Though he plays a Republican president on “Scandal,” actor Tony Goldwyn actually studied two Democrats for the part.
His inspirations?
“The two people that I spent the most time studying were [Barack] Obama and [Bill] Clinton,” Goldwyn told POLITICO. “They have qualities in their personalities that Fitz would have: mainly a kind of accessibility, a down-to-earth quality and a higher mission to connect with people.”
Of course, there’s another obvious link: On “Scandal,” Goldwyn’s character, President Fitzgerald Grant, cheats on the first lady with a White House staffer. (Monica Lewinsky ring a bell?) Still, oddly enough, Clinton reportedly watches the show.
“I’ve heard this,” Goldwyn said. “I don’t know for a fact … but I did hear it through the grapevine.”
No word on whether Obama tunes in. But if he does, the president might want to look away. “Scandal” makes the White House — and D.C. in general — look like a dark, dysfunctional place. Actress Kerry Washington, Goldwyn’s on-screen mistress, stars as Olivia Pope, a “fixer” for clients with political problems: rigged elections, murdered interns, prostitution rings — you know, that kind of thing.
Asked if the show has changed his view on Washington, D.C., Goldwyn said it has.
“I’m much more cognizant of the intensity, the pressure, relentless pressure, that our higher public officials are under,” he said.
Goldwyn also shared his theory on why political dramas — like “Scandal” and “House of Cards” — have struck a chord with audiences lately.
The political world has “become so polarized and so dark, that everything has kind of become very dramatic in Washington. It’s all about conflict,” he said. “And that, combined with the fact that in the newspaper and on the television, politics has become — I think it always has been — but has become more than ever a kind of theater, people in Congress and in the White House are really like actors on a stage. Everything is rehearsed.”
“I wonder if it’s out of frustration that we kind of want to watch it and study it,” he said.
Needless to say, Goldwyn has zero interest in running for office. But he pipes up when there’s a political cause that concerns him. He’s an advocate for the Innocence Project, a nonprofit seeking justice for the wrongly convicted, and frequently talks politics on Twitter. Last week, he urged fans to view Obama’s address on Trayvon Martin’s death. “Really worth watching,” he commented. A few days earlier, he linked to a New York Times primer on health care reform. “Confused about Obamacare?” he wrote. “Who isn’t? Ch[ec]k out this helpful piece.”
On a more scandalous note, the star gave us his take on the attempted comebacks of Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer.
“Initially, it’s kind of shocking. But you know, one of the great things about American life in any area is you can reinvent yourself,” he said. “In a way, that’s part of the American character. … You can watch someone create a second act for themselves, and, in so many cases, people come back. Way before Spitzer and Weiner, we watched public officials brought down in disgrace come back. Americans love a great redemption story.”
“That said,” Goldwyn added, “Carlos Danger may be a game changer.”
I mainly posted this because I cannot unsee the Weiner comparison.
I'm new to scandal (marathoned it in May), but the whole "Liberal Republican that I am supposed to root for" is annoying. Plus, Rob Lowe did it better on "Brothers and Sisters."
Thank you
invisible_cunt , 
catch22jump, moustacherider , and ch33rylips for the help! SOURCE