FILM · 1998
Bulworth
46 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (46)
- #001
Many people objected to Warren Beatty hiring composer Ennio Morricone to write the film's music. One reason was his high fee of roughly one million dollars, and Beatty ultimately won his producers' support. Despite all this, only a little more than ten minutes of Morricone's complete score appears in the final cut of the film, which is largely dominated by rap and other source music. Morricone was unhappy with the film's results and with what Beatty did to his music.
- #002
Aaron Sorkin and James Toback did a great deal of work on the screenplay without receiving credit.
- #003
Warren Beatty arranged a special screening of the film for Professor Cornel West. Beatty was unsure whether he wanted to release the film and asked West's opinion. West praised the film and told Beatty it needed to be seen.
- #004
There was a sequel in development, titled "Bulworth 2000," that satirized the 2000 Presidential Election, but it was cancelled.
- #005
Co-writer Warren Beatty was described by writing partner Jeremy Pikser and biographer Peter Biskind as so insecure about the screenplay that he gave it to former colleague Elaine May. She said it was not good at all, but Beatty suspected May was looking out for her own interests because she had written the screenplay for the rival political satire Primary Colors (1998).
- #006
The film's hip-hop music went platinum, earning RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) certification and selling more than one million copies in total.
- #007
Apart from the opening sequence, the film was shot entirely with a Steadicam.
- #008
According to Peter Baker's May 15, 2013 article in The New York Times, "Onset of Woes Casts Pall Over Obama's Policy Aspirations," President Barack Obama referenced this film when he spoke about Obama "Going Bulworth." The article states: "Still, Mr. Obama also vents his frustrations. In private conversations, he has wistfully talked about 'going Bulworth,' a reference to the little-remembered 1998 Warren Beatty film about a senator who risks everything. While Mr. Beatty's character did not have a president's power or platform, the metaphor underscores Mr. Obama's desire to shed what he sees as the constraints on him."
- #009
Co-writer Jeremy Pikser said his experience working with Warren Beatty was frustrating. He was paid a lump sum per draft produced by the studio, and Beatty spent months working and reworking a single draft. Fed up with being away from his family, with Beatty's ego and with not being paid, Pikser left the Los Angeles office where he wrote the screenplay with Beatty and returned to his family in Los Angeles. The pair completed the rest of the process by phone and fax.
- #010
Actors Warren Beatty and Paul Sorvino both appeared in Reds (1981), Dick Tracy (1990) and Rules Don't Apply (2016), all of which Beatty directed. Of the five feature films Beatty directed, Sorvino appeared in all but Heaven Can Wait (1978).
- #011
The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen at the 1999 Academy Awards for Jeremy Pikser (screenplay) and Warren Beatty (story/screenplay), but lost to Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard for Shakespeare in Love (1998).
- #012
Melvin Van Peebles was originally set to play the character Rastaman, but Amiri Baraka took his place during reshoots.
- #013
Warren Beatty spent 6 years writing, producing, directing and starring in Bulworth.
- #014
Although he received sole composer credit for the film, Ennio Morricone's music runs for only a little more than ten minutes in the final cut. He wrote a complete score running more than 50 minutes.
- #015
The word fuck and/or its derivatives is used 111 times.
- #016
The rap track released in connection with the film by Mya and Ol' Dirty Bastard was titled "Ghetto Supastar."
- #017
This was the last feature film Warren Beatty directed for roughly eighteen years, until Rules Don't Apply (2016).
- #018
The film won the 1998 Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) Best Screenplay award, given to screenwriters Jeremy Pikser and Warren Beatty; Beatty also received the film's story credit.
- #019
Ennio Morricone, Warren Beatty's usual musical collaborator, composed a complete score for this film running over 50 minutes. However, most of Morricone's music was not used in the film's final cut and was either removed in favor of popular rap music or used as needle-drop cues, the longest of which ran about four minutes or more, except for the finale in which Bulworth is assassinated. Morricone's music was also seamlessly blended with editorially prepared rap material, giving it a musical cohesion. Much of this was a great dissatisfaction for Morricone, who was unhappy with the result and never worked with Beatty again. RCA/Victor released a separate soundtrack CD consisting solely of two long musical suites of Morricone's music.
- #020
Oliver Platt wears a tie with "Eagles" written on it. It is the official school tie of Eaglebrook School, the middle school he attended.
- #021
The film was included on the American Film Institute's list of 500 films nominated for its "100 Years... 100 Laughs" list of the 100 funniest American films.
- #022
Prologue: "Mid-March, 1996. Time of the California primaries. Robert Dole has secured the Republican Presidential Nomination. President Clinton is running unopposed by other Democrats. The public unexcited... and incumbent Democratic Senator Jay Billington Bulworth is preparing to enter the final weekend of his primary campaign for another term in the United States Senate."
- #023
It was the fourth consecutive film directed by Warren Beatty to be nominated for at least one Oscar, after Heaven Can Wait (1978), Reds (1981) and Dick Tracy (1990).
