PAGE SIX
Lady Kitty Spencer marries billionaire MichaelLewis
DECIDER NYPOST
Simone Biles caught up in Team USA disaster
SECTIONS & FEATURES NEWSLETTERS & FEEDS
EMAIL NEWSLETTERS
RSS FEEDS
NY POST OFFICIAL STORE
HOME DELIVERY
SUBSCRIBE
MANAGESUBSCRIPTION
DELIVERY HELP
HELP/SUPPORT
ABOUT NEW YORK POST
CUSTOMER SERVICE
APP FAQ & HELP
COMMUNITY GUIDELINES
CONTACT US
TIPS
NEWSROOM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
REPRINTS
CAREERS
APPS
IPHONE APP
IPAD APP
ANDROID PHONE
ANDROID TABLET
ADVERTISE
MEDIA KIT
CONTACT
© 2021 NYP HOLDINGS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED TERMS OF USE PRIVACY NOTICE YOUR AD CHOICES SITEMAP YOUR CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS
NEWS
METRO
SPORTS
BUSINESS
OPINION
ENTERTAINMENT
FASHION
SHOPPING
LIVING
MEDIA
TECH
REAL ESTATE
VIDEO
PHOTOS
ALEXA
COVERS
HOROSCOPES
SPORTS ODDS
PODCASTS
COLUMNISTS
CLASSIFIEDS
September 26, 2015 | 8:43pm
NEWS EXCLUSIVE
Spielberg tried – and failed – tomake Hillary seem likeable
In his new book, “Unlikeable,” journalist Edward Klein unveils the lengths HillaryRodham Clinton’s campaign will go to avoid the mistakes of the 2008 race — whenObama famously said, “You’re likeable enough, Hillary.” In an exclusive excerpt to ThePost, Klein reveals how Bill Clinton reached out to a famous friend for help.
Hillary was taking lessons on how to be more likeable.
She was doing it for Bill, not for herself. It was all his idea.
One evening while they were having drinks with friends, he turned to Hillary and said,“Let’s ask Steven for help.”
Their old Hollywood buddy Steven Spielberg could supply Hillary with acting coaches tohelp her when she had to give a speech.
Hillary didn’t think she needed help.
“I get $250,000 to give a speech,” she said, according to one of her friends, “and theseHollywood jackasses are going to tell me how to do it!”
But Bill insisted.
“Your policies and talking points are solid,”he told her. “You can use Charlotte[Chelsea’s baby daughter] to emphasizehow you’re all about women and children.Now the challenge is to repackage you in2016 as a strong but loveable older woman— more Golda than Maggie.”
Hillary didn’t see the resemblance to GoldaMeir or Margaret Thatcher, and she said,“I’m not going to pretend to be somebodyI’m not.”
But she carried on with the likeabilitylessons anyway. Partly to please Bill. Butmostly to shut him up.
She hired an assistant to run a videocamera in the den of Whitehaven, her homein the fashionable Observatory Circleneighborhood of northwest Washington, DC. It was just the two of them, her and thecamera guy, who had to sign a confidentiality agreement so he couldn’t blab to thepress.
Later, after the recording session was over, she watched herself on the TV set. She sat inthe dark, dressed in a blue muumuu that she’d recently purchased online atAmazon.com, and scrutinized her facial expressions, her hand gestures, the pitch of hervoice, and her use of eye contact.
She told Bill she found the process tedious.
He said, “This could mean votes. Voters make decisions, even unconsciously, on howlikeable a politician looks.”
But it wasn’t only the tedium that bothered her. She didn’t like the results she saw fromthe Whitehaven video sessions.
For comparison, she screened videos that hadbeen recorded live by her people when she wason the road and gave one of her six-figurespeeches. From the collection of videos, sheselected the ones she liked and sent them off toSteven Spielberg’s office, with a reminder that
everyone involved in the project was sworn to secrecy.
