James Carville Talks ‘Winning is Everything, Stupid’ Documentary

Thirty-one years after taking center stage in D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus’ “The War Room,” crafty, straight-talking Democratic political strategist James Carville is the star of another documentary, Matt Tyrnauer’s “Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid”

The movie, which was acquired by CNN Films shortly before its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival, will open theatrically on Oct. 11 via Greenwich Entertainment.

“Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid” chronicles an 18-month period in which the Ragin’ Cajun spearheaded efforts to persuade President Joe Biden not to run for re-election in 2024. The doc follows Carville, famously known for coining the phrase “It’s the economy, stupid” during Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, as he travels across the country to talk politics. The doc also delves into Carville’s personal life with his wife, Republican strategist Mary Matalin, who, in the doc, admits that the two didn’t speak for a stretch due to their differing opinions over the Iraq War. In addition to Carville and Matalin, the film features political figureheads including Bill Clinton, George Stephanopoulos, Paul Begala, and Rev. Al Sharpton.

Variety spoke to Carville and Tyrnauer in East Hampton ahead of the docu’s screening at the Hamptons Intl. Film Festival on Oct. 10.

Matt, you made this doc independently. Did you attempt to find a distributor to commission the film and couldn’t, or did you want to make the film independently?

Tyrnauer: I felt like this was an independent film. It’s a verite film about politics that I wanted to make exactly the way I wanted it to be. I wanted (this film) to be idiosyncratic and James is very idiosyncratic. So, I just had a sense that it would be a good private equity film and we managed to raise the money. I love that mode of working and I hadn’t done it in a while.

Making a current event, politically oriented doc these days is pretty risky since major distributors want nothing to do with them. Were you worried it wouldn’t sell?

Tyrnauer: My first film, “Valentino: The Last Emperor” was about fashion. The whole time I was making that movie, I heard that “No one wants fashion documentaries. Fashion documentaries don’t work.” You know what? It was (one of) the biggest documentaries of the year. So, I learned a lesson at that point, which is, if you think you have a good idea, the headwinds are just things that you fly through to the best of your ability. I hope that the sale of this movie will maybe break the trend for political docs not selling.

Who is the intended audience for this doc?

Carville: The profession of politics and not just people that work in campaigns, but people who run for office, people who work for NGOs, volunteers, etc., it’s all gotten such a bad reputation because everybody hates politics. We hear that. I hope people see this and say, “You know, those people look like they had a pretty good time. They had fun. Maybe I’ll run for the sewage and water board or the airport commission.” Whatever.

Do you think Trump voters will watch this doc?

Tyrnauer: I hope so. It’s a bipartisan movie. One character in the film is a Democrat, and one is a Republican. Both James and Mary are not so-called coastal elites. There’s a lot in this film for everybody. I would love it if everyone saw this film.

You are opening theatrically in New York and Los Angeles. Are you trying to also screen the film in swing states?

Tyrnauer: We will go literally anywhere to screen this movie. James and I are doing a campaign to promote the film in the month before this election.

Carville: We are in a campaign. I’m like, “Okay. We are in this motherfucker. Let’s win.”

The film’s main storyline is about Carville’s year-long efforts to persuade President Joe Biden not to run for re-election in 2024. It took until June 27, 2024, the night of the Trump-Biden debate, for the Democratic party to get behind his efforts. That debate happened two months before the film debuted at Telluride. How much did the film change in those two months

Tyrnauer: I had actually finished the film the morning of the Trump-Biden debate. I did a test screening that night at my house with 10 people counter-programming it to the Trump-Biden debate. The debate starts, and we start the film, and 10 minutes in, I get a text from James, who had been watching the debate, saying, “I just took two gummies, and I’m listening to country music.” I knew then that I had to change the whole end of the film.

James, do you think that Kamala Harris — a woman — has a chance of winning the election?

Carville: Hillary won the popular vote by more than a little bit.

Yes, but the popular vote at the end of the day doesn’t matter.

Carville: But it’s a fact. Maybe no one noticed, and maybe it didn’t matter, but she did. I think a lot of what I found is that there is more nervousness among Democratic women about a Democratic woman candidate than there is anywhere else. I think that’s much more of a reaction among affluent Democratic women.

What do you think will happen on Nov. 5?

Carville: I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know. And I don’t think about it really beause I was told very early in my career that the more time you are thinking about who is going to win, you are not thinking about how to win.