Actor Jeff Daniels: Sorkin's Anti-America Speech 'Resonated with Me,' 'It's Gold'
Appearing as a guest on Friday's Piers Morgan Tonight on CNN, actor Jeff Daniels - who stars as Will McAvoy in HBO's The Newsroom - admitted that he agrees with a now infamous speech delivered by his character - and written by liberal producer Aaron Sorkin - in which McAvoy rants that "America is not the greatest country in the world anymore."
After running a partial clip of the speech, host Piers Morgan praised the writing as a "great speech," and posed the question: "When you said it, did you believe it yourself?"
Sitting alongside Sorkin who was also a guest, Daniels recalled the first time he saw the line after the liberal producer wrote it:
And I remember reading it, going, "You may not like it, you may disagree with it, you know, for those who are patriotic and wave the flag and don't want to hear it, but there's nothing in it that's not true."
And that, and all of it, each phrase, each thing that Aaron has Will say, it's all true. I'm sorry to tell you, but it's true. So that really resonated with me, and, to be able to say that, to be able to take words like the way this guy can put them together and throw it at the lens, throw it at an audience, it's, for an actor, it's gold.
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Comments
Yes, America has some problems..
Submitted by zenman1661 on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 7:31am.
But, compared to this country even the way it it is now. if we still aren't the greatest, then who the hell is.
And a good many
Submitted by misterbee241 on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 9:09am.
of those problems originate in Hollywood.
Americas Problem?
Submitted by NVRAT on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 9:11am.
The greatest country in the world is...HOLLYWOOD!... of course. Just ask the phony people (actors) who live there in the make believe country. The best way to fight this mob is to cut off all money to them, no more HBO, movies, television or anything that support their liberal cause.
The mental swamp that is
Submitted by nolotrippen on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 11:01am.
The mental swamp that is Hollywood is now the greatest! At least in their fevered, never read anything but Variety, minds.
“It is almost impossible to distinguish a politician from a gangster.” (Will Durant, 1931)
I predicted tea parties would return. Now I'm predicting dueling will return.
Why am I not surprised that
Submitted by motherbelt on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 7:33am.
Why am I not surprised that this conversation took place on the Piers Morgan show?
Who's Piers Morgan?
Submitted by rockyracoon on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 3:47pm.
Who's Piers Morgan?
Facts are like kryptonite to the liberal.
This episode of. . .
Submitted by rickbren on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 7:39am.
. . .the Piers Morgan show - Dumb and Dumber.
Actors and Newcasters
Submitted by oldfart on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 7:47am.
It is more and more evident with every passing day that people enter these professions because they are too stupid to think for themselves. All they have to do read what someone else has written for them.
Dirty Laundry
Submitted by cheesegrater on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 8:54am.
Remember the line from Don Henley's song, "I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here" (reading the news). Most, meaning almost all, people you see on television are in it for the fame it brings and nothing else.
Even the left is embarrassed
Submitted by Texndoc on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 7:59am.
If Obama was riding a wave and looked like he could be re-elected, this stuff would be praised.
Everything I've seen so far is that this series is so far to the radical left that even the MSM is panning the show and saying it's the biggest bomb of the season. I think they're worried, finally, about how United States bashing plays with the public.
With the election looming, could the media actually try to get this show off the air faster than Keith Olbermann?
Not surprised
Submitted by Kevin Groenhagen on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 7:59am.
In a recent article in Details magazine, Daniels said he had to have a stress test after Bush was reelected in 2004.
Did Morgan ask Daniels which country or countries is/are now greater than America?
Several
Submitted by updoc101 on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 8:50am.
Sweden, Austria, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Polynesia, Canada, Croatia...I could go on, but you get the picture. America ain't that great pal, not since about 2001.
Oops!
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 9:31am.
I think you got your date wrong.
It should read 2009.
Oh, I forget, was it Sweden or Switzerland where the government gives everyone a nice big, nasty, automatic weapon to tote around?
That is awesome!
DFTT
Submitted by Tugboat Phil on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 10:29am.
If libs interpreted the 2nd Amendment like they do the 1st, then Americans would be issued an automatic rifle on their 18th birthday....which would be AWESOME!!
freedom or tyranny
Submitted by MidAmerica on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 8:10am.
We heard this America bashing to excuse the miserable Carter years too. Then Reagan showed us that America was not the problem, democrats were.
America gets to choose again whether they want to be a great country.
Daniels can pound sand
Submitted by NotFondOfLibs on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 8:12am.
It is appropriate that Jeff Daniels was in the movie "Dumb and Dumber". It is his signature character. I'm so glad people like Daniels, Hanks, Freeman, etc reveal themselves to us so we can decide whether to boycott their next movie. In Daniels' case, except for Gettysburg, he hasn't done one movie that I have any respect for. Thanks for the heads up Jeff. Now we know where you stand.
