Is this how Oliver Stone will depict President Bush in 'W'?
Apr 2, 2008, 03:42 PM | by Gary Susman
Categories: Current Affairs, Film, Rumor Control
Don't know when ABC News got into the business of reviewing leaked screenplays à la Ain't It Cool News, but they have a detailed dissection of the script for W, the biopic of President Bush that Oliver Stone (pictured) is about to start shooting. (Curiously, the article fails to mention the name of the guy who actually wrote the script, Stanley Weiser, whose credits include Stone's Wall Street and that made-for-TV movie about Rudy Giuliani that starred James Woods.) Anyway, if ABC's report is accurate, then the pic looks like it's going to be a Freudian character study along the lines of Stone's Nixon, but instead of blaming Mommy issues for the president's warped character, this one will blame Poppy issues. Judging by the reported details of the screenplay, George W. spent his first 40 years rebelling against his overachieving dad, then mocked his dad for not ousting Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War (and cited that as the reason for George H.W. Bush's election loss in 1992), then spent his own presidency trying to avenge Saddam Hussein's reported attempt on his father's life.
Interestingly, the one Bush insider ABC talks to regarding the script's accuracy (former press secretary Ari Fleischer) suggests that the screenplay puts too much profanity in the president's mouth (this despite Bush's well-documented use of salty language) but otherwise seems to have no complaints about the film's factuality. There's also speculation included about whether the film will influence the election, though I doubt even someone who works as fast as Stone could shoot, wrap, edit, and release the film in just seven months.
What do you think, PopWatchers? Does W look like a film you'd want to see? Or do you think, by the time it comes out, people will be too focused on the next president to want to see a movie about this one?
Comments