News - History on film

The two-time Primetime Emmy nominated filmmaker is currently working on a documentary that chronicles the life and career of former Secretary of State George Schultz – a man who according to de Vries was instrumental in turning the arms race on its head.

For those not familiar with Schultz, he was an educator, economist and politician who served as Secretary of Labor and Secretary of the Treasury under Richard Nixon and as Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan from 1982 to 1989. Today he continues to be active in attempting to rid the world of nuclear weapons among other issues he finds imperative in today’s world.

“A lot of people don’t know that he was very instrumental in exchanging the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union, in particular the headway he made in reducing the amount of nuclear missiles that were pointed at America,” de Vries said.

Throughout the process of making the film, de Vries has been extremely impressed by Schultz’s intellect and dedication to his work.

“When other people are kind of sitting around, he is just on the go, constantly attending seminars and giving speeches not only to rid the world of nuclear weapons, but also environmental causes,” he said.

De Vries, a resident of Saratoga Springs, started researching and writing the film in February 2007 and filming has been taking place throughout the past year. During that time, de Vries has interviewed such high-profile world leaders as Henry Kissinger, Condoleezza Rice and Ted Kennedy not to mention various historians and journalists.

“People from both sides of the isle have been eager to voice their sentiments about him,” he said.

He is also currently awaiting a trip to Moscow to interview the former president of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev. De Vries said like Schultz, Gorbachev is still a man who is very active in world politics, so the biggest challenge has been finding time to meet with him. However, he hopes to make the trip prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.

“He has emailed me and said he is very interested in doing it,” he said.

Also interested is de Vries who said he is very excited for the opportunity to meet a man who he feels was an enormous figure of the 20th century.

“He was willing to buck the system in Russia and say that the country couldn’t keep heading in the direction they were going and that they had to get out from under the arms race,” he said. “It was really Gorbachev who set out to take a different path and create a relationship with the United States.”

Aside from interviews, the film also features various reenactments from some of the most important moments of Schultz’s political career. Two of those scenes de Vries has filmed right here at home in the Capital District.

On Saturday Sept. 20, de Vries shot a reenactment of what was supposed to be the first shipment of anti-tank missiles to Tehran, Iran at the Saratoga County Airport. That same day he shot another scene at a hotel in Albany that was intended to recreate the moment that Reagan asked Schultz to be his Secretary of State.

“It could have been done anywhere, but more and more I am trying to find out ways to do things locally,” he said

Throughout the process, de Vries has sought out help from local technicians and an Albany-based casting crew. He will also be editing the film in Albany – a process that in the past has taken him to New York City or Los Angeles.

“Its fun to do things here in my own backyard and find new people to work with,” he said.

Originally from Lincoln, Nebraska, de Vries moved with his family to Saratoga Springs 10 years ago. He has been producing, writing and directing documentary films for 35 years and has worked for every major network, including the History Channel, A&E and the Discovery Channel. In 2001, he was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for his work on the documentary film Egypt Beyond the Pyramids, which examined the recent discoveries that have altered our understanding of the Egyptian kingdom. He was also nominated for his second Primetime Emmy this past year for his work on the post-apocalyptic documentary Life After People.

“It has been an interesting career where I have gotten to work on a lot of diverse subjects,” he said. “I guess you can say I am knowledgeable on a lot of things, but an expert on nothing.”

There are still a few interviews left to conduct including the editing of the film, but de Vries hopes to have the documentary completed by next April. He is not sure what exact date the film will debut, but he said it will be aired nationally on PBS some time in 2009.