Tom Selleck for president?

Mr. Nice Guy's latest role brings 'Capra-esque' wishes to campaign

Tom Selleck plays Governor James Reynolds Pryce, a candidate advocating reform in "Running Mates"

In this story: A daunting role Actor first, activist second RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Jamie Allen
CNN.com Senior Writer

(CNN) -- If Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, former wrestler, can thrive in politics, why can't Tom Selleck run for president?

Selleck is, after all, a favorite nice-guy actor. He had a faithful following as the nice-guy investigator in the TV show "Magnum P.I." He played one of a triumvirate of nice-guy eligible bachelors who became surrogate fathers in "Three Men and a Baby" (1987). And in his recent stint on the NBC sitcom "Friends," he did the nice-guy thing by letting go of old flame Monica (Courteney Cox Arquette), so she and Chandler could head for the altar.

The persona even extends off screen: This past April, he received an honorary doctorate from Pepperdine University that cited his outstanding character and ethic; he's a board member of the non-profit Michael Josephson Institute of Ethics; and he's co-founder of the Character Counts Coalition.

In this day and age (and politics aside), Selleck, 55, seems the perfect candidate-in-the-making -- a potential Ronald Reagan. At least, that's what the folks at TNT are counting on as Selleck carries their latest TV movie, "Running Mates."

In it, Selleck plays Michigan Gov. James Reynolds Pryce, the Democratic Party's nominee for president, who faces the prospect of compromising his ethics for assured power in Washington. The movie also stars Laura Linney, Nancy Travis, Teri Hatcher and Faye Dunaway as the various women in Pryce's life.

Selleck, as Pryce, runs for president this Sunday, the eve of the real Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. The role is just the latest adventure in Selleck's acting career.

"I had a fantasy of being a pro baseball player, and I've gotten to play a Major League Baseball player (in 1992's 'Mr. Baseball')," Selleck says. "I loved Westerns as a little kid and I get to do them. I even get to die as an actor and then you just go home and have dinner. It's great. So now, I'm not a candidate, but I play one on TV and I'll be home for dinner."

While it was fun to play a guy running for president, it was also an idea he had to get used to, Selleck says.

"It's intimidating to play the nominee for president. The little kid inside you says, 'I'm not enough.' I would guess that happens to politicians, too. They go, 'C'mon, who am I kidding? I'm just this guy or this woman,'" Selleck says.

"You then say, 'How can I appear presidential?'" he says. "Actors have to learn that you can't play results ... I'm just going to have faith that I'm cast right and deal much more in who this guy is and how he thinks, and they'll either accept me as a nominee or they won't."

The movie was executive produced by Gerald Rafshoon, who worked on the campaign that put Jimmy Carter in office. "Running Mates" focuses on Pryce's selection of a candidate for vice president, and the issue of campaign finance reform. It proudly trumpets the message, "America is not for sale."

Clearly, the movie is hoping not only to capture a TV audience, but the eyes of real presidential candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush -- their advisers, too.

"This movie is a bit Capra-esque in saying, 'This is a little more how we'd like it to be,'" says Selleck. "We'd like to see that the unthinkable can happen and we want surprises and we don't mind a flawed candidate. We can figure out if we can trust him, and if we don't trust him we can get rid of him.

"I've got nothing against this particular set of candidates, but I do think we're not seeing enough of who they are," Selleck says. "We're kind of seeing who they and their handlers think we want them to be."

Despite the film's storyline, this last comment is about as far as Selleck goes in talking about his own political views.

"I have an ethical obligation right now to use my access to the media to promote the movie," he says. "In particular, with this movie, I have an ethical obligation with the audience not to make their job of believing who I am in that movie harder by running around as a celebrity tooting whatever horn I believe in."

Tom Selleck guest stars in this season's 'Friends' finale as Dr. Richard Burke, Monica's former boyfriend

That means he probably won't appear on Rosie O'Donnell's talk show to promote "Running Mates." Last time he did that, to promote his May 1999 film "The Love Letter," O'Donnell used the appearance as an opportunity to debate gun control. Selleck had earlier filmed a commercial supporting the National Rifle Association.

"Rosie broke most of the talk-show ethical rules," he says. "She is not a journalist, she's a talk-show host. But she'll get it straight soon."

For now, Selleck is looking to his future campaign -- as an actor. Along with "Running Mates," he'll star on Broadway next year in the revival of the Herb Gardner play "A Thousand Clowns."

"That play had such an influence on me when I studied acting," he says. "To do that play is a thrill."

And what about his role in "Friends?" Will he return next season to break up the pending nuptials of Chandler and Monica?

"Do I have power over Monica?" he asks. "I hope so. Look, I did the right thing -- or my character did. I can't separate the two anymore where Courteney is concerned."

But don't count out this candidate.

"They'll figure out whether it makes the show better if I come back," he says. "I love the show ... I'm a huge fan of the show."

TNT is owned by Time Warner, Inc., the parent company of CNN.com.

Review: A 'Love Letter' worth opening
May 21, 1999
Showbuzz: Selleck commercial triggers NRA debate with O'Donnell
May 20, 1999

TNT

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