"The Butler" director Lee Daniels didn't start out as a filmmaker but as an owner of a nursing agency in Los Angeles. "So I know how to gather funds, get the people, and treat filmmaking like a business," he tells The Japan Times. "At the same time, once the filming starts, I can't be just a businessman anymore. I have a story to tell, and want to tell it with as (few) restrictions as possible. That's why I'm comfortable in an indies setting. Start to finish, I pretty much have control over the whole process.
Certainly that was the case with Daniels' 2009 breakthrough movie "Precious," which featured an overweight African-American teen in a New York slum, sexually abused by her father and ruthlessly nagged by her alcoholic mother. The material was considered so risqué that the American press first hesitated to comment on it, and then proceeded to shout its praises.
"The Butler" (released in Japan as Daitoryo no Shitsuji no Namida) is inspired by a Washington Post article about Eugene Allen, a black butler who served eight presidents during his tenure at the White House, including benevolent Dwight D. Eisenhower (portrayed by Robin Williams), rampant Republican Richard Nixon (John Cusack), heroic and sympathetic John F. Kennedy (James Marsden), pro-Apartheid Ronald Reagan (Alan Rickman) and everyone in between.