It’s one thing for a star to like a script. It’s another for him to sink $21.3 million of his own money into the production to get the film made. Yet that’s exactly what Kevin Costner did with Swing Vote, the new Disney comedy about an affable loser (Costner) who casts the tiebreaking vote in a presidential election. To give the movie a touch of vérité, Costner recruited some of the country’s best-known media personalities, including Larry King and Arianna Huffington, to play themselves. “These people love their business,” Costner says. “I think they like to see it boiled down to terms that aren’t going to go over anybody’s head.” 

Turning the Tables

Swing Vote.

Photographs by Robert Trachtenberg

CAMPBELL BROWN (CNN)

What did you say when you were invited to be in the film?
I had just been hired by CNN to take over the 8 o’clock hour. I was pregnant at the time, and newly pregnant when they called me. So I said, “Okay, guys, let’s do it soon, because right now you can’t tell I’m pregnant, but soon you will.” And they said, “Oh, yeah, we’re gonna do it really soon.” But you know how movies are. It was delayed and delayed and when we finally shot my little scene, I was eight and a half months.

What did you think of the film’s concept?
I’m such a junkie, I love political movies, and this idea seemed a little preposterous but something that the writers were clearly going to be able to have a good time with. I say “preposterous” because we always say, “That would never happen,” and then…look at what happened in 2000, and at what’s happening in this campaign.

What has been the most dramatic moment of the campaign for you?
For me, personally, it was moderating the debate between Hillary and Obama in Austin, Texas.

You’re not the first to play Campbell Brown. Kristen Wiig of Saturday Night Live impersonated you last season.
It was incredibly flattering. She is hilarious. It has to be a huge milestone in your life to be mocked by S.N.L.