Movie, Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special (for Roach), and Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries or a Movie (for Baumgarten). It was also nominated for five

Golden Globe Awards The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

and winning Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (for Dern).

Plot

''Recount'' chronicles the 2000 U.S. presidential election ''

Bush v. Gore ''Bush v. Gore'', 531 U.S. 98 (2000), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court on December 12, 2000, that settled a recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. On December 8, th ...

'' case between Governor of Texas

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

and U.S. Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

. It begins with the election on November 7 and ends with the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

ruling, which stopped the

Florida election recount The 2000 United States presidential election recount in Florida was a period of vote recounting in Florida that occurred during the weeks after Election Day in the 2000 United States presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Go ...

on December 12. Key points depicted include: Gore's retraction of his personal telephone concession to Bush in the early hours of November 8; the decision by the Gore campaign to sue for hand recounts in Democratic strongholds where voting irregularities were alleged, especially in light of the statistical dead heat revealed by the reported machine recount;

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

pressure on

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

's Secretary of State

Katherine Harris Katherine Harris (born April 5, 1957) is a former American politician. A Republican, Harris served in the Florida Senate from 1994 to 1998, as Secretary of State of Florida from 1999 to 2002, and as a member of the United States House of Represe ...

in light of her legally mandated responsibilities; the attention focused on the hand recounts by media, parties, and the public; the two major announcements by Florida Supreme Court spokesman

Craig Waters Craig Waters was the public information officer and communications director for the Florida Supreme Court in Tallahassee from June 1, 1996, through February 28, 2022. He worked in the open government and First Amendment rights as a lawyer and g ...

extending the deadline for returns in the initial recount (November 21, 2000) and ordering a statewide recount of votes (December 8, 2000), and later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court; and finally the adversarial postures of the Supreme Courts of

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, as well as the dissenting opinions among the higher court's justices.

Cast

Ron Klain Ronald Alan Klain ( ; born August 8, 1961) is an American attorney, political consultant, and former lobbyist serving as White House chief of staff under President Joe Biden. A Democrat, he was previously chief of staff to two vice presidents ...

Warren Christopher Warren Minor Christopher (October 27, 1925March 18, 2011) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician. During Bill Clinton's first term as president, he served as the 63rd United States Secretary of State. Born in Scranton, North Dakota, ...

James Baker James Addison Baker III (born April 28, 1930) is an American attorney, diplomat and statesman. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 10th White House Chief of Staff and 67th United States Secretary of the Treasury under President ...

as Michael Whouley * Ed Begley, Jr. as

David Boies David Boies (; born March 11, 1941) is an American lawyer and chairman of the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. Boies rose to national prominence for three major cases: leading the U.S. federal government's successful prosecution of Microsof ...

as Ben Ginsberg *

as Mac Stipanovich * Paul Jeans as Ted Olson *

Bruce Altman Bruce Altman (born July 3, 1955) is an American film and television actor. He is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. Early life Altman was born in The Bronx, New York. He is of Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish ...

as Mitchell Berger * Alex Staggs as

* Doug Williford as Mark Fabiani *

Gary Basaraba Gary Basaraba (born March 16, 1959) is a Canadian actor. He appeared as Sergeant Richard Santoro on Steven Bochco's ''Brooklyn South'' and Officer Ray Hechler on the critically acclaimed but short-lived ''Boomtown''. He has worked for Martin ...

as Clay Roberts * Stefen Laurantz as

Joe Allbaugh Joe M. Allbaugh (born July 27, 1952) is an American political figure in the Republican Party. After spending most of his career in Oklahoma and Texas, Allbaugh came to national prominence working for Texas governor George W. Bush and helping mana ...

Mitch Pileggi Mitch Pileggi (born April 5, 1952) is an American actor. He played Horace Pinker in '' Shocker'', Walter Skinner on ''The X-Files'', Colonel Steven Caldwell on ''Stargate Atlantis'', Ernest Darby in ''Sons of Anarchy'', and Harris Ryland in th ...

as Bill Daley *

Jayne Atkinson Jayne Atkinson (born 18 February 1959) is a British-American actress. She is best known for the role of Karen Hayes on '' 24'', as well as her Tony Award–nominated roles in '' The Rainmaker'' and '' Enchanted April''. She has also appeared in ...

as Theresa LePore *

Marcia Jean Kurtz Marcia Jean Kurtz is an American film, stage, and television actress and director. She has appeared in such films as ''The Panic in Needle Park'', '' In Her Shoes'', and '' Big Fan'', appearing as Miriam Douglas in ''Dog Day Afternoon'' and ''In ...

as Carol Roberts * Mary Bonner Baker as Kerey Carpenter * Bob Kranz as

Bob Butterworth Robert A. Butterworth Jr. (born August 20, 1942) is an American attorney and politician from the U.S. state of Florida. Early life and career Butterworth was born in Passaic, New Jersey, and moved to Florida with his family as a child. He re ...

