When Zack Weiner ran for New York City Council in 2021, he was a 26-year-old Jewish actor and screenwriter with no political experience, hardly any funding and, crucially, a complete lack of publicity.
That was until a few days before the Democratic primary, when a video leaked showing Weiner, mostly nude, being whipped, clamped and humiliated by a dominatrix. The BDSM clip caught mainstream attention, with late-night hosts like Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers cracking jokes at his expense.
Unbeknownst to the public, however, it was all part of Weiner’s plan.
As it turns out, Weiner’s entire campaign to represent the Upper West Side was fodder for his new film, “Citizen Weiner,” which premiered at the Village East by Angelika last month and screens at the Marlene Meyerson JCC on Monday, Nov. 4.
The film, co-written with Joe Gallagher (who was also Weiner’s campaign manager), is about Weiner’s quest to run for office as a political nobody who lives with his mother.
Call it a stunt, but what makes this film unique is that Weiner actually ran for city council, on a platform with real issues that were dear to his heart, including filling the neighborhood’s vacant storefronts. And while Weiner ultimately finished last in the six-way race, he did manage to secure 2.4% of the vote.
“Generally the response has been [to call it a] ‘mockumentary,’ but with a strange new twist where I’m actually running — so there’s real consequences,” Weiner told the New York Jewish Week, trying to define the film’s genre. “So maybe it’s an ‘irresponsible mockumentary,’ I don’t know.”
Weiner’s preferred term for his film is “reality movie.” Like reality television, there are staged moments, such as Weiner’s meetings with his ragtag campaign team (all actors, plus his real mother). But the movie is mostly unscripted, and the depicted events are actually happening: When the team sets out to gather 1,000 petition signatures from Upper West Siders, we see real residents genuinely reacting with delight, impatience and, in one case, signing on the condition that Weiner believes in Jesus. (Weiner’s mother, Cherie Vogelstein, happily lies through her teeth about the faith of her son, who comes from 13 generations of rabbis. His father, Eric Weiner, a creator of “Dora the Explorer,” does not appear in the film.)
“I think a lot of the [film’s] dialogue and energy and self-deprecating humor falls into the Jewish comedic tradition,” the lifelong Upper West Sider said. Though he didn’t lean into his Jewish identity as a candidate, his Jewishness infuses the film, from the very first scene where he’s bickering with his mother over his facial hair, all the way to the moment he gives a hearty “mazel tov” to former Manhattan borough president and City Council member Gale Brewer, who handily won the decisive primary.
Weiner said he was inspired by Jewish comedian Nathan Fielder, whose Comedy Central series “Nathan For You” involved often extreme stunts meant to bring publicity to floundering businesses. Aside from the BDSM video, Weiner’s own publicity moves include handing out free treats from an ice cream truck and campaigning alongside a rented pony named Cheesecake.
Weiner crowdsurfing at a campaign rally shortly before the Democratic primary. (Courtesy Zack Weiner)
One distinction that Weiner makes between “Citizen Weiner” and some other satirical projects — think “Borat” — is the target. In the film, Weiner is undoubtedly the butt of the joke. “I think that was rooted to some extent in Jewish values that we’ve grown up with at yeshivas, camp, where you’re trying to do OK for everybody,” he said. “We wanted to make sure no one was the butt of the joke except us.”
Ahead of Monday’s screening, we spoke with Weiner about his campaign, what inspired his film, and what’s special about the Upper West Side.
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The interview has been lightly condensed and edited for clarity.
Why did you get involved in local politics, why did you make a movie about it –– and in what order did that all happen?
I’ve been really interested in local politics for a long time now. I read “The Power Broker” — well, I read some of “The Power Broker” — about Robert Moses, and I thought that was pretty fascinating. [He] seemed evil, but did a lot. Also, his family was not into the Jewish thing. He did not get his bris, very bizarre, but that’s neither here nor there.
