The arc of Bradley Whitford’s career forms a sobering report card on the state of the country. Whitford first came to international prominence as Josh Lyman, the pinup boy for competent and courageous liberalism in seven seasons of “The West Wing,” who was a paragon of Aaron Sorkin’s institutional optimism. But in recent years, the actor has turned to roles that paint a much darker picture of the American government: a Christofascist leader in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” a grumpy senator in “Death by Lightning” and a stubborn first gentleman who helps cover up deadly government secrets in “The Diplomat.”
None of this is intentional, Whitford said in an interview, although he jokingly acknowledged that there seems to be a theme in his career choices: “You’re tracing the decline of democracy.”
Whitford’s latest role sounds as serious as a diagnosis point. Appearing in the first Broadway revival of Sorkin’s 1989 breakout play “A Few Good Men” (which became a 1992 film), the 67-year-old actor stars as Col. Nathan R. Jessup, a combative, villainous Marine Corps leader who oversees a unit where a young member has been killed by two other men during a punitive ritual. Whitford’s casting is particularly symbolic as he made his Broadway debut in the original production, first as a student and then eventually as Lieutenant Daniel A. Coffey, the principled defense attorney, a role played in this production by British actor Tom Blythe.
From ‘West Wing’ to East Wing: Bradley Whitford on his new role in ‘The Diplomat’
Whitford’s transformation from hero to villain in this new production, running through January 10 at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater, comes at an especially powerful time, when the Pentagon, under the leadership of Sec. Pete Hegseth has had to grapple with a series of scandals that seem almost straight out of “A Few Good Men,” including allegations of sexism, excessive focus on the so-called culture wars and concerns that troops were being given illegal orders. “It’s more relevant than ever,” Whitford said. “Not only is it relevant to the way it makes headlines, but I really feel like there’s a fundamentally dangerous logic going on in this world. It’s leaning toward a dangerous side and I hope it moves away from that.”
The reunion of Sorkin and Whitford here is an ironic one, however, as some have argued that “The West Wing” bears some responsibility for how we arrived at the moment where this new drama is suddenly filled with such new meaning. The show has often been ridiculed as a liberal fantasy in which entrenched problems and political footballs can be solved through escalating speeches and people’s attitudes. “Democrats are high-minded, even when they play low.” The show’s Republicans feel like a relic in comparison to leaders like President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. am writing for new York Times In 2024, Gawker’s founding editor Elizabeth Spiers explicitly blamed Sorkin for infecting “an entire generation of political professionals” with “a terminal ‘West Wing’ brain”, a liberal fantasy which Spiers argued favors rhetoric over cruelty and is “preventing Democrats from functioning effectively” in the Trump era. Socialist motivational podcaster is on “Chapo’s Trap House” in 2022. similarly accused the show of being “the Rosetta Stone for every stupid thing that contemporary liberals currently believe” and accused Sorkin of doing more damage to America’s political imagination than anyone since “The Birth of a Nation” director D.W. Griffith.
Whitford acknowledged that the show was always “aspirational storytelling”, but stressed that it also had elements of realism. “People will always say it was a fantasy, and that will always confuse me a little bit because if you look at the Bartlett administration, which was certainly fake, we didn’t do much,” he said. “That show was about the uphill battle to move an inch forward without disappearing into the mud.”
For Whitford, skepticism is far more dangerous to democracy than stupidity. He said, “I am proud to be a part of the show.” “Public service is very, very important, and we need a functioning government, we need a functioning diplomatic corps, and when we get cynical about it, we’re putting our children’s future at risk.”
“A Few Good Men” is itself an ambitious pursuit of justice. Drama, Written in early draft on cocktail napkin Coffey and Lt. Commander follow him as Sorkin works as a bartender. Joanne Galloway (Krista Rodriguez) represents two Marines accused of the death of a combat member of their unit. Had Jessup ordered them to attack the young marine? And if so, what legal and moral responsibility should they bear for his death? (In the film, which was also written by Sorkin, the three lead roles were played by Tom Cruise, Demi Moore and Jack Nicholson.)
Dressed on the play’s cavernous, military hangar-like set and sporting a slight Southern accent, Whitford’s Jessup feels a world away from Josh Lyman. It’s also a different kind of portrayal from Nicholson’s, whose hot-headed anger bubbles beneath every scene in the film, creating a more menacing character. In line with some of her previous films, from 2017’s “Get Out” to 1995’s “Billy Madison,” Whitford’s turn is shyer and more irritable. It’s also hard not to see a glimpse of Hegseth in Jessup’s smugness and arrogance.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Whitford told reporters, recalling a conversation she had with “The Handmaid’s Tale” author Margaret Atwood. “She said something very disturbing: ‘It’s very hard for us to accept the fact that it was fun to be a fascist.'”
It was Michael Arden, the Tony-winning director who was directing a new production of “A Few Good Men,” who suggested to Sorkin that he cast Whitford as Jessup. “I don’t think they found another name before I said yes,” Sorkin told reporters. “When you’re a writer and you get an actor like Brad, you handcuff him to a radiator. You always want to work with him.”
Arden said in an interview that his intention in casting Whitford as the villain was not to weaponize audiences’ memories of the actor as a one-time liberal icon. The director also defended “The West Wing”, and credited the show with initially getting many people interested in the government and its players.
As to whether justice would prevail in the play in today’s America, Arden expressed reservations. “I don’t know the answer to that,” he said. “I think that’s the question we want the audience to ask.”