Goddamn it Daniels....
Submitted by James3 on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 2:32pm.
Now I have to add you to my growing list of Hollywood actors that I USED TO admire. Thanks alot slapnuts. I really hope Dicaprio keeps his opinions to himself or there will be no one left.
Dicaprio? Are you refering
Submitted by Rusty Shackleford on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 2:34pm.
Dicaprio? Are you refering to Leonardo Dicaprio? You do realize that scrawny 40 year old teenager is an environmental fundamentalist don't you? He flies around in jets fearmongering on the dangers of global warming and sucks up to Al Gore? This kid is one of the worst in Hollywood.
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Chris Matthews: The Joy Behar of MSNBC.
Bill Maher: The Joy Behar of HBO.
Paul Krugman: The Joy Behar of The New York Times.
I knew it was too good to be true...
Submitted by James3 on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 5:42pm.
I stand corrected....note to self....put Leo on the list. I guess that's how much I pay attention to what these fools say off-screen.
Here's the real sentiment
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 8:16am.
If only the white heterosexual males (i.e. conservatives) would all leave America (preferably by dropping dead) then, and only then, can America once again be Number 1.
Hollywood's Reality?
Submitted by Rovin on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 8:22am.
Mr. Daniels suffers from what most liberal Hollywood “artist” fail to grasp---the difference between reality and make-believe/fiction. In the world of Hollywood, most actors believe what is said is reality. If they do their job well, they have convinced the movie-going public that what they are seeing and hearing is a real life situation. Nothing could be further from the truth. Imagination is a beautiful thing.
Mr. Sorkin and Mr. Daniels would like you to believe/imagine this nation is no longer the greatest in the world. Without viewing the movie or the script, the question must be asked: “What Nation is now “the greatest”, if not America”?
If not America - who?
Submitted by Mike the Tiger on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 8:33am.
The question is really two parts - If not America, then who? And why? What characteristic of any other overly regulated Hollywood viewed Utopia do they consider important enough that America would not be the best country on earth? Cuba healthcare? Russia's free speech? China's environmental policies?
Who cares?
Submitted by updoc101 on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 8:47am.
America is just as dysfunctional as any other country. The rich run it, the rich ruin it, the rich own it. The vast majority of people in the US don't make enough money to vote and know it and don't care. Other nations have better health care, better schools, better societies, better transportation systems. America has greed, weapons and a bought and paid for political system. What's so great about it? Our fat people?
Why do liberals, like
Submitted by roadsong on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 8:56am.
Why do liberals, like yourself, only see things in a negative light?
Then why are you still
Submitted by misterbee241 on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 9:14am.
here, jerk? Planes are leaving every day to a destination of your choice. You liberals all squawk about America, but NONE of you ever leave. Why is that? Please, go, take all your immorality, perversion and what have you with you. Please, go. Dont delay.
Contact me, I'll be glad to donate a few bucks for your plane ticket out of this hell hole. Others here probably will too.
Enough money to vote?
Submitted by Dave the mailman on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 9:39am.
Since when do they charge $ to vote?....
...you doofus, you didnt vote, you bought an Obama T-shirt!
Congradulations updoc, 3 1/2
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 9:42am.
Congradulations updoc, 3 1/2 years as a member and you have reached the milestone of 9 posts total, all in the last three weeks. You win "troll of the week". Time to head back to KOS, but before you go please tell us just how much it costs to vote?
Sad to say he's from Michigan
Submitted by ladeflippinda on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 9:00am.
Jeff, I used to like you, but first there was Dumb and Dumber and now this.
. . .bought and paid for political system
Submitted by Lipton on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 9:00am.
Please point me to a country that doesn't have that? It is the very reason why we should all advocate limited government? Stop being so self-righteous.
Jeff Daniels can just the the friggin' Hell out of my America
Submitted by Dave. on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 9:05am.
Tomorrow would be good, today even better.
Let him move to Cuba or North Korea and see how much money he makes.
Go straight to Hell, you commie rat bastard, and take your entire rat family with you.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Ditto!
Submitted by jon_torlin on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 9:24am.
I used to think he was a halfway decent actor....till Dumb and dumber like so many people have pointed out. But like Freeman and a whole lot of other actors recently, he's another on my list to avoid.
I'm gonna have to start looking more to Canadian or Australian or British shows and movies for entertainment, geez.
-Jon
You know, Jeff
Submitted by misterbee241 on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 9:07am.
you should have called it quits after Dumb and Dumber. that was your high water mark and your personal best. You'll never beat it.
Mouthing liberal platitudes somebody else wrote is no way to go through life.
I agree - it's not the same America
Submitted by Don L on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 9:25am.
As an arch-conservative, pro-life, pro-gun, pro-God, pro family values, pro-non-government run businesses, who has watched the nation's deterioration over seven decades now, I have to admit, America is no longer the great country it once was.