Raymond Forchion Raymond Forchion is an American actor, writer, producer, and director who has appeared in film, television and stage. Aside from several pilots and TV movies, he has co-starred on such series as ''Burn Notice'', ''Numb3rs'', '' Star Trek: The Ne ...

as Jeff Robinson * Steve DuMouchel as

John Hardin Young John "Jack" Hardin Young is a trial lawyer who has a reputation for work in election law and electoral recounts. He was on the team of lawyers for the Democratic National Committee during the 2000 Florida election recount and the Bush v. Gore case ...

Marc Macaulay Marc Macaulay (born October 13, 1957) is an American actor. Early life and career He was born and raised in Millinocket, Maine. He graduated with a BFA in theater. He appeared in the USA Network Series '' Burn Notice'' for five episodes as Age ...

Robert Zoellick Robert Bruce Zoellick (; ; born July 25, 1953) is an American public official and lawyer who was the eleventh president of the World Bank, a position he held from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2012. He was previously a managing director of Goldman Sach ...

Antoni Corone Antoni Corone is an American actor and producer. He is perhaps best known for playing " Frank Urbano" in the American drama television series '' Oz'', Only Fools and Horses as Rico Ochetti and also being known for playing the role of "Captain W ...

Tom Feeney Thomas Charles Feeney III (born May 21, 1958) is an American politician from Orlando, Florida. He represented . He was defeated in the 2008 election by Democrat Suzanne Kosmas. Early life He was born in Abington, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Phi ...

* Matt Miller as

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush a ...

* Terry Loughlin as

William Rehnquist William Hubbs Rehnquist ( ; October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American attorney and jurist who served on the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years, first as an associate justice from 1972 to 1986 and then as the 16th chief justice from ...

* Judy Clayton as

Sandra Day O'Connor Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is an American retired attorney and politician who served as the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was both the first woman nominated and th ...

William Schallert William Joseph Schallert (July 6, 1922 – May 8, 2016) was an American character actor who appeared in dozens of television shows and films over a career spanning more than 60 years. He is known for his roles on ''Richard Diamond, Private ...

John Paul Stevens John Paul Stevens (April 20, 1920 – July 16, 2019) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1975 to 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the second-oldes ...

Bruce Gray Bruce Gray (September 7, 1936 – December 13, 2017) was a Canadian actor, known for multiple roles in films and television shows for over 5 decades. Early Years Gray was born in Puerto Rico and lived in Toronto after 1949. He graduated from ...

Anthony Kennedy Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by Presid ...

* Michael Bryan French as

David Souter David Hackett Souter ( ; born September 17, 1939) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1990 until his retirement in 2009. Appointed by President George H. W. Bush to fill the seat t ...

* Howard Elfman as

Stephen Breyer Stephen Gerald Breyer ( ; born August 15, 1938) is a retired American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and repl ...

* Jack Shearer as

Antonin Scalia Antonin Gregory Scalia (; March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectu ...

* Benjamin Clayton as

Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 199 ...

* Bradford DeVine as Charles T. Wells * Candice Critchfield as Judge Myriam Lehr * Annie Cerillo as Barbara Pariente * Brewier Welch as Harry Lee Anstead *

Derek Cecil Derek Cecil (born January 5, 1973) is an American actor. He played the role of Seth Grayson on the Netflix series ''House of Cards'', starred in the short-lived series ''Push, Nevada'' and '' The Beat'', and made several appearances in the series ...

Jeremy Bash Jeremy B. Bash (born August 13, 1971) is an American lawyer. He was the chief of staff at the Central Intelligence Agency (2009–2011) and the U.S. Department of Defense (2011–2013) under President Barack Obama. As a senior advisor to Leon Pan ...

* Robert Small as George J. Terwilliger III * Patricia Getty as Margaret D. Tutwiler * Christopher Schmidt as

John E. Sweeney John Edward Sweeney (born August 9, 1955) is an American politician from the U.S. state of New York. A Republican, he represented New York's 20th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from January 1999 to January ...

* Olgia Campbell as

Donna Brazile Donna Lease Brazile (; born December 15, 1959) is an American political strategist, campaign manager and political analyst who served twice as acting Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). She is currently an ABC News contributor, ...

* James Carrey as Chris Lehane * Brent Mendenhall as

* Grady Couch as

* David Lodge as

Joe Lieberman Joseph Isadore Lieberman (; born February 24, 1942) is an American politician, lobbyist, and attorney who served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013. A former member of the Democratic Party (Uni ...

* Carole Wood as

Tipper Gore Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Gore (née Aitcheson; born August 19, 1948) is an American social issues advocate, activist, photographer and author who was the second lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001. She was married to Al Gore, the 45th vi ...

