Bryan Keefer is co-author of the New York Times bestseller All the President's Spin: George W. Bush, the Media, and the Truth. He is currently Director of Product for The Daily Beast, an online media startup backed by IAC.
He was previously Managing Editor of Brijit.com a site that provided short reviews and summaries of long-form journalism. He has also provided strategic and editorial consulting services to a number of online properties and media outlets.
Bryan was the founding Assistant Managing Editor of CJR Daily, the daily web site of the Columbia Journalism Review. Established in 2004 as CampaignDesk.org, the site critiqued and improved political journalism during the presidential campaign. It was awarded honorable mention for distinguished contribution to online journalism by the National Press Club in 2005. The site was also a finalist for the Webby for best political blog in 2006, and a finalist for the 2006 Online Journalism Award for best online commentary.
In 2001, he co-founded Spinsanity, a web site devoted to debunking political spin from pundits and partisans. His work has also been featured in publications including Salon, the Columbia Journalism Review, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Washington Post, and he has been profiled in publications including Washingtonian magazine, the Washington City Paper, and Reason.
Bryan has hosted and produced a series of panels about environmentalism and next-wave culture for the Strand bookstore in downtown New York, and previously hosted a series of panels on media and digital culture topics at Makor, the 92nd Street Y's center for New Yorkers in their 20s and 30s. He has appeared on numerous radio and television shows, including "On the Media" on NPR and "The Brian Lehrer Show" on WNYC radio, CNBC's "Dennis Miller," and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." He is based in New York.
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Hollywood Becomes a Member of the Reality-Based Community
Apropos of seeing “Capote” tonight, I’m struck by how many Oscar nominations this year are for various celebrity-inspired movies and roles: Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote, Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, and David Strathairn as Edward R. Murrow are all up for best actor; Reese Witherspoon is nominated for best actress as June Carter Cash; and Catherine Keener is up for best supporting actress as Harper Lee.
And then there’s plenty of nominations in the real-but-not-famous category: George Clooney is nominated for best supporting actor for playing CIA agent Richard Barnes in “Syriana,” along with Paul Giamatti in the same category for playing Joe Gould in “Cinderella Man,” and Judy Dench is nominated for best actress as Laura Henderson in “Mrs. Henderson Presents.” You might even count Charlize Theron for best actress and Frances McDormand for best supporting actress in “North Country” (which is a “based on").
Two of the best picture nominess—“Capote” and “Good Night and Good Luck” and—are, to greater or lesser degrees, celebrity-based, and “Munich” is another “based on.” (Last year had three similar films nominated: “The Aviator” about Howard Hughes, “Finding Neverland” about Peter Pan author J.M Barrie, “Ray” about Ray Charles.)
So pick your moral to this story:
• Reality TV (especially celebrity-based reality TV) has taken over Hollywood
• Critics like to watch celebrities playing celebrities
• Truth is stranger than fiction
• Truth(ish) does better box office than fiction
• Truth is more interesting than most of the sludge that makes it to the big screen (yes, I’m looking at you, “Batman Begins")
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filed under: Movies