New Steven Spielberg Short Leaves Obama on Cutting-Room Floor

The Democratic National Convention is past the halfway point in Denver, which tonight will emerge as the unlikely epicenter of Steven Spielberg’s cosmic restitution for Indiana Jones 4. The director is taking only incremental steps toward recovery for now, however, joining contemporaries Ken Burns and Davis Guggenheim as the DNC’s guest contributors of short films for each night. The good news: Spielberg’s short celebrates American military veterans, and we guess the guy knows his American military veterans. (NB: It’s narrated by Tom Hanks.) The bad news: Kind of like Cannes, Spielberg will be around just long enough to drop off the tape before heading back to lick his Clinton-supporting wounds. Insert frowny emoticon here:

Spielberg plans to attend the convention tonight, although he is not expected Thursday night when Barack Obama accepts the nomination at Invesco Field, according to a spokesman for the director. …

Spielberg endorsed Clinton in the primaries, but he and his partners in DreamWorks, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, are expected to host a fund-raiser for Obama, perhaps in September, if the candidate’s schedule can be so arranged.

And so begins the delicate process of fence-mending for the World’s Most Powerful Filmmaker and the World’s Most Powerful Junior Senator From Illinois, the latter of whose chief of staff reportedly deadpanned to Spielberg’s secretary in a scheduling call this morning: “Yeah, whatever works. You’ve got that Indian buyout thing going all month, right? You need Biden’s help? We could probably close that shit tomorrow. Anyway, let us know. We’re pretty wide open through November. Take your time.”

• Spielberg DNC film honors veterans [Variety]