Jason Reitman's latest film, The Front Runner, opened in US cinemas late last year. Hugh Jackman plays the role of the former Democratic presidential hopeful Gary Hart (pictured) in spring 1987, the first major US politician to be grilled on his sex life. The film deals with the relationship between politics and the media.

In The Front Runner, Jackman takes on the role of the former senator from Colorado, seen as a Democratic favorite in the 1988 presidential race. That is, until reports of an extramarital affair and a photo of Hart with a woman who wasn't his wife — on the unfortunately named yacht "Monkey Business" — brought him down. Compared to the many Trump scandals, Hart's story seems almost harmless today.

The film deals with Hart's alleged extramarital affair and the ensuing media frenzy, which ultimately caused him to leave the presidential race. In the 1990s, the Monica Lewinsky scandal and subsequent media attention got then-President Bill Clinton into hot water. Aggressive political reporting also brought down presidential contender John Edwards in 2004. But Trump, so far, appears immune.

The latest film from American provocateur Michael Moore looks back at the 2016 presidential election campaign, which surprised many when Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton to end up in the White House. In Fahrenheit 11/9, Moore looks at the power of the media in the US and lets Trump's opponents — and fans — have their say.

Moore uses his documentary to expose the dangers of American society and politics. But he doesn't just look at Washington; he also travels the country to examine the machinations of corrupt politicians in other US states. In this scene, he confronts former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder with evidence of the Flint contaminated water scandal.

Moore, who first met Trump on Roseanne Barr's talk show in 1998, includes a galaxy of stars in his film, mostly opponents of the president. He also criticizes what he considers to be the failed campaign policies of the Democrats, and looks at the grassroots political movements taking shape in the US. Here, survivors of the Parkland school massacre protest support for NRA-affiliated politicians.

Vice, which recently won a Golden Globe for Christian Bale's performance as former US Vice President Dick Cheney, also tackles the current political situation in the US. Directed by Adam McKay, it's a portrait of George W. Bush's second in command — and it can also be read as a comment on Trump.

In his latest feature film, McKay — who previously directed The Big Short documenting the run-up to the 2008 financial collapse — directs Bale as the shrewd and unscrupulous former vice president. According to McKay, it wasn't George W. Bush who wielded power in the White House — but his "subordinate."

In Vice, Cheney and his wife, Lynne, played by Amy Adams, are the actual masters of the Washington political scene, determining where the ship sails. In foreign and military policy, as well as in economic and fiscal matters, they are the ones steering America. McKay's film can also be interpreted as a commentary on the current Trump administration, with Vice President Mike Pence.

George Orwell's "1984" pops up repeatedly on lists, with the literary classic opening a window into authoritarian regimes. The dystopian novel delves into what it means to live in a state of tyranny, including omnipresent government surveillance and public manipulation. Pictured here is a film still from the 1956 movie adaptation of the novel.

Hannah Arendt's essay "The Origins of Totalitarianism," originally published in English in 1951, has also garnered considerable attention. Arendt (1906-1975), who fled Nazi Germany, was one of the first political theorists to analyze how totalitarian political movements rose in the early 20th century. A few weeks ago, online bookseller Amazon briefly ran out of the work.

What college student, or high school student for that matter, hasn't read Aldous Huxley's novel "Brave New World"? The 1932 novel looks at how society is kept in line through psychological manipulation and conditioning.

Margaret Atwood's feminist dystopia "The Handmaid's Tale" has resurfaced on the nightstands of women participating in political protests, such as at the massive Women's March in Washington in January. The 1985 novel, set in a futuristic New England, looks at the oppression of women in a totalitarian theocracy after the overthrow of the US government. Natasha Richardson starred in a 1990 film.

In 1962, Philip K. Dick's novel "The Man in the High Castle" envisioned how life could have looked in the United States under totalitarian rule by the victorious Nazi Reich and Japanese Empire. A TV series loosely based on the novel was released in 2015. As part of its advertising campaign, a New York subway was controversially covered in the imagery of the show, seen here.

Tom Engelhardt's "The United States of Fear," published in 2011, looks at how fear has fueled massive US investment in the military and national security, only to ultimately gridlock the country.

"Things That Can and Cannot Be Said" is a collection of essays and conversations by Arundhati Roy and John Cusack, who reflect on their talks with NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden in Moscow in 2014. Surveillance and the nature of the state take center stage in these dialogues and texts, as well as the role of symbols, such as flags, amid patriotism.

Vaclav Havel's 1978 essay "The Power of the Powerless" offers a compelling alternative to the current gloom-and-doom outlook. The Czech writer and former president expands on methods of resistance among ordinary citizens and how totalitarian regimes can give birth to dissidents.

Polish poet and Nobel Prize laureate Czeslaw Milosz (1911-2004) became an American citizen in 1970. His non-fiction "The Captive Mind" drew on his experiences as a dissident writer in the Eastern Bloc. It is an intellectual reckoning with the allure of Stalinism and the deadening of the mind through Western consumerism.

Hollywood has Richard Nixon to thank for many of its iconic presidential screen portrayals. Among the best was Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins, who played the 37th US president in Oliver Stone's 1995 biopic, "Nixon." The politician's life has been particularly fascinating to directors, who have often captured him as a villainous persona on the silver screen.

The very first US president, George Washington, was portrayed in the silent film era. But no president showed up on the silver screen as often as Abraham Lincoln. Here, Henry Fonda played the 16th president of the United States in the successful John Ford film "Young Mr. Lincoln," released in 1939.

Daniel Day-Lewis' performance as the president in Steven Spielberg's 2012 film, "Lincoln," was a triumph. Again - as with Hopkins' portrayal of Nixon nearly 20 years earlier - a Brit played an American president with a highly nuanced performance.

On film, US presidents are generally the subject of heroic dramas or sophisticated biopics. Playing the president as a source for laughter is rare. But as Theodore Roosevelt, actor Robin Williams (right, with Ben Stiller) proved the exception to that rule in the "Night at the Museum" series (2006, 2009, 2014).

It's been far more common to have US presidents appear in movies when Hollywood chooses to portray dramatic events and internal and external political crises. In 2001, Jon Voight played Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the film "Pearl Harbor," which dramatized the 1941 attack by the Japanese in Hawaii.

After Roosevelt's death in 1945, Harry S. Truman took on the job of the world's most powerful man. Fifty years later, actor Gary Sinise took on the role of the 33rd US president in the 1995 TV film "Truman." Next to major stars like Anthony Hopkins and Daniel Day-Lewis, many lesser known actors have also portrayed American presidents on screen.

Often, the actors playing the president were overshadowed by the film's main stars. Roger Donaldson's "Thirteen Days," released in 2000, is a prime example. In the dramatization of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as presidential adviser Kenny O'Donnell, superstar Kevin Costner (right) played the lead role. In a supporting role, Bruce Greenwood (center) played President John F. Kennedy.

No other president has offered actors as many possibilities as Richard Nixon. Even less familiar episodes from his political life have been committed to film. In 2008, Frank Langella played the 37th president in "Frost/Nixon," which showed the legendary interview with journalist and TV host David Frost.

"Elvis & Nixon" traces the historic 1970 White House meeting between the US president and rock 'n' roll star Elvis Presley. In the 2016 film, Nixon is played by Kevin Spacey - an actor who brought a lot of presidential experience to the role.

Since 2013, Spacey has portrayed the fictional US President Francis Underwood in the Netflix series "House of Cards." Spacey is perhaps one of the best-known actors to play a fictional president in cinema and TV. But that remains a subject for another gallery - the list of fictional presidents is at least as long as the number of films featuring real US leaders.