Vote dirty

For the comedic possibilities alone, Jon Stewart would relish a presidential candidate who walked, talked and politicked like a strange brew of Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and Edwin Edwards. In Shreveport, Oliver Stone is racing to finish W. before the November election, but Crowley-based filmmaker Steve Esteb is giving audiences a shot of this wicked combination of candidates in his new independent satire Dirty Politics .

“This is a strange year for politics as is,” Esteb says. “We’ve got these iconic figures running for president. And our candidate is just as iconic in his own way, but if he was actually elected it would be a lot more fun.”

Veteran TV actor John Valdetero stars as Louisiana’s leading presidential hopeful, Sen. Jimmy Breaux. Like Reagan he is a populist, and like George W. Bush he’s a guy you wouldn’t mind inviting for a barbecue. We never find out what political party Breaux represents, but we do know where he stands on hard drinking, streaking and illicit affairs with much younger women: he’s all for them.

“I wanted to explore how far politicians go to rationalize their behavior,” says Esteb, who recently finished the script from a draft he wrote 10 years ago. “They all do it, and they’ll say it’s for the good of the country.”

Reba star Melissa Peterman plays Breaux’s wife Rita as a smart-mouthed power-seeker surrounded by idiots, including her husband. Much of the film’s humor comes from the contrast between her stand-by-your-man public persona and the harsh behind-closed-doors reality.

“Every marriage has that,” Peterman says. “You put on the show when you’re in public, but it’s when you’re alone that the real relationship comes out. I would love to peek in the windows and see what George and Laura really say after a UN dinner, but not in a creepy way or in a way that will get me on some government list.”

Filmed in downtown Baton Rouge, Dirty Politics also stars Beau Bridges, Melissa-Anne Davenport and Judd Nelson. Dirty Politics premiered at the Manship Theatre in August, but you can visit dirtypoliticsthemovie.com for clips and more release information.