This year, when Robbins went onstage to accept the Oscar for his supporting role as an abuse victim in “Mystic River,” he chose a different topic, appealing to abuse victims to report their crimes and get help. But that doesn’t mean he’s keeping mum on his views about the war in Iraq and its aftermath. In his new 90-minute play, “Embedded,” which opens March 14 at the Public Theater in New York, Robbins offers a scathing look at President George W. Bush’s cabal of advisors–depicting them as manipulative neo-conservatives hidden behind masks (though easily identifiable by names like “Rum-Rum,” “Woof,” and “Dick”) who plot the invasion of “Gomorrah” from the safety of their offices, plugging in dates on their PDAs to determine when to launch the war. The title comes from the unprecedented military program that enabled journalists to “embed” with military units while they covered the war–an arrangement which doesn’t seem to impress Robbins. The play also tells the stories of a private named Jen-Jen (modeled on Jessica Lynch) and her fellow soldiers on the ground, whom Robbins portrays as victims of the war, along with Iraqi civilians caught in the crossfire.
Though the play is satirical, Robbins incorporates just enough detail from reports on the war (even using actual quotes from some newspaper and radio dispatches) that it’s sometimes hard to decipher what is real and what is parody. For Robbins, that’s sort of the point. He wants the audience to question whether they are being told the truth by the government, military and media. Whether audience members agree with his depiction or not, Robbins says he hopes the play gets them talking. NEWSWEEK’s Jennifer Barrett spoke to the actor-director about his work onstage, on-screen and on the streets–and the reactions it’s provoked. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: Congratulations on your Oscar win. I’ve heard that you were surprised because you thought your outspoken political views might have hurt your chances.
Tim Robbins: Yeah, you never know. It’s hard to speculate. It’s like–I’ve been asked whether I think my outspokenness has cost me roles in Hollywood, and that’s one of those things where there are so many factors going into who gets cast and who doesn’t, it’s just impossible to say. Sometimes it’s your height, your vibe. I know from directing that there is also an intangible–what makes one person perfect for a role as opposed to someone else.
I was a little surprised that you didn’t talk about Iraq in your acceptance speech, though you did bring up an important issue: abuse. Had you planned that?
I never have used the Academy Awards as a political platform. There’s a fallacy that every time I get in front of a mike I have to make a political statement. As I was thinking about what to say, it occurred to me, why should I do what they say I am going to do, which I never have done? I started thinking about what we did at the Oscars in 1993. That wasn’t a political statement, but a humanitarian plea to close down an internment camp where Haitians were being imprisoned for the ‘crime’ of testing positive to the HIV virus. President [Bill] Clinton had said he would do something about it, but it was the third month of his presidency and he hadn’t. A week later, it was closed down. That got me thinking about how I could use this moment to help people in some way, like we were doing back in 1993.
It occurred to me that what this movie [“Mystic River”] is about–part of the reason the character I play is in the hell he’s in–is that no one around him ever encouraged him to get help. I had an opportunity to use that moment to talk to all the “Dave Boyle"s out there and tell them there’s no shame in reporting the truth.
Have you gotten much response?
I’ve received a few thousand emails from abuse victims [since then]. It really touched a cord. One organization sent me 177 pages today and about seven or eight emails on each page. And that’s just one organization.
Are they asking for you to become an advocate or just thanking you for raising awareness of the issue?
They’re all really just thanking me. I was online a couple days after the Oscars and I found something on this abuse clinic in Cincinnati that reported a huge increase in calls the night of the Oscars. It’s just amazing the power that moment can have. So many people watch the Academy Awards.
You went straight from the Oscars to opening a play in New York.
I have been so focused on this [play]. Thank God I’ve had it. It’s been a very heady time.
I’d imagine that helps keep you grounded.
Yes, it has.. to go from these glitzy Hollywood things back to a dark room in the theater.
When did you first come up with the idea for “Embedded”?
During the war, I was reading different news sources. I would check everything. It’s the way to get a balance. And I was reading a different account of the war in the U.K. papers and that was for me, curious. I started making notes. I started by writing the scenes with the Office of Special Plans folks–the neo-conservatives–just as an exercise. I wondered what skewed logic was it to use deception and lies to get the American public’s support for the war?
You’re talking about President Bush’s advisors like Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz.
Yeah, I did some research on them and I found out about some of the philosophy they adhere to–a kind of elitist philosophy that there are different truths for different people. The idea of the noble lie–that concept exists in the philosophies of some of these people. So I just started writing these characters and that’s kind of where the play started. Then I thought, this is fun to write but there is another story here, and that’s the soldiers who are serving the country.
The war planners are shown in masks and suits, plotting the war from what appears to be an office.
For me, this war is hard to stomach mainly because the people, the policy makers that have put these men and women in danger, all had the opportunity when they were young men to serve in Vietnam. Most of them chose not to, [they] sought deferments or avoided service altogether. Not only did they not serve but their children don’t have to, and yet they see no problem with this kind of policy of pre-emptive war.
You make them sound a little heartless.
I wanted to try to understand what motivates this kind of policy. There is what I feel is a misguided benevolence. I do believe they [Bush’s advisors] think they are doing a good thing for the world. It’s just curious to me that the rest of the world doesn’t seem to get it. Even our long time allies are not looking at us with a mixture of suspicion and fear.
Why did you call the play “Embedded”?
I just like the word. It’s a great word.
From the depiction of the media coverage in the play, it doesn’t seem like you were a real fan of the embedded journalist program.
Actually, there was some really good reporting from embedded journalists. There are two sympathetic types in the play, two cheerleader types and one in the middle. There’s one embedded reporter who is a model for how one can ‘get things through.’ As she says, ‘You just have to be clever.’
What message are you hoping to get across to the audience?
I hope that people leave the theater in some kind of discussion. That would be my ideal. Whether they agree or not, I don’t care. I hope they address some of the questions raised in the play.
Ever thought of being in the play too?
I’m sure there will be a night when I am in it–like when someone gets sick, I’ll fill in.
Have you gotten any backlash from supporters of the war?
There have been a couple people who’ve been pissed off. Listen, it’s a satire. And you can’t be polite in a satire. It’s also not a documentary, so people can take what they want to out of it. Just come on down and see it and have an open mind. I’d like people to see it and judge for themselves what the play is about.
