Breaking: Oliver Stone To Direct George W. Bush Film Starring Josh Brolin
“You mean,thatboy fromThe Goonies? Yippie-ki-yay!”
Wowzers.Oliver Stonehad hinted at making a feature on the life of the current American president when he did press for theAlexanderDirector’s Cut, but who knew it’d come together this quick? Filming could begin as soon as April for the George W. Bush biopic, brilliantly entitledBush, which could mean a theatrical release right in time for the next election or inauguration. Of course, a SAG strike would cause delay. Stone says the film won’t be a “polemic”…
“Here, I’m the referee, and I want a fair, true portrait of the man,” Stone toldVariety. How did Bush go from an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world? It’s like Frank Capra territory on one hand, but I’ll also cover the demons in his private life, his bouts with his dad and his conversion to Christianity, which explains a lot of where he is coming from. It includes his belief that God personally chose him to be president of the United States, and his coming into his own with the stunning, preemptive attack on Iraq. It will contain surprises for Bush supporters and his detractors."
Josh Brolin, shooting onto the A-list after his performance inNo Country For Old Men, will portray the controversial 43rd U.S. president. The script, byStanley Weiser(Wall Street,Project X) is already completed and is now being shopped to the studios. Stone said he collaborated with Weiser on over a year of research before moving on toPinkville, a Vietnam film that was to be his next project before the strike put the kibosh on it. Actually, Stone says United Artists simply lost faith in the film due to the notorious poor performance of recent war films. But that’s a news item for another day. More Stone onBush…
Underlying how much planning has already gone into the project, which has gone under the aliasesP.O.T.U.S.(think about it) andMisunderestimated, the film’s producerMoritz Bormansays…
“We’ve just gone out with it, and April is just around the corner. If we can get it done as an independent or with a studio, we can do it quickly, but nobody really knows what is happening with the SAG situation. We’ve found locations in Louisiana, but we will have to build sets, especially the White House. We could do it later, because it’s not a film that has to be timed with the election; it’s a character study of a man.”
Who should play Cheney? Who should play Jenna? And who should voice God, if applicable (c’mon it’s Stone!)?