So I was interested in it, and feeling very frustrated by national politics. And I had this idea of a local politician getting involved in a scandal on a national scale. When I told my friend Joe [Gallagher], who was later my campaign manager, about the movie idea, we talked about politics and that’s how it became, “OK, we’re gonna run. We’re gonna film it, and there’s actually a decent chance that this will be a movie about winning through a scandal.” [Seasoned politician Brewer had not yet entered the race.]
President Donald Trump was elected in 2016 despite a scandal that erupted just weeks before Election Day. Did this inspire the film in some way?
Yeah, that was a big part of what we were thinking. We thought he had proven, if you handle it [a scandal] right, it could benefit you, or you’ll be impervious to it. It seemed to be a shift in politics where you could just hold on. And the refusal to apologize would kind of coalesce support around you and you come off as defiant, and it’s appealing.
The BDSM video came out three years ago. I was reminded of similar stunts, like Joaquin Phoenix showing up disheveled on “Letterman” in what turned out to be an elaborate hoax for the mockumentary he was filming. And I was left with the same question: Was it hard to keep the joke to yourself for multiple years?
(Laughs) It was definitely, definitely difficult. At first I was not going to tell people it was for a movie until it came out. But then it became clear that the movie wouldn’t be released for a while, so I started alluding to it — but no one believed me. So it became a recurring, embarrassing moment at social functions where someone would go, “Hey, it’s the scandal guy!” “BDSM guy!” (Laughing) And I didn’t know what to say! So that was tricky for a while.
Where were people bringing it up?
A lot of engagement parties, birthday parties, occasionally in shul. I mean it would come up a lot. So I’d say, “Well, you know, there’s a project around it, you’re gonna see more coming out.” And they’d say, “Sure, sure, don’t worry about it. It’s not the worst thing.”
Have you heard from constituents — and particularly from your voters — since the project was revealed?
Yeah. For a while I had people periodically stop me and say, “Hey, I voted for you. Was that all a joke, what the heck?” And they weren’t so happy. But when we premiered the movie this past week — we sent invitations to a lot of Upper West Siders — I had a couple opponents and some constituents email [me], and it seems like they’re coming around a little bit. One younger guy from the neighborhood came over after the premiere and said he thought I should run again, and that if I did, he’d volunteer. It might be divided, though.
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What were the main policy concerns of your campaign?
I had two big campaign issues I was pushing: filling storefronts and financial literacy in schools. I would say the storefronts resonated the most, that’s what I was most excited about. There’s so many stores that are empty! Thirteen percent of stores in Manhattan. It’s just this huge opportunity that no one is happy about — the landlords, pedestrians, no one. And no one else was talking about it at all, so we pushed it really hard and captured people’s attention. And it’s only gotten worse since then. I would say that was our big differentiating idea.
Why did you choose to run on the Upper West Side?
Aside from living here, it’s a gorgeous place to film. And the people are progressively minded, but also rooted in tradition. It’s kind of a strange politically moderate neighborhood in that way. And I lived here, so it had to be here to some extent, too.
So you’re now in the uncommon position of having run in an election. What did you learn about that process that you weren’t expecting?
Locally, I didn’t know there were so many political clubs. I guess it’s like that Jewish joke, where there’s two Jews stuck on an island and three synagogues. That’s kind of like what we have going here — there’s so many different, tiny little voting clubs that you have to speak with and do debates for, that seem almost identical.
Another thing I didn’t quite realize was every time you leave your apartment, you can be — and should be — campaigning to some degree. You run into someone and small talk becomes a little bit of a sales pitch.
The movie is a comedy, but like you mentioned, there’s a level of earnestness about the impact of local politics. Do you want viewers to leave the theater laughing?
I really hope people find it funny and laugh. But I also hope people see that humor in politics can not be a bad thing. It could go far and help you get at something useful. I’d like people to think, “Oh, that was funny.” But also, “That might be a fun thing to see again around here.”
“Citizen Weiner” will screen at the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan (334 Amsterdam Ave.) on Monday, Nov. 4 at 6 p.m. Get tickets and details here.