Not that she had any reason to mistrust Steven. He’d always been more than generousto her. Spielberg let her use his corporate apartment in the Trump Tower on Manhattan’sFifth Avenue when she ran for a Senate seat from New York in 2000. Hillary felt right athome in the lavish surroundings, and she crashed at Spielberg’s pied-à-terre more than20 times.
Accustomed as she was to being treated like royalty, she asked the management ofTrump Tower to give her the exclusive use of one of its elevators. The management -refused. She had to share an elevator with the skyscraper’s other millionaire peons.
When the Hollywood coaches sent back their critiques of Hillary’s video sessions, theynoted that she looked irritated and bored.
Most times, after she glanced at the printout of their notes — she called them “notesfrom La-La Land” — she tossed them in the wastepaper basket.
There was one thing about the process that she thought was worthwhile: working onher facial expressions.
If she got the facial expressions right, she believed the rest would fall into place. But asshe pointed out to friends, she could just as easily work on her facial expressions in frontof the bathroom mirror without having some Hollywood schmuck tell her what she wasdoing right or wrong.
“Sometimes they’re helpful,” she told the friends, “but just as often they’re full of s- -t.”
A couple of weeks after Hillary began her likeability lessons, she invited several womenfriends to Whitehaven. When one of her friends noticed a video camera standing on atripod in a corner of the room, she asked Hillary what it was for.
“Speech practice,” Hillary said, according to the recollection of one of the women. “Mycoaches tell me I’m supposed to pretend when I speak. Pretend that I actually like theaudience. I’m supposed to force myself to keep a smile on my face. I’m supposed tothink happy thoughts. To think of Chelsea or Charlotte or my [late] mother. But not aboutBill, because even though I love him to death, he makes me tear my hair out.”
That got a laugh from the women.
But as the campaign heated up, one of the first casualties was the Spielberg likeabilitylessons.
Everyone agreed they weren’t working.
“For more than a decade, Mrs. Clinton has tried to swat away a persistent concernabout her ability to connect with voters,” noted The New York Times. “‘SaturdayNight Live’ recently captured that problem in a sketch featuring an actress playingMrs. Clinton, who said of herself at one point, ‘What a relatable laugh!’ Years of security-infused Bubble Wrap around her travels and a wealthy lifestyle have done little to pullMrs. Clinton closer to voters.”
“Given that [Hillary] has been in public life since 1992, it’s a bit incongruous to considerthat her speaking style is often so lacking,” wrote The Washington Post. “She has yet tomaster ‘the big speech,’ which is part of the toolbox of any major politician.”
When Hillary spoke in public, she still had trouble making eye contact with her audience.Her eyes wandered from the text of her speech or her talking points to some unfocusedspot on the ceiling and back again. Her voice was flat and uninflected.
In exasperation, Hillary quit taking the likeability lessons.
“I decided I had enough with the camera and the recordings and the coaches,” Hillarytold a friend. “I got so angry I knocked the f- -king camera off its tripod. That was the endof my Stanislavski period.”
Excerpted from “Unlikeable: The Problem with Hillary” by Edward Klein. Out this weekfrom Regnery Publishing.
FILED UNDER BARACK OBAMA , BILL CLINTON , BOOKS , DEMOCRATS , HILLARY CLINTON ,
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION , STEVEN SPIELBERG , 9/26/15
Only Trump understands how angry the average American is
By Edward Klein
NY Post compositeSaving Private Rodham
Bill Clinton along with Hillary Clintoncongratulates Steven Spielberg afterawarding him with the 1999 National Medal ofArts and Humanities Award.AFP/Getty Images
“Hillary was takinglessons on how to bemore likeable.”
