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Jack Stanton
''Primary Colors''PLAYED BY John Travolta
Sure, his name is Stanton, not Clinton, but John Travolta's performance is about as close to a definitive screen portrayal of the 42nd president as we're ever likely to get. Travolta gets all the Clintonesque gestures and voice inflections just right, but he also gets the contradictions in his character. His Stanton is a Southern governor with strong charisma and populist empathy, as well as weaknesses for fried foods and women. He's a fascinatingly flawed man whose campaign poses the question of whether a leader's personal character should matter more than his political ideals. The 1998 film had the unfortunate timing to pose that question as the Lewinsky scandal unfolded offscreen, but it's a question that, like the movie, deserves another look.
