ABC Planning a Bush ‘PT 109’ : Ailes to Co-Produce Film on War Years

ABC is developing a television movie about President Bush’s World War II exploits and has hired Roger Ailes, the President’s campaign strategist, to co-produce it.

“Why should a total stranger do it?� asked Ailes, who produced “The Mike Douglas Show� and other TV programs before becoming media mastermind of the Bush 1988 presidential campaign.

ABC declined to discuss any details about the movie, citing “competitive reasons.� But insiders said that the TV film is being planned for the 1990-91 season. There has been no casting and no script has been written for the project, Ailes said in an interview Friday.

Bush, who was a Navy carrier pilot in the Pacific during the war, was shot down by Japanese anti-aircraft flak in September, 1944. He was rescued by a submarine after bailing out of his plane. Bush’s decorations in the war included the Distinguished Flying Cross.

ABC’s new in-house production unit, headed by former ABC Entertainment President Brandon Stoddard, will make the movie for the network, with Stoddard and ABC staffer Ilene Berg producing along with Ailes.

The project apparently originated when writer-producer Stuart Birnbaum envisioned a “PT 109�-type movie for Bush. That was the film about President John F. Kennedy’s World War II exploits that came out during his administration.

Ailes, who has his own communications company in New York, said both he and ABC had been thinking about a movie that would focus on Bush’s war years.

“It’s been in my mind for some time,� he said, before adding that, “Ilene called me. . . . I guess it came from the phone call from Ilene.�

He said discussions about the movie began three or four months ago, after he had already been talking to the network about producing a different movie. “It wasn’t that they came to me specifically for this. I was working with Ilene already,� he said.

Birnbaum, who also will produce the movie, said in an interview Friday that he got the idea for the movie on inauguration day last January.

“I was watching the inaugural parade and there was a replica of the fighter-bomber Bush had flown on a float and I said, ‘Who’s doing his “PT 109?’ �

Birnbaum, who previously wrote the films “Summer School,� “The Zoo Gang� and “Smokey and the Bandit III,� said that he took the idea to ABC, where it was greeted enthusiastically. The next step was to get Ailes involved, he said: “We went to him, obviously because of his relationship with the president--his access. He was the best guy to do it.�

The White House was initially concerned about the approach being taken, Birnbaum said.

“If it’s badly done, it’s not something they would want to happen,� he explained.

Stoddard, Berg and Ailes met with the President at the White House for 20 minutes Sept. 15 and he agreed to cooperate with the network.

While Bush will neither appear in nor participate in the making of film, he is making numerous research materials available, including letters that he wrote to his mother during the war, Birnbaum said. Barbara Bush also will be involved in the project.

Staffers at the Democratic National Committee had not heard about the movie or Ailes’ involvement until a reporter called. Press secretary Ginny Terzano commented: “They’ve hired a person who specializes in myth. This is the same man who turned an actor into a President. Now he’s going to get the opportunity to turn the President into an actor.�

Ailes was brought in to coach Ronald Reagan during his 1984 presidential campaign after his stumbling performance in the first candidates’ debate with Democratic nominee Walter Mondale. Ailes said he does not consider his involvement in the movie a conflict of interest.

“I don’t know how there could be a conflict,� he said. “There’s only one story and we’re going to tell it. Tell me, where is the conflict?�

Birnbaum agreed that some eyebrows may be raised over Ailes’ involvement, but added, “I’m sure some Republican eyebrows were raised when (‘PT 109’) came out.� He maintained that the movie will be nonpartisan.