Laura Dern arguably steals the show in "Recount," the upcoming HBO flick about the contested 2000 presidential election. And after sitting next to Dern at a private screening of the movie Tuesday night, we know who her biggest fan of all is: her husband, Ben Harper, the Grammy award-winning soul/folk/funk musician who laughed riotously at his wife's every scene.

Dern plays the colorful Katherine Harris, who, as secretary of state of Florida, tried to call the state's presidential election -- and thus, the entire contest -- for her friend George W. Bush. After many twists and turns the dispute over the recount was eventually decided, in Bush's favor, by the U.S. Supreme Court. Dern does a spot-on, if slightly over-the-top Harris, who, as a congresswoman after her secretary-of-state stint, was one of the most lampooned members of the House.

Dern and Harper were seated at the table next to the Sleuth at a dinner and screening in a huge backyard tent at the home of Washington Post icons and uber power couple Sally Quinn and Ben Bradlee. After dinner, we turned our chairs to face the big screen and watch the movie -- Dern and Harper sat together directly in front of us, just a few inches away.

Harper laughed and stroked his wife's arm and kissed her shoulder during her scenes, which often involved an accentuated voluptuous and hilariously sexually suggestive version of secretary of state Harris primping for the cameras, relishing her role in the limelight of the recount. The portrayal wasn't far off from reality.

In one scene in the movie, Dern as Harris compares herself to Queen Esther in the Bible: "She was willing to sacrifice herself to save the lovely Jewish people and that is exactly what I am doing right now." The tent exploded in a chorus of laughter, led by top fan and hubby Harper.

Harris, who lost her race for the Senate in 2006, was not at the screening. But plenty of other real-life characters were, along with the actors who played them, including: Ron Klain, the former chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore, and Kevin Spacey, who stars as Klain; Bush-Cheney 2000 lawyer Ben Ginsberg and actor Bob Balaban who was perfectly cast for the role of Ginsberg; and Gore-Lieberman 2000 lawyer David Boies, who argued for the Democrats before the Supreme Court. We didn't see Ed Begley who plays Boies.

Len Amato, the film's executive producer, was there, and Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), were among the political glitterati who attended along with dozens of journalists, political strategists in both parties and talking heads -- most notably Pat Buchanan, who -- remember? -- was on the presidential ballot in 2000.

For those who were in the trenches of the Florida recount battle, the movie was like a shot of anxiety.

Boies told "Recount" screenwriter Danny Strong, who was also at the screening, that he was on the edge of his seat the whole time. And the movie does do a great job of capturing every anguishing moment and surprising twist and turn in the counting, stopping and recounting of the ballots whose chad, both dimpled and hanging, became a hallmark of the election.

But neither Tom Wilkinson, who plays James Baker, nor Baker himself showed up. (But we hear Baker is pleased with the movie and will even be hosting a joint screening of "Recount" with former President Jimmy Carter; Baker and Carter served together on the post 2004 Commission on Federal Election Reform. Baker's daughter plays a bit role in "Recount.")

Veteran newsman Tom Brokaw was there, too. Brokaw appears in the film as himself, in archive footage, anchoring the NBC news on Election Day 2000 with one of the more memorable lines from that night as networks had to retract calling the state for Gore: "The networks giveth and the networks taketh away."

David A. Kaplan, author of the book "The Accidental President" about the Florida recount debacle, was also there. Kaplan, who was a paid consultant on the movie, tells us he thought the movie "was nuanced and nicely captured that neither side exactly had the moral high ground it claimed to have. Bush's team, and Gore's, both made political calculations and the movie portrayed that."

By Mary Ann Akers  |  April 30, 2008; 1:06 PM ET
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