Air Force One: DIE HARD BUT WITH DEMOCRACY
GET OFF MY SUBSTACK!
Before Marvel movies dominated summer, before CGI and IP took over the multiplexes, there was Air Force One: a film that posed one very serious question—what if Harrison Ford were the President and also John McClane?
This week on Unspooled, we’re revisiting Air Force One (1997)—and here’s everything you didn’t know you needed to know.
SUMMER of 1997
Air Force One debuted July 25, 1997, with a strong $37.1 million, setting the record for the highest opening weekend ever for an R-rated film (which until Scary Movie topped that record in 2000). This opening was also Harrison Ford’s biggest solo launch ever.
By year’s end, Air Force One was the fourth-highest-grossing domestic film of 1997, pulling in $172.9 million domestically and $315.2 million worldwide. Put it at the #4 slot of the highest-grossing movies of the year behind MIB, The Lost World, and Liar Liar.
The Rejected Randy Newman Score
Randy Newman—of Toy Story fame—scored Air Force One first.
Director Wolfgang Petersen called it “a parody” and scrapped it. Enter Jerry Goldsmith, who re-scored the entire film in 12 days and vowed never to do that again.
listen to these back to back and see what you think.
GARY OLDMAN’S VILLAIN ACTUALLY MAKES SENSE?
“I would turn my back on God Himself for Mother Russia.”
He’s not just evil. He’s betrayed. And he thinks he’s the patriot.
Oldman plays Ivan Korshunov, a pro-Radek nationalist, whose hatred of the U.S. is personal, political, and weirdly well-argued. He served in Afghanistan. He watched America prop up dictators and walk away. He believes Russia has been humiliated. And to him, General Radek is a savior, not a war criminal.
The original script included a subplot in which the Secret Service agent (Xander Berkeley) who helps the terrorists was tied to CIA meddling in post-Soviet politics.
Screenwriter Andrew Marlowe explains
He was a guy whose career never got to where he wanted it to be and he could never afford the things he wanted in life. He didn't feel special in his world and those are the ingredients for somebody who can be cultivated, somebody who can be turned, somebody who can be paid off. And this was at a time when the Secret Service was considered apolitical. I think that in recent administrations, there have been conversations about, "Has the Secret Service become politicized?" So I think that I was looking at it not through political motivation, but through financial motivation.
HARRISON FORD AS THE VILLAIN… TO OTHER ACTORS
Welcome to Kashkaztan,…Ohio
Air Force One invents a country to avoid offending real ones—but the geopolitics are unmistakable. Kashkaztan is a thinly veiled mashup of Kazakhstan and Chechnya. Its fictional dictator, General Radek, is described as a Slavic Saddam Hussein.
However, in the Movie, Kazakhstan was actually in Ohio, and the prison where General Radick was held was the same prison used in The Shawshank Redemption.
The imposing stone gate you see in the movie wasn’t part of the original architecture—it was built for Air Force One. When the crew left, they removed the wall but left the gate, and it still stands there today.
The other Ohio Locations
Kremlin scenes = Cleveland City Hall
Ramstein Air Base = Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base
Radek’s palace = Severance Hall, home of the Cleveland Orchestra
Amy Put Her Hand in a Dictator’s Hand
While the movie’s fake country was called Kashkaztan, Amy once visited the very real capital of Kazakhstan, where she placed her hand inside this:
The gold handprint of President Nazarbayev, atop a glass tower in Astana. Shortly after, he renamed the entire city after himself. Then stepped down. Then they renamed it back.
UNSPOOLED RECOMMENDS
In the Line of Fire – Clint Eastwood vs. John Malkovich
Olympus Has Fallen – Air Force One but with more Throat Rips
The American President – Sorkin + POTUS = Rom Com?
Want more Unspooled?
PAUL IS IN SEATTLE, PORTLAND and VANCOUVER THIS WEEK!
Join Paul plus Andrew Dismukes (SNL), Edi Patterson (Righteous Gemstones), Rob Huebel (Childrens Hospital), Carl Tart (Grand Crew), Seth Morris (Kroll Show, Curb), Lily Sullivan (Comedy Bang Bang), Chad Carter and Owen Burke for a night of Improv!
July 9th Seattle 8PM
July 10th Portland - EARLY SHOW 7:30PM - SOLD OUT
July 10th Portland - LATE SHOW 9:45PM
July 12th Vancouver with HDTGM - Tickets will be released this week. Join the waitlist
This poll is lacking Dave Kovic from “Dave” who still gets my vote.
If you need a Russian extra you need Elya Baskin who was featured as a mid level baddie here shortly after being the “yay capitalism” guy in Austin Powers a few weeks earlier.