https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/01/16/obama-cia-john-brennan-held-secret-meetings-with-stars-of-showtimes-homeland/
Obama’s CIA, Led by John Brennan, Held Secret Meetings with Stars of Showtime’s ‘Homeland’
The wide-ranging conversation touched on how Homeland was created and how the creative team was able to tap into the knowledge of CIA agents, ambassadors, ex-military personnel, journalists, and even whistleblower Edward Snowden.
At one point, the Homeland team visited Langely to meet with the real-life counterparts to the characters portrayed in the series.
“A meeting was arranged between the cast, the network and the CIA at Langley. They confiscated our cellphones, and our whole team is just sitting there across from maybe 50 CIA agents,” said Gary Levine, Showtime’s former executive vice president of original programming.
David Nevins, then-president of entertainment at Showtime, recounted how Brennan sat in for part of the meeting.
“John Brennan, who was running the CIA at the time, came out in the middle and says, ‘I don’t know what your show is, but I know it matters to my people,'” Nevins said.
The Homeland team recounted how Brennan offered actor Mandy Patinkin a special tour.
“Then he grabbed Mandy and said, ‘Hey, do you want to see your office?'” Levine recalled. In the series, Patinkin played Saul Berenson, who became acting CIA director in the third season.
Showrunner Alex Gansa revealed that the Homeland team was able to speak remotely with Edward Snowden, the NSA whistleblower.
The surprise conversation came courtesy of Barton Gellman, the author of Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency.
“He [Gellman] shows up with his laptop, sets it up, dials a number or whatever, and the next thing we know, we’re talking to Ed Snowden in Moscow,” Gansa recalled. “Very odd guy. But this is before he was doing any talking to anybody.”