‘Unfit’ documentary examines psychology of Trump
Like the self-explanatory poster that declares “Russell Crowe is ‘Unhinged,’” the new documentary “Unfit: The Psychology of Donald Trump” sounds like it might be a funny look at the controversial guy in the White House.
Not so, says producer-director Dan Partland, 50. “We were very aware making this film that a lot of people saw Trump’s antics as odd, unusual, out of line, outrageous even but not scary.
“What we tried to show was while that may be attractive, what’s underlying it is really deadly serious.”
“Unfit” took wing in 2018 when, the two-time Emmy winner said from L.A. last week, “Many of us were inundated with news coverage. There was a different scandal day to day but a sameness.”
Partland used a Kickstarter campaign (“We knew it would not be funded from ordinary sources”) and he went into production at the start of 2019.
“We started reading anything we could find that was published on Trump psychology.
“What the mental health pros had to share was jaw dropping. We tried to further discuss the issue with people who had firsthand dealings with Trump. One was Rick Reilly, who has known him for over 30 years.”
Reilly has written about Trump the golfer and he’s scathing onscreen, saying, “Cheating in golf reveals your character. He cheats all the time! He tells people he’s won club championships when he never played.
He cheated playing with Tiger Woods!”
Anthony Scaramucci (“11 days as White House communications director”) and George Conway are onscreen as well.
“Scaramucci could really take you inside, he knows what Trump is like in person,” Partland said, adding, “Scaramucci provides much needed insight into the psychology of Trump supporters. He speaks very eloquently why a certain part of the electorate is so responsive.”
With “Unfit,” Partland emphasized, “We wanted to make sure we were nonpartisan but anti-Trump. We wanted people to share the positives of Trump, although that was harder to come by.
“George was important because he and Scaramucci and some others could really explain the change from being a Trump supporter to being anti-Trump.”
(“Unfit” is available on streaming platforms.)