Characterization : Motss

Motss

In the movie ” Wag the dog” published in 1997 and produced by Barry Levinson, Robert de Niro and Jane Rosenthal,  Dustin Hoffman plays the creative and successorientated producer Stanley Motss. The film is about a team of the president which tries to help the incumbent president to win the election again. But that is not that easy because there is a rumour going around that the president behaved “improper” towards a girl. Now his team has to perform miracles to camouflage this scandal. Stanley Motss has the  important assignment to stage-manage another story which distracts the people from the real facts.

He appears self confident and sometimes a bit arrogant. He is male, up to 60 years old and a little crazy. But maybe it takes to be a bit crazy to do his job. He is a very good producer. So he takes care about his look; he has a slender figure, always styled hair,wears glasses and uses the tanning bed. His big optimism let him never give up and he has a solution for every problem. With his ambitious manner he motivates the others, too. Motss lives for his job and pursues recognition. But sometimes he is a bit frustrated because in the movie he is not allowed to say anything about the “project” and so nobody knows about his brilliant work. Because of his desire for success he is a very determined person. In Breans eyes (he leads the project to help the president) Motss does a very good job and he is satisfied with his ambition. Stanley Motss is important for the whole team. Ames (Brean´s assistent) is sometimes stressed about Motss.  She thinks he is too risky and has her doubts about his plans.

At least the project operates for the benefit of the president. Everybody is satisfied except Motss. He wants to become famous. But in the end that wish kills him. Altogether he is a really good producer and indispensable for Brean´s and Ames´ work and he makes the movie funny with his honest and un-reserved utterances.