The American President (1995)
Annette Bening: Sydney Ellen Wade
Photos
Quotes
-
Sydney Ellen Wade : [to the President] This isn't about me. How can you keep quiet? How do you have patience for people who claim they love America, but clearly can't stand Americans?
-
[Sydney is unaware the President is listening]
Sydney Ellen Wade : [to AJ] Your boss is the chief executive of Fantasyland!
President Andrew Shepherd : Well, let's take him out back and beat the shit out of him!
-
Sydney Ellen Wade : Hello?
President Andrew Shepherd : Yeah, hi, is this Sydney?
Sydney Ellen Wade : Leo?
President Andrew Shepherd : No, this is Andrew Shepherd.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Oh! It's Andrew Shepherd! Yeah, you're hilarious, Richard, you're just a regular riot!
President Andrew Shepherd : No, this isn't Richard, this is Andrew Shepherd.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Oh! Well, I'm so glad you called, because I forgot to tell you today what a nice ass you have. I'm also impressed that you were able to get my phone number given the fact that I don't have a phone. Good night, Richard.
President Andrew Shepherd : Uh, this isn't Richard-
[Sydney hangs up]
President Andrew Shepherd : This used to be easier.
-
Sydney Ellen Wade : [in Beth's apartment] Why did I have to kiss him?
Beth Wade : You kissed him? You didn't tell me that. Where did you kiss him?
Sydney Ellen Wade : On the mouth.
Beth Wade : Where in the White House?
Sydney Ellen Wade : The dish room.
Beth Wade : The dish room?
Sydney Ellen Wade : The... China Room.
Beth Wade : And then what happened?
Sydney Ellen Wade : He had to go and attack Libya.
Beth Wade : It's always something.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Yeah... I gotta nip this in the bud. This has catastrophe written all over it.
Beth Wade : In what language? Sydney, the man is the leader of the free world. He's brilliant, funny, handsome. He's an above-average dancer. Isn't it possible our standards are just a tad high?
-
[dancing at a state dinner]
Sydney Ellen Wade : I don't know how you do it.
President Andrew Shepherd : It's Arthur Murray. Six lessons.
Sydney Ellen Wade : That's not what I mean. Two hundred pairs of eyes are focused on you with two questions on their minds: Who's this girl, and why is the President dancing with her?
President Andrew Shepherd : Well, first of all, the two hundred pairs of eyes aren't focused on me. They're focused on you. And the answers are Sydney Ellen Wade, and because she said yes.
-
Lucy Shepherd : My Dad told me to tell you that he's on the phone with his dentist, and that I should behave myself and entertain you until he gets back.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Oh. Your father's on the phone with his dentist?
Lucy Shepherd : No, he told me to tell you he's on the phone with his dentist. He wants you to think he's a regular guy.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Oh. Well, who's he on the phone with?
Lucy Shepherd : The prime minister of Israel.
-
President Andrew Shepherd : [in the White House China Room] Do you think there will ever be a time when you can stand in a room with me and not think of me as the President?
Sydney Ellen Wade : This isn't a state of mind. You are the President. And when I'm in a room with you, oval or any other shape, I'm always gonna be a lobbyist, and you're always gonna be the President.
President Andrew Shepherd : I have news for you, Sydney. As a lobbyist, you'd never be alone in a room with the President.
-
[last lines, walking with each other before delivering his State of the Union address]
Sydney Ellen Wade : How'd you finally do it?
President Andrew Shepherd : Do what?
Sydney Ellen Wade : Manage to give a woman flowers and be president at the same time?
President Andrew Shepherd : Well, it turns out I've got a rose garden.
-
President Andrew Shepherd : [over the phone] Listen, I feel terrible about this, but I'm going to have to cancel our date tonight.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Another woman?
President Andrew Shepherd : No, I've gotta go to St. Louis to avert a massive airline strike.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Boy, if I had a nickel for every time I've heard that one.
-
President Andrew Shepherd : [in the Oval Office] Sorry to keep you waiting.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Mister President...
President Andrew Shepherd : Is it all right if I call you Sydney?
Sydney Ellen Wade : Of course, Mister President.
President Andrew Shepherd : Have you ever been in the Oval Office?
Sydney Ellen Wade : Uh... I've just been on the regular tour. It didn't include...
President Andrew Shepherd : I hear it's pretty good.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Mister President, what you saw in there was nothing more than vanity run amuck. I was showing off for a colleague who doesn't think very much of me. It would be a real injustice for you to hold the GDC accountable for my behavior today. On top of which, I am monumentally sorry for having insulted you like that.
President Andrew Shepherd : Are you under the impression I'm mad at you?
Sydney Ellen Wade : Well, uh...
President Andrew Shepherd : Sydney, seldom does a day go by where I am not burned in effigy.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Not by a professional political operative standing 30 feet from the Oval Office.
President Andrew Shepherd : Nah, I'll grant you that.
-
President Andrew Shepherd : [in his bedroom] You're attracted to me, but the idea of physical intimacy is uncomfortable because you only know me as the President. But it's not always going to be that way, and the reason I know that is there was a moment last night when you were with ME, not the President. And I know what a big step that was for you. So, Sydney, I'm in no rush. Here's my plan. We're going to slow down, and when you're comfortable, that's when it's going to happen.
