\n<\/p>\n
Despite the projects ahead, Mr. Obama said the couple intended to continue spending just 10 to 15 percent of their time nurturing Higher Ground, especially as the 2024 election approaches and they are called to the campaign trail.<\/p>\n
\u201cMichelle and I do not aspire to be full-time Hollywood moguls,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For the projects they do choose, however, their support can make the difference. Bruce Cohen, a producer of \u201cRustin,\u201d credits the Obamas with getting his film made after HBO passed on it years earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you have them in your corner, it gives you a really good chance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
And Mr. Heineman, whose film documents Ms. Jaouad\u2019s battle with leukemia, was able to form a partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and the Be the Match organization, which helps connect patients to bone marrow donors, because of Higher Ground, he said. \u201cThe idea of trying to make an impact with the film was something that was important to him and important to me,\u201d Mr. Heineman said, referring to Mr. Obama.<\/p>\n
While Mr. Obama was no stranger to Hollywood \u2014 since his early days of campaigning for the presidency he found a welcoming audience among the show business elite \u2014 he has found that working in this business has taken some getting used to.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s ironic that the private sector is made out to be this hyper-efficient thing, and the government is plodding, slow,\u201d he said. \u201cI think part of it is ideological and part of it is people\u2019s experience with the D.M.V.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything takes so long \u2014 decisions, contracts, scripts,\u201d Mr. Obama said. \u201cWe organized a major address or a G20 meeting in three weeks. Getting somebody to read a script in three weeks is lucky, much less write a script in three weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n