Indiana University School of Journalism

If there’s one thing you need to know about filmmaker Dan Cox, it’s that he doesn’t like to be compared to Michael Moore.

"I cannot stand him," Cox replied when asked what he thought of bloggers comparing him to the controversial filmmaker.

Like it or not, Cox, B.A. ’84, might have to learn to deal with the comparison – at least for the time being. The School of Journalism alumnus is the man behind the documentary Running with Arnold, which chronicles Arnold Schwarzenegger’s rise from body builder to movie star to governor of California.

And the film is not without its own controversy, as students and community members found out at Tuesday’s School of Journalism-sponsored screening at Whittenberger Auditorium.

First, there’s the Nazi issue. In the film, Cox touches on the Nazi past of Schwarzenegger’s father. Then, there’s Schwarzenegger’s own past comments about Adolf Hitler, comments that seem almost laudatory.

“I’m not saying he’s a Hitler lover,” Cox said. “I’m just presenting the facts.”

Finally there’s the issue of bias. After the documentary’s world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, reviewers, again and again, wrote about the film’s anti-Arnold slant.

Photo by Crista Chapman

"The bottom line with this film is, mixing celebrities and politics is a mistake," Cox said. “We shouldn’t vote for someone based on star power.”

"I wasn’t trying to tear Arnold a new orifice," Cox said. “I was trying to tell the story of how this guy could convince voters to put him in office, the concept that the ‘Terminator’ could be your governor. I don’t think it was that harsh.”

“I think it was really one-sided,” said California native and journalism junior Alex Damron. “It’s revisionist history of Arnold Schwarzenegger. He’s not a perfect man by any means, but he’s certainly not some power-crazed Manchurian candidate.”

At the post-screening discussion, an audience member asked Cox of any aspect of Schwarzenegger’s life surprised the filmmaker.

“It did,” Cox replied. “I was fascinated by Arnold’s willingness to shift almost on a dime. He’ll be dead set against something and then he’ll be for it.”

Freshman Nick Cusack was fascinated simply by the film itself.

“I thought it was entertaining,” Cusack said after the screening. “It had a lot of stuff, a lot of jokes. I didn’t like how some of them were attacks on people, but it was entertaining.”

The film certainly doesn’t pull any punches in its treatment of Schwarzenegger.

“Arnold wants power, that’s all,” Cox said.

But that is not what prompted Cox to make such a film.

“I like Arnold’s movies,” Cox said at last night’s screening. “I’m a growing American boy. I’m allowed to. But I don’t like his politics.”

All of this, the praise and controversy, is pretty good for a film that began as a lark. In 2003, as the rhetoric over California’s possible recall of then-Gov. Grey Davis was ratcheting up, Cox was having lunch with a film producer. The producer asked him what he was working on and Cox mentioned making a film if Schwarzenegger jumped into the gubernatorial race.

Cox said the producer volunteered to fund the movie. Just a few days later Schwarzenegger made his announcement, and Cox suddenly became a filmmaker.

While Cox went into making Running with Arnold without any real aim other than to chronicle this movie star’s quest for political office, a moral eventually did materialize.

"The bottom line with this film is, mixing celebrities and politics is a mistake," Cox said. “We shouldn’t vote for someone based on star power.”

Cox said he thinks his film has a special resonance given the nation’s current election cycle and the appearance of former U.S. Senator and actor Fred Thompson in the Republican presidential race.

“I think he’s great on Law and Order,” Cox said. “I just wouldn’t vote for him.”

And you can bet if there’s ever a change to the Constitution that allows Schwarzenegger to run for president, Cox won’t be voting for him, either. But, he will be following him with his camera once again, filming Running with Arnold 2.

The first Running with Arnold is making its rounds through the film festival scene after its world premiere at South by Southwest. Cox leaves for Switzerland Sunday to screen the movie at the Zurich International Film Festival.

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