Bill Clinton had his Hollywood pal Steven Spielberg supply Hillary Rodham Clinton with actingcoaches to critique her campaigning performances, according to Edward Klein.WireImage
SHARE THISARTICLE:
READ NEXT
SPONSORED STORIES
Netflix Cancels AnotherRound Of Great ShowsMoneyPail
The Israeli-made Face MaskEveryone Is Talking About Inthe USSonovia
[Pics] School expels teenover outfit, regrets it whenthey see who dad isReact Share
15 Pics That Prove Dubai IsOne Wild PlaceTigerscroll
[Gallery] Tattoo Fails: TryNot To Laugh Too Hard AtNo. 6DailyStuff
Alec and Hilaria Baldwin's 6Children Sport MatchingBoss Baby Looks on the…E! News
California man who mocked vaccines onsocial media dies of COVID-19
Influencer dies from 160-foot fall whilerecording social media video
Body found in Shenandoah National Park believed to be missing UVA lecturer Afghan translator who worked for US Army reportedly beheaded by Taliban Let Your Money Work For You. Search For High Yield Savings Accounts
[Photos] Rush Limbaugh'sFinal Net Worth Left HisFamily In Tearshttps://thefinancialmag.com/
These 10 Colleges HaveProduced The MostBillionaire AlumniForbes
[Pics] Man Finds OldCamera, Develops FilmNever Meant To See The…History10
Olympics Hotel Not QuiteGood Enough For First LadyJill BidenNYPost.com
Another InfluencerTragically Dies While TakingRisky SelfieNYPost.com
Matt Damon Makes HisStance On COVID VaccinesClearAol.com
Melania Trump NowReportedly 'Bitter AndChilly' Towards TrumpVozwire.com
Chauvin Is Making NewsAgain After Serious CellDetails RevealedAol.com
Inappropriate OutfitsMichelle Obama Has BeenCaught WearingTheList.com
The Property BrothersLawsuit Is Getting UglyGossipcop.com
Rapper Dies While Trying ToHide From His WifeBolde.com
Actress Lorina KamburovaSadly Dies From COVID-19ComplicationsWegotthiscovered.com
AROUND THE WEB
Powered by ZergNet
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
Looking to buy your firsthome? You’ve come to theright place.Realtor.com
Andie MacDowell buttedheads with managers overher gray hairPage Six
This Theragun alternative ison sale for just $120New York Post
Rihanna’s butt-baringSavage X Fenty leggingsdivide fansNew York Post
D-pyroglutamic acidMarketResearch Report with Size,Share, Value...MarketWatch
Material Resonant TestingMachine Market ResearchReport Analysis...MarketWatch
NOW ON
SEE ALL
NOW ON
SEE ALL
She Wins Best Oscar Dress OfAll Time
Not all fashions withstand the test oftime, but these Oscar gowns, bothclassic and innovative, have held upover the years. It's hard t...sponsored by: StyleBistro
READ MORE
Why Colgate's new teeth whiteningkit is worth it for coffee drinkers
Score an extra 30% off Cole Haanshoes during the End of Season Sale
Best Buy offers up to 50% off thisweekend for 'Black Friday in July'
The 10 best wedding guest dressesfor summer 2021
Putterball is the ultimate backyardgame for summer and is now on sale
Meghan and Harry’s daughter Lilibetis still missing from the Royal line ofsuccession
‘Southern Charm’ star KathrynDennis celebrates one year of datingboyfriend
Kate Beckinsale reunites withdaughter after 2 years apart due toCOVID-19
Viral video shows a Wisconsin copthrowing a bag into a person's car
Nick Jonas Cracks Rib in Brutal BikeAccident on NBC Special ‘OlympicDreams’
Diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's or CLL?
Select JusticeAd
ON NYPOST.COMTRENDING NOW
Simone Biles caught up in Team USAdisaster
217,294
Lady Kitty Spencer marriesbillionaire Michael Lewis
87,726
Nancy Pelosi's on her last legs:Devine
67,195
SPONSORED
Best Photography WP Theme -Photocrati - Official SiteBy www.Photocrati.com
+60 Stunning Photo WordPressThemes for Photographers at only$99. Shop Now!
SEE MORE
WHAT TO SHOP NOW
VIDEO
MORE STORIES
‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Launches First AnimatedTeaser Trailer
RECOMMENDED 1/5
Read More
Afghan translator who worked for US Army reportedlybeheaded by Taliban
Skip to main content