- #024
The choir at the church Bulworth visits in South Central sings the melody of the German national anthem. It was composed by Joseph Haydn in 1796.
- #025
This was the third and final film collaboration between actor Jack Warden and actor-writer-producer-director Warren Beatty. The first was Shampoo (1975) and the second was Heaven Can Wait (1978), about three years later. These two 1970s films, with Warden displaying his comedic talent in both Shampoo (1975) and Heaven Can Wait (1978), took him to the peak of his acting career. Warden was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for both films — as the somewhat malicious businessman "Lester" in Shampoo (1975) and as the perpetually confused football coach "Max Corkle" in Heaven Can Wait (1978) — but did not win the Oscar for either. Finally, about 20 years after Heaven Can Wait (1978), Warden appeared in Beatty's Bulworth (1998) as the character "Eddie Davers."
- #026
It was included on the American Film Institute's 2000 list of 500 films nominated for its 100 Funniest American Films.
- #027
The film's cast includes two Oscar winners, Warren Beatty and Halle Berry, and six Oscar nominees: Sean Astin, Jack Warden, Don Cheadle, Michael Clarke Duncan, Laurie Metcalf and Paul Mazursky.
- #028
That same year, another political satire, Mike Nichols's Primary Colors (1998), was nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, while Bulworth (1998) was nominated in the Best Original Screenplay category. Neither political satire won.
- #029
Notable American politicians, government officials and political figures named and/or featured in the film include Democratic President Bill Clinton, Democratic Vice President Al Gore, Bob Dole, Ross Perot, Newt Gingrich, Pat Buchanan, Alan Simpson, Democratic New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley (1979-1997), Colin Powell, Clint Eastwood, George H. W. Bush, Huey P. Newton, Robert F. Kennedy, Democratic President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
- #030
It was the first feature film Warren Beatty directed since Dick Tracy (1990), a gap of about eight years.
- #031
Warren Beatty, Oliver Platt, Paul Sorvino, Joshua Malina and Graham Beckel also later appeared in Rules Don't Apply (2016), which Warren Beatty directed.
- #032
It is one of two feature films Warren Beatty directed in the 1990s; this can be seen as a very busy decade for the director, unlike his earlier years working as an actor/director. The other is Dick Tracy (1990), which was nominated for an Oscar along with this film. The other films in which Beatty starred but did not direct were Love Affair (1994), directed by Glenn Gordon Caron, in which his wife Annette Bening also appeared and which Beatty chose not to direct himself, and Bugsy (1991), directed by Barry Levinson.
- #033
It was star Warren Beatty's first acting role in a film since Love Affair (1994), about four years earlier.
- #034
It was the first Oscar-nominated film directed by Warren Beatty that did not win an Oscar. Heaven Can Wait (1978), Reds (1981) and Dick Tracy (1990) all won Oscars; the number of awards won was one, three and three respectively.
- #035
Isaiah Washington and Don Cheadle also appeared together in Out of Sight (1998).
- #036
Warren Beatty took on a range of roles on this picture. Beatty was the film's director, producer, co-screenwriter, lead actor and most talked-about star.
- #037
Bulworth is the fourth feature film Warren Beatty directed. His first three were Heaven Can Wait (1978), Reds (1981) and Dick Tracy (1990). His fifth would be Rules Don't Apply (2016), not counting the 2010 television film Dick Tracy Special.
- #038
Christine Baranski, who plays Senator Jay Billington Bulworth's (Warren Beatty) wife Constance Bulworth, would roughly six years later appear in another political satire, the political comedy Welcome to Mooseport (2004), as a fictional former First Lady: Charlotte Cole, the ex-wife of former U.S. President Monroe Cole (Gene Hackman).
- #039
This was star Warren Beatty's last acting role in a theatrical film until Town & Country (2001), roughly three years later.
- #040
Isaiah Washington and James Pickens Jr. also appeared together in Dead Presidents (1995) and Grey's Anatomy (2005).
- #041
Star Warren Beatty had previously appeared in director Alan J. Pakula's political conspiracy film The Parallax View (1974), which was shot and released roughly twenty-four years earlier.
- #042
Warren Beatty and Jack Warden had previously worked together on Shampoo (1975) and Heaven Can Wait (1978).
- #043
Roughly ten years earlier, actress Nora Dunn and actor Oliver Platt had appeared in Working Girl (1988).
- #044
Halle Berry and Isaiah Washington had previously worked with Spike Lee, on Jungle Fever (1991) and Girl 6 (1996) respectively. Ironically, Berry had also previously appeared in a film titled Losing Isaiah (1995).
- #045
The film was shot and released during Democratic President Bill Clinton's Democratic presidency (1993-2001). Warren Beatty's character, Senator Jay Billington Bulworth, is a progressive, liberal Democrat.
- #046
Halle Berry and Don Cheadle would later appear together in Swordfish (2001).
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