* Mark Lamoureux as

Reporter A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

* Tom Hillmann as Brad Blakeman *

Adam LeFevre Adam LeFevre (born August 11, 1950) is an American character actor, poet, and playwright who works in cinema, television, theater and commercials. Biography LeFevre was born in Albany, New York, the son of Helen (née Rhodes), a hospital patient ...

as Mark Herron

Production

Director

In April 2007, it was announced that

Sydney Pollack Sydney Irwin Pollack (July 1, 1934 – May 26, 2008) was an American film director, producer and actor. Pollack directed more than 20 films and 10 television shows, acted in over 30 movies or shows and produced over 44 films. For his film ''Out ...

would direct the film. By August, weeks away from the start of

principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

, Pollack withdrew from the project due to a then-undisclosed illness, and was replaced by

. Pollack died of cancer on May 26, 2008, one day after ''Recount'' premiered on HBO.

Casting

On September 24, 2007, it was announced that Kevin Spacey would star as

Filming

''Recount'' was shot in

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

and

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...

Reception

Reviews

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 78%, based on 18 reviews, and an average rating of 6.4/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Mark Moorman of ''

Het Parool ''Het Parool'' () is an Amsterdam-based daily newspaper. It was first published on 10 February 1941 as a resistance paper during the German occupation of the Netherlands (1940–1945). In English, its name means ''The Password'' or ''The Motto' ...

'', gave the film a rating of four stars on a scale of five, calling ''Recount'' an "amazing and funny reconstruction".

Response to fictionalization

Some critics have made charges of bias against the film. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' wrote, "''Recount'' may not be downright blue, but it's not as purply as it wants to appear. Despite its equal time approach, ''Recount'' is an underdog story, and thus a Democrat story." Film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

disputed claims of bias in his review of the film, stating, "You might assume the movie is pro-Gore and anti-Bush, but you would not be quite right." In an interview with

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

's ''Reliable Sources'', director

responded that the film, "wasn't 100 percent accurate, but it was very true to what went on. ... That's what dramatizations do: stitch together the big ideas with, sometimes, constructs that have to stand for a larger truth." Roach cited ''

All the President's Men ''All the President's Men'' is a 1974 non-fiction book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, two of the journalists who investigated the June 1972 break-in at the Watergate Office Building and the resultant political scandal for ''The Washingto ...

'' as an example.

Jake Tapper Jacob Paul Tapper (born March 12, 1969) is an American journalist, author, and cartoonist. He is the lead Washington anchor for CNN, hosts the weekday television news show ''The Lead with Jake Tapper'', and co-hosts the Sunday morning public af ...

, an

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

newscaster who was a consultant for the film also stated in response that the film is "a fictional version of what happened" and "tilts to the left because it's generally told from the point of view of the Democrats." ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' further stated that Tapper noted that "while some scenes and language are manufactured, 'a lot of dialogue is not invented, a lot of dialogue is taken from my book, other books and real life.' " FlaSupremeCrtBldgFeb08

Florida Supreme Court spokesman

agreed that the script departed from the actual statements he made on live television from the courthouse steps in the fall of 2000. "But the words spoken by the actor who played me lex Staggs" Waters said, "are accurate paraphrasis of the things I actually said or of the documents released by the court at the time."

, who was sent by Gore to supervise the recount, has objected to his portrayal in the film. According to the ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidiar ...

'', Christopher: Baker agreed that the film exaggerated his rival's stance: "He's not that much of a wuss," said

Matea Gold Matea is a feminine given name. It is the feminine form of the male name Mateo, Matej or Matija, which are Croatian forms of Matthew. Notable people with the name include: * Matea Bošnjak, Croatian footballer * Matea Čiča, Croatian badminton ...

of the ''

''. Democratic strategist Michael Whouley has objected to the amount of swearing he does in the film, and was also uncomfortable with a scene involving a broken chair. In contrast, Bush legal advisers

and Benjamin Ginsberg have largely given the film good reviews; Baker even hosted his own screening of it, though he does refer to the film as a "

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

rendition" of what happened.

Awards and nominations

Gallery

Image:Craig Waters During the 2000 Election Appeals.jpg, Craig Waters talks with reporters before oral arguments, December 7, 2000 Image:Alex Staggs Portraying Craig Waters 2007.jpg, Alex Staggs as Craig Walters during filming on location for the HBO movie ''Recount'', November 3, 2007 Image: Actual Arguments Before the Florida Supreme Court 7 December 2000.jpg, The actual Florida Supreme Court listens to December 7, 2000, arguments Image: HBO Reinactment of Arguments Before the Florida Supreme Court 7 December 2000.jpg , HBO reenacts the December 7 argument during filming, November 4, 2007

References

External links

* * * {{United states presidential election and recount, 2000 2008 television films 2008 films 2008 drama films 2000 United States presidential election in Florida 2000s English-language films 2000s political drama films American films based on actual events American political drama films Drama films based on actual events American drama television films Films about the 2000 United States presidential election Films directed by Jay Roach Films scored by Dave Grusin Films shot in Jacksonville, Florida Films with screenplays by Danny Strong HBO Films films Political films based on actual events Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Made for Television Movie winners Television films based on actual events 2000s American films