[Sydney emerges from the bathroom wearing nothing but one of his shirts]
President Andrew Shepherd : Perhaps I didn't properly explain the fundamentals of the slowdown plan.
Sydney Ellen Wade : [feeling the bed] No, you explained it great.
President Andrew Shepherd : Are you nervous?
Sydney Ellen Wade : No.
President Andrew Shepherd : Good. My nervousness exists on... several levels. Number one, and this is in no particular order, I haven't done this in a pretty long time. Number two, uh, any expectations that you might have, given the fact that I'm... you know...
Sydney Ellen Wade : [approaching seductively] The most powerful man in the world?
President Andrew Shepherd : Exactly, thank you. I think it's important you remember that's a political distinction that comes with the office. I mean, if, uh, Eisenhower were here instead of me, he'd be dead by now... and number three...
Sydney Ellen Wade : Andy...
[she kisses him]
-
[Looking through Andrew Shepherd's college transcript]
Sydney Ellen Wade : Oh, Andy, a C minus in Women's Studies.
President Andrew Shepherd : Yeah, well, that class wasn't about what I thought it was about.
-
Leo's secretary : [in Leo's office] Mr. Solomon? This was just delivered by a White House messenger. It's marked perishable.
Leo Solomon : The White House has sent me something perishable?
Leo's secretary : It's for Ms. Wade.
Leo Solomon : Oh, here we go.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Relax, Leo, I'm sure it's just a formality.
Leo's secretary : It's from him.
Leo Solomon : Of course it's from him.
Sydney Ellen Wade : So he had some staff flunky send me a fruit basket.
Leo's secretary : Well, he wrote the note himself.
Sydney Ellen Wade : I'm sure he didn't take the time to...
Leo's secretary : The messenger said he waited in the Oval Office for ten minutes while the president wrote the card.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Okay, listen- It took him ten minutes to write the card?
Leo's secretary : Apparently he went through several drafts.
-
President Andrew Shepherd : [as Sydney is angrily leaving] Syd, please, I don't want to lose you over this.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Mr. President, you got bigger problems than losing me. You just lost my vote!
-
Sydney Ellen Wade : [in Beth's apartment] I regrouped. You have to give me that. I stood in the middle of the Oval Office and made it clear that he who doesn't take the GDC seriously does so at his peril.
Beth Wade : And then you walked out the wrong door.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Are you going to keep throwing that back in my face for the rest of my life?
Beth Wade : That's my current plan, yes.
-
David : [in her office] We should do some prep work. You wanna order in?
Sydney Ellen Wade : Uh, I can't. I'm having dinner at the White House. So let's start early tomorrow morning, say 7:30?
David : Okay. I'm having lunch at the Kremlin, so we'll have to, you know, start even earlier than that.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Good night, David.
David : In order for me to catch the morning plane to Moscow.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Good night, David!
-
Sydney Ellen Wade : [with dread as she realizes that she was in fact speaking with the president on the phone] Mr. President... um... uh... I'm sure there's an appropriate thing to say at this moment... probably some formal apology for the "nice ass" remark would be in order, I just... I don't quite know how to word it.
President Andrew Shepherd : No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have called you at home. Should I call you at the office tomorrow?
Sydney Ellen Wade : No, no, of course not... I mean, yes, you can call me anytime you want... this is fine, right now is fine, when I said, "of course not," I meant... that... You know what, to hell with it, I'm moving to another country!
-
[Sydney and President D'Astier were conversing in French during the state dinner]
President Andrew Shepherd : Sydney, you didn't dissolve our trade agreements, did you?
Sydney Ellen Wade : No, I just said we're sitting in this beautiful room, listening to the music of this wonderful orchestra, and I wondered why nobody was dancing.
President René Jean D'Astier : And I informed Miss Wade that in my country, a guest at the palace of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette would soon find their head in a guillotine if they made the impertinent gesture of dancing without so much as a by-your-leave from the King and the Queen.
[laughs]
A. J. MacInerney : I bet no one accused Louis of being soft on crime.
Sydney Ellen Wade : There's a lesson there, Mr. President.
President Andrew Shepherd : More beheadings at the White House!
-
Sydney Ellen Wade : [Referring to Lucy Shepherd] She's wonderful.
President Andrew Shepherd : She's her mother.
Sydney Ellen Wade : She's you!
-
[Ushering Sydney out of the White House after spending her first night there]
President Andrew Shepherd : I'm sorry about this. We'll do it better next time.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Well, I'm no expert, but I think we did it pretty good this time.
-
President Andrew Shepherd : [in the Oval Office] Listen, are you hungry? I skipped breakfast. You wanna... have a doughnut? Coffee or something?
Sydney Ellen Wade : Sir, I'm a little intimidated by my surroundings. And yes, I have gotten off to a rocky and somewhat stilted beginning, but don't let that diminish the weight of my message. The GDC has been at every president for the last decade and a half that global warming is a calamity the effects of which will be second only to nuclear war. The best scientists in the world have given you every reason to take the GDC seriously, but I'm going to give you one more. If you don't live up to the deal you just made, come New Hampshire we're going to go shopping for a new candidate.
