\n\tIt is a job, he confesses, that kept at bay his passion for film and theater. In 2011, he had emerged on the other side of the Obama administration unscathed, and after a two-year stint working with Aerin Lauder (granddaughter of the late beauty icon Est\u00e9e Lauder) to scale up her luxury lifestyle behemoth AERIN, Burnough found himself pursuing a lifelong dream. The Capote Tapes<\/a>, a deep-dive into the explosive, never-finished final novel of Truman Capote, Answered Prayers \u2014\u00a0told through unheard audio archive and interviews with the writer\u2019s friends and enemies \u2014\u00a0released in 2021, solidifying Burnough as a formidable documentarian.<\/p>\n \n\tHe is juggling his next project, a film about Dusty Springfield, with producing a new podcast series called Tea & Vodka, where Burnough invites celebrated guests \u2014\u00a0from British-American chef Ruth Rogers and ex-White House social secretary Desir\u00e9e Rogers to Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA \u2014 to sip tea (or vodka) with him while reminiscing on life and lessons learned. He operates out of a studio in west London \u2014\u00a0Burnough moved here in 2014, met his husband and never left \u2014\u00a0where a framed photo of him shaking hands with Pope Leo greets you as you enter.<\/p>\n \n\tHe talks to The Hollywood Reporter nearly five years into his role as chair of the Sundance Institute<\/a>. The filmmaker reflects on the U.S.\u2019 Trump-induced \u201cgrowing pains,\u201d the major security breach that clouded his political career and spearheading the much-talked-about film festival move to Boulder, Colorado:<\/a> \u201cBob [Robert Redford] was aware,\u201d Burnough laughs, \u201cand made his opinions very much known.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tBurnough (left) worked for the Obamas from 2007 to 2011.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPublicity<\/p>\n \n\tBurnough\u2019s relationship with the Obamas came about through mutual connections. A Northwestern graduate, he had been working for future New York governor Andrew Cuomo and later, Patrick Gaspard, who was working his way up the political ranks in Manhattan. When Gaspard was hired as political director on Obama\u2019s presidential campaign, Michelle Obama was in need of some staff of her own. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201c[They] all knew me, and I\u2019m an only child of a single-parent family, raised by my mother and nanny and aunt. They wanted it to be someone who\u2019s really good with working with strong women, and isn\u2019t threatened,\u201d Burnough recalls.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cShe knew the creative side of me, the theater and the film side of me,\u201d he continues about why the First Lady then wanted him for deputy social secretary. \u201cOur first state dinner was India, and we had Bali dancers from San Diego, Jennifer Hudson singing with the National Symphony [Orchestra]. All of these things, you think, \u2018There\u2019s a creative [behind it],\u2019 but there\u2019s also the politics of someone having to actually sit in the center. Because the head of legislative affairs says we have to invite these members of Congress, and the head of the DNC says we have to invite these donors,\u201d he explains about the logistical challenges that came with the job. \u201cI think I do have a natural talent for identifying what resources are needed where and when [\u2026] and I think that\u2019s probably what [Michelle Obama] saw.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhen Rogers, the first Black woman to serve as the White House\u2019s social secretary, was fired from her role, Burnough took over in the interim. \u201cI\u2019ve actually never talked about this,\u201d he begins to THR. \u201cAt that first state dinner, we had a crazy experience where we had gate crashers at the White House.\u201d A man and woman who were not invited to the event \u2014\u00a0Michaele\u00a0and\u00a0Tareq Salahi\u00a0\u2014\u00a0got past three rounds of security and shook hands with the President, in an unprecedented security breach that had the Secret Service completely stumped. \u201cIt was major national news, and the blame was pinned on Desir\u00e9e,\u201d says Burnough, who adds that no one wanted to place fault on the Secret Service: \u201cThe President had a lot of death threats, and you can\u2019t bite the hand that\u2019s protecting you.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tRogers\u2019 sacking left a sour taste in Burnough\u2019s mouth. He left politics behind in 2011, but did he ever find out just how the Salahis got through the best security in the world? \u201cI mean, there were congressional hearings about that!\u201d responds Burnough. \u201cIt was insane. The night of the event, it was pouring down [with] rain, and I think the Secret Service just let their guard down because they had so many VIPs. You had Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, the Clintons \u2014 all in black tie and gowns.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAs someone who played an integral role in an administration that is now regarded as the glory days of 21st-century U.S. politics so far, does he lament watching what\u2019s happened in the years since the Obamas left office? \u201cI am always hopeful. I am an eternal optimist. President Obama always used to say, \u2018Politics goes in a zigzag,\u2019 and I think that\u2019s right,\u201d says Burnough. \u201cAmerica is going through a growing pain \u2014\u00a0we\u2019re a young country, we just turned 250 \u2014\u00a0and I think these are moments of identity. I think there is fundamentally more that brings us together than there is that divides us. I just believe that, right now, we have been traumatized by COVID, in particular, and I think we\u2019re living in a moment where everyone feels very individual.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe next job presented itself through three different people: fashion legend Anna Wintour, Mellody Hobson, wife of George Lucas, and U.S. businessman Aryeh Bourkoff, who had all suggested to Burnough \u2014\u00a0in separate conversations \u2014\u00a0that he go and work with Lauder. The next day, at a friend\u2019s house for dinner, he found himself seated next to her. On whether politics was a door-opener for him, Burnough says: \u201cPolitics, in America, [whether you\u2019re a] Democrat, Republican, Independent \u2014\u00a0it doesn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s a unifying force in the sense that it affects everybody. Fashion, finance, film. The White House Correspondents Dinner has become, over the years, like another version of the Met Gala. Everyone has skin in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAt AERIN, the shift from politics was harder than he might have suspected. Burnough went from working with the secretaries of education and agriculture, bettering children\u2019s lives and giving back to the community, to \u201cworrying about the pattern on a tube of hand cream.\u201d He says: \u201cI went from doing something that had such meaning and purpose, personally, and [could see] the tangible results of how it affected people\u2019s lives\u2026 [But] the second one paid better. It afforded me a totally different style of life and time with friends and family. I was happy to leave the White House,\u201d he adds, \u201cbut I did miss the impact.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThat dissatisfaction was short-lived: Soon enough, Burnough was reintegrated into the world of film and theater. One memory in particular stands out as proof that the director in him never left. \u201cI was on the board of Steppenwolf [Theater Company] and the board of The Actors Fund. [EGOT-winning composer] Marvin Hamlisch died in 2012 and when he died, Marvin and [his wife] Terre didn\u2019t have any kids. So I planned his funeral [and] I planned his memorial. All of a sudden, at his memorial at Juilliard, were Barbra Streisand, Liza Minelli, Aretha Franklin, Itzhak Perlman. President Clinton spoke, Lily Safra spoke. There were these moments where I was all of a sudden producing or directing in some way, so I think it was always there.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBurnough remains rightfully proud of his Capote Tapes, a well-reviewed piece of work that premiered at TIFF. Last year came Kerouac\u2019s Road: The Beat of a Nation, Burnough\u2019s documentary on how Jack Kerouac\u2019s beloved novel On the Road continues to resonate across contemporary America. Both have given him confidence to consider \u201cdipping his toes\u201d in narrative feature work. \u201cI\u2019m a person who looks at that stuff when it\u2019s done, and I say, \u2018Am I proud of it? Yes. Next.’\u201d His long-running appreciation for fellow storytellers like Capote and Kerouac made him a great fit for the top job at the Sundance Institute, a role he was brought into in 2021.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/wp-content\/themes\/vip\/pmc-hollywoodreporter-2021\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
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