Primary Colors

The popular book (a success in part fueled by speculation over the identity of the author) was made into a 1998 movie starring John Travolta, Emma Thompson, Billy Bob Thornton, Adrian Lester, Kathy Bates, and Maura Tierney. Kathy Bates was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the movie.

This chart shows each character, what real-life person they're based on, and who played them in the movie.

	Character	Real Life	Actor
governor/candidate	Jack Stanton	Bill Clinton	John Travolta
his wife	Susan Stanton	Hillary Clinton	Emma Thompson
child	Jackie Stanton	Chelsea Clinton	[unknown]
campaign manager	Henry Burton	George Stephanopoulos	Adrian Lester
campaign manager	Richard Jemmons	James Carville	Billy Bob Thornton
affair alledging	Cashmere McLeod	Gennifer Flowers	Gia Carides
senator/candidate	Lawrence Harris	Paul Tsongas	Kevin Cooney
another candidate	Fred Picker	Ross Perot?/Jerry Brown?	Larry Hagman
campaign defender	Libby Holden	Betsey Wright	Kathy Bates
consultant	Daisy Green	Mandy Grunwald	Maura Tierney
consultant	Norman Asher	David Garth	Robert Klein
friend of wife	Lucille Kaufman	Susan Thomases	Caroline Aaron
candidate	Orlando Ozio	Mario Cuomo	[not seen]
son	Jimmy Ozio	Andrew Cuomo	Robert Cicchini
	Charlie Martin	Bob Kerrey	Chelcie Ross
campaign chair	Howard Ferguson	Harold Ickes	Paul Guilfoyle
	Bart Nilson	Tom Harkin	Robert Symonds
	Arlen Sporken	Frank Greer	Ben Jones
	Luther Charles	Jesse Jackson
	William Larking	Dick Gephardt
	Donny O'Brien	Tip O'Neill
	Leon Birnbaum	Stan Greenberg
	Arthur Kopp	Al From
	Jerry Rosen	Joe Klein
	A. P. Cauley	R. W. Apple, Jr.
hometown	Grace Junction	Hope, Arkansas
	Moderate Democrats of America	Democratic Leadership Council (DLC)

Related films:

• The War Room, a documentary of the Clinton's first campaign.

Referenced By