[turns to leave]
President Andrew Shepherd : You can't do that, Sydney.
Sydney Ellen Wade : [starts to open door to a side room] With all due respect, Mr. President, who's going to stop me?
President Andrew Shepherd : Well, if you go through that door, the United States Secret Service. That's my private office.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Ah.
President Andrew Shepherd : You have to go out that door,
[points to his right]
President Andrew Shepherd : over there.
[Sydney closes the door to his private office, crosses the room, and leaves]
-
Sydney Ellen Wade : [as they head to the state dinner] Do you do this often?
President Andrew Shepherd : Well, we had a state dinner for the prime minister of Japan, who died shortly thereafter, so we stopped having them just in case.
Sydney Ellen Wade : No. I mean, do you date often?
President Andrew Shepherd : Oh. No. You?
Sydney Ellen Wade : Yeah, well, lately I seem to be going out on a lot of first dates.
President Andrew Shepherd : Oh, so you've got experience with this kind of thing.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Oh yeah, you can ask me anything.
President Andrew Shepherd : So, how are we doing?
Sydney Ellen Wade : Ohhh you know pretty much everyday first date kind of stuff...
President Andrew Shepherd : Darn, and I wanted to be different than the other guys.
[leaves her with her escort]
President Andrew Shepherd : Oh, by the way, nice shoes.
-
President Andrew Shepherd : [in his bedroom] Do you know what your problem is?
Sydney Ellen Wade : What's my problem?
President Andrew Shepherd : Sex and nervousness.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Sex and nervousness is my problem?
President Andrew Shepherd : Yes. Last night when we were looking at those place settings in the Dish Room, I realized those place settings were provided by the first ladies. And I'll bet none of those first ladies were nervous about having sex with their President husbands. And do you know why?
Sydney Ellen Wade : No, but I'm sure you'll explain it to me.
President Andrew Shepherd : I will. Because they weren't Presidents when they first met them. That's not the case here.
-
[Right before their first kiss in the White House China Room]
Sydney Ellen Wade : Do you think this is a good idea?
President Andrew Shepherd : Probably not.
-
President Andrew Shepherd : [over the phone] You ever been to Camp David?
Sydney Ellen Wade : Camp David? Sure, I used to go there all the time, but then they changed chefs.
-
[Watching Rumson on television with Andrew]
Bob Rumson : I don't even know what we call her. Is she the First Mistress?
Sydney Ellen Wade : Oh, man... my father heard that.
-
Sydney Ellen Wade : [to the President] I'm in love with you. I'm sure of it, and I want to be with you more than anything in the world. But maybe it'd be better for you if I disappeared for a while.
-
President Andrew Shepherd : You have concerns?
Sydney Ellen Wade : Yes. Not many. A few. One. I have one concern.
President Andrew Shepherd : This wouldn't have to do with the fact that one of us is president?
-
President Andrew Shepherd : [in his bedroom] How much do you make?
Sydney Ellen Wade : More than you do, Mr. President.
President Andrew Shepherd : The name is Andy. How much money do you make?
Sydney Ellen Wade : What the hell does it matter how much money I make?
President Andrew Shepherd : You raise your voice to the president?
-
Leo Solomon : [referring to her damaging her career if she has a romantic relationship with the President] I hired your reputation, Sydney. I hired a pit bull, not a prom queen.
Sydney Ellen Wade : That's unfair.
Leo Solomon : It's *incredibly* unfair.
-
Sydney Ellen Wade : If someone had asked me yesterday, I'd have told them that the Quebec Conference is made up of six professional hockey teams.
-
Sydney Ellen Wade : Congressman Pennybaker, on Election Day, people give a damn about what I tell them to give a damn about. That's why I have a job.
-
Susan Sloan : I just want to go on record and apologize for my attitude towards you since your arrival.
Sydney Ellen Wade : Oh, I didn't notice. Was there an attitude?
Susan Sloan : Well, I - I think that um, that I - I have a lot of pent-up hostility...
Sydney Ellen Wade : Well, I...
Susan Sloan : You know, and I'm wondering who I should blame that on.
Sydney Ellen Wade : I'm not really qualified to...
Susan Sloan : You know, because I've been blaming it on my mother and my ex-husband and, well, that doesn't seem to be working.
-
Sydney Ellen Wade : Well then, congratulations. It's only taken you three years to put together crime prevention legislation that has no hope of preventing crime.
-
Sydney Ellen Wade : [in his bedroom] Bob Rumson's gotta be drooling over this!
President Andrew Shepherd : Are you attracted to me?
Sydney Ellen Wade : I beg your pardon?
President Andrew Shepherd : I asked if you were attracted to me.
Sydney Ellen Wade : That's not the issue.
President Andrew Shepherd : Well, I tell you what, let's make it the issue. Let's try something new, because I know that most couples when they first get together are inclined to slam on the brakes because they're concerned about Bob Rumson's drool.