Ed Norton on Trailing the Obama Campaign

HBO and Edward Norton's production company have teamed up to produce a record of Barack Obama's historic campaign, By the People: The Election of Barack Obama, premiering November 3. What started out as a documentary of a senator turned out to be one of the biggest undertakings Norton and the filmmakers have ever experienced. The team worked on By the People for over three years, chronicling the life of the Obama family and those who gave their all for Barack to get elected. The result is a sensationally moving depiction of the campaign trail that displays the strength of Obama and those he inspired. We caught up with Norton and filmmakers Amy Rice and Alicia Sams to hear about their experience making the film and being given an all-access pass into the life of our president-to-be.

On what inspired the filmmakers to create this documentary and follow Obama originally:
Amy Rice: I watched his convention speech in ‘04 and I was really impressed with what he had to say. I felt for the first time that he was a politician of my generation. And if you think back at that time. the country was so divided. and he was saying something new and something different. “We’re not blue states, we’re not red states, we’re the United States.” I bought his book and read his story. and he has an incredible, modern-day story, and that’s how the idea was conceived. I thought, ‘Wow, this guy could be the first African American president, that could make a great documentary.’

On the limitations of making a film that originated as a documentary of a senator, and ended with the election of a President:
Edward Norton: If you try to over-define things in this situation, they can blow back on you in a way. I think one of the smartest things we did strategically is that we slow-played it. First and foremost when we proposed it to him, it wasn’t about a presidential run. It was about chronicling a senator’s experiences in his first term. We had nine months to keep telling them that we were not engaged in an expose on Obama. Then when it became a campaign, they already knew us, and there was definitely a moment of transitioning. We were not the press, and we were not trying to exploit it. Eventually I think they saw that we were here for the long run and this was more of a historical record and not something in the short-view that would make them vulnerable to the media cycle.

On the film as a modern-day lesson in civics:
EN: When I watch it, one of the first things I saw that I was most pleased about was that it succeeded as a film apart from access to Obama. I think when it really started to gel for me is when these guys showed it to me, and things like the Iowa section—I really had never understood caucus politics until I saw it.
AR: It’s also a modern-day lesson in civics, how this campaign really changed how people run things, with the involvement of the internet and engaging the youth.

On what shocked them the most while making this documentary:
Alicia Sams: The most surprising thing to me was that it happened. I mean, we started in the Senate, and I did not think it would happen this quickly. I did think it would happen one day, but the speed of it was very surprising to me.
AR: I think what was surprising for me was that I didn’t really grow up in a political family, so I just experienced what was going on behind the scenes and what a campaign entailed, and the back and forth between the media, and what a grueling process it was.
EN: And she was surprised at what a political junkie she actually was. I was surprised at what an undertaking what you thought was such a small project turned out to be.

On going through the experience with Obama early and whether or not he has lived up to the hype:
AR: It’s too soon to tell. He’s only been in office for nine months. From what I experienced with him on the trail, there was always a plan, there was always a long-term goal. And I assume they have that same mentality right now.