But, it is these very liberals (and their agenda) that so hate what it was formed to be that have brought it down.
It is beautiful, but broken, and it truthfully can't be fixed by dumping Obama and hiring a conservative, any conservative on a white horse. The path back requires that we all return to the moral sensibilities and behavior that made this nation great.
Cookie analogy:
Submitted by Dave the mailman on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 9:46am.
I tell my lib coworkers the cookie analogy: if your great-grandmother had an awesome cookie recipe, but all of her kids and their kids keep adding their favorite ingredients, after a while, you're gonna have a big ugly nasty cookie. That doesnt mean great-granny's cookies are bad, it means we have to go back to the original recipe: THE CONSTITUTION.
Morgan and Company don't seem
Submitted by cristo on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 11:10am.
Morgan and Company don't seem to realize this is not real, it's fiction. These people are very troubled. It's like the Obama "story." Fiction, lies,composites,so long as it sounds good to them, it is good. I suspect they are not really very intelligent. They are obviously easily manipulated. If they were on a wagon train heading west during the 1800s, they would have gotten off in western Pennsylvania, or Ohio. The ones with true grit at least made it past the Mississippi. And these types aren't very high in the gene pool, Daniels, Clooney, Pitt, DeNiro, they have been selected for that very reason. They can read lines, that's it. (ever hear DeNiro interviewed, he's a hatbox) Actor Daniels reads this line: America is not the greatest country in the world anymore. Peers Morgan cuts back to the interview and says, "It was fascinating watching the room reaction, all these hard-edged newsmen, I saw a lot of them sort of nodding along with that, because it was a great speech . . ." Absolutely delusional. So here's the question to them all, If America is no longer the greatest country in the world, which country is? And when these simpletons perform, do they get paid in American dollars or some other currency?
Great. Another idiot Liberal actor that I have to avoid.
Submitted by WhoIsJohnGalt on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 1:06pm.
Why can't they just keep their mouths shut and act...well, at least TRY to act, in most cases.
I wonder if Jeffy realizes that the infant mortality rate that he quoted is backwards...that statistic is compiled as the worst offender (Afghanistan, with 121 deaths per 1,000 live births) being number 1 on the list, so the farther down the list you are, the better your survival rate as an infant. Look here:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/20...
And if you take out the tiny countries, such as Monaco, Lichtenstein, Wallis and Futuna (yes, that's a single country) etc that are so tiny that any patient can get to a hospital in ten minutes, we're damn near the top. And of course, it's obvious that some countries make up a statistic, or leave out the hinterlands, such as Cuba, Slovenia, etc.
Michigan??????
Submitted by billb on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 1:07pm.
Why is he asking me to visit Michigan? It is still a part of America, isn't it!
yeah he can shove those Michigan commercials
Submitted by Lipton on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 1:09pm.
I liked him. No more.
Was Daniels the dumb one or the dumber one?
Submitted by James Youngblood on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 2:14pm.
I always thought Jeff Daniels was the dumb one, but now I know he was the dumber one. Congratulations to CNN. They hid the puppet strings very well and you could hardly see Sorkins lips move as Daniels was suppose to be speaking.
J. Youngblood
like i said about Morgan
Submitted by sometimesright on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 2:14pm.
like i said about Morgan Freeman....please shut up!! i liked you and i wanted to keep liking you!! when you open your mouth and start to sound like a typical hollywood imbecile then i start to get disappointed. i wished you hadn't said anything, Mr. Daniels. off to the roadside of leftist garbage you go! don't worry though, you won't be alone, not by a long shot.
Another Hollywood idiot that
Submitted by Semus on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 2:19pm.
Another Hollywood idiot that kept a straight face long enough to complete a sentence. That makes you an expert.in Hollywood land.
Another Hollywood idiot that
Submitted by Semus on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 2:19pm.
Another Hollywood idiot that kept a straight face long enough to complete a sentence. That makes you an expert.in Hollywood land.
Another Hollywood idiot that
Submitted by Semus on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 2:19pm.
Another Hollywood idiot that kept a straight face long enough to complete a sentence. That makes you an expert.in Hollywood land.
Another Hollywood idiot that
Submitted by Semus on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 2:19pm.
Another Hollywood idiot that kept a straight face long enough to complete a sentence. That makes you an expert.in Hollywood land.
➚ Pure Michigan
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 8:11pm.
Jeff Daniels, the same guy who narrates the "Pure Michigan" ads, begging people to come visit those parts of the state that aren't run by gangs, unions (redundant, I know), or Sharia Muslims, is telling us how a speech given during a TV Pilot resonates with him?
He should just be happy with a woman's right to wear a hajib.
Who wouldn't drive 700 miles for a chance to catch a walleye?
Submitted by SickofLibs on Mon, 06/25/2012 - 8:23pm.
LOL. Me.