 Rafshoon was the media manager during Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign, as well as his tenure in the White House.A private screening of the film was held for Carter, after which he agreed the film was, indeed, "realistic".In an interview with Lou Dobbs on "CNN Today", Rafshoon admits "intentional" similarities existed between the film's characters and living persons on whom the characters were partially based, even admitting, "they're all public figures so they can sue us".