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Oliver Stone's Bush Biopic Hitting Theaters Pre-Election!

by Alex Billington
May 10, 2008

This whole movie is four years too late! Maybe W would have done a better job of showing America the idiot that we were about to elect back in 2004 instead of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. If this movie hit theaters back then, you probably wouldn't be complaining about the cost of gas, but that's all history now. You've seen the photos, read the details, now see the movie! Although Oliver Stone's biopic on George W. Bush won't start filming until next week in Shreveport, Louisiana, Lionsgate has picked up the rights and already set a release date - October 17th, 2008. You heard me right - they're releasing W just a few weeks before this year's big election!

When I first heard about the movie last year, it was mentioned that it was going to be finished in time to hit theaters before the election this year. No one believed me... It is kind of hard to imagine a movie of this scale and size being finished entirely in a mere five months, but Oliver Stone will definitely be able to pull it off. In fact, he has to, because Lionsgate wants to ride the current buzz as well as the opportunity to hit theaters prior to this year's election. Although Bush isn't running (thankfully), and this won't necessarily have a major impact on either the democrats or republicans, it's still the perfect time to debut it.

One of W's producers, Bill Block, stated: "'W' is in the most innovative hands with Lionsgate and Omnilab Media. With the backdrop of the election this fall, 'W' will be an event picture that will be eagerly anticipated. Oliver Stone, Moritz Borman and myself could not be more excited about Lionsgate leading the charge this October." Oliver Stone commented as well, making a powerful statement despite being regarded by many as the worst director to do a biopic on Bush.

"The impact of George W. Bush's presidency will be felt for many years to come. Despite a meteoric, almost illogical rise to power, and a tremendous influence on the world, we don't really know much about Mr. Bush beyond the controlled images we've been allowed to see on TV. This movie's taking a bold stab at looking behind that curtain. I'm real pleased that Lionsgate has the independence necessary to bring this provocative story to an American audience."

Just the other day when I was writing up the post about the Entertainment Weekly cover photo, I was shocked to find out that W. didn't have a distributor yet. Are the studios scared to distribute it? With the immense about of press that this is currently getting, it was Lionsgate who ended up with the distribution rights? Were they the only ones who were brave enough to handle this movie? If that is the case, I definitely commend them for their decision - I'm certain it's going to payoff in the end. I'd suggest you make plans now to be in theaters on October 17th.

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Related categories: Hype, Movie News

http://movieguyreviews4u.blogspot.com Ryan

How the hell with this be done in 5 months?!?!??!?!?!
Nick

Come on.... to think that Bush or anyone in Washington has anything to do about the price of gas is asinine. It is basic economics of supply and demand. However, this movie is going to be very interesting and I wonder what stance it will end up taking. I can only imagine it won't be good for ole W but by then what will he care.
se7en

"The idiot we were about to elect?" Show some respect. Here's one more blog that I'll never read again. Keep it to movies. You disgust me.
Orange Clockwork

While I agree that "movie" blogs should remain nonpartisan, everyone's entitled to their own opinion whether we like it or not.
Windmillninja

Bush Derangement Syndrome strikes again. Remember, this is the same guy who made a football movie in which a dude's eye pops completely out on the field.
John

I agree with you se7en. Alex, your politics should be kept out of your blog. I personally like Bush, and support him. Offending your readers is not smart.
Janet

There is a typo in the title that you might want to correct. Oliver.
Zach

The problem with free speech, which too many people fail to understand, is that it's a two-way street. While everyone on the internet is completely at liberty to express and hold their own, unique opinion on everything from Barack Obama to soybeans, too many people jump on anyone whose opinion differs from their own, and the simple truth is it's nearly impossible to write on a movie like this without letting personal opinion slip out. Love him or hate him, Bush is a polarizing man, and it's tough to write on this kind of thing objectively. I, too, actually do support Bush, but reading this blog is a choice, not a requirement, and as such Alex and the rest of the staff at FirstShowing are more than free to express their opinion on pretty much whatever the hell they feel like. Keep up the good work guys.
John

#6, It's not Alex's fault you're a retard.
yeahright

"Maybe W would have done a better job of showing America the idiot that we were about to elect back in 2004" Bush is a hell of lot smarter than you. WTF, are you braindead? Pissing off 50% of your readers in one go is typical of a liberal moron who thinks everyone is as stupid and likeminded as he is. Screw your blog.
John

I'm impressed - I didn't know conservatives could use the internet.
sam

do you KNOW anything about supply and demand nick?
tommyturner

Agree with many of you. Angering many of your readers because you assume they think like you do is not a good idea. Doing it because you just don't care is even worse. There are better ways of sharing your opinion than being disrespectful to the President. Good lesson to be learned.
sos

Why did he attack Iraq?
Kelly B.

#10, don't you mean offending 31% of the readers in one go? That is, after all, George W. Bush's current approval rating. Alex has the right to state anything he wants in his article. Just as he has the right to bash a movie that many people think is good, it is one of the bedrock principles of this magnificent nation of ours that he has the right to bash the President. While you may or may not agree with his politics, I agree wholeheartedly with #8. Freedom of Speech is a two-way street guys. Get used to it.
F. Arbuckle

If you support Bush, you support a war criminal and a traitor.
TylerM

#16 That's what she said.
tommyturner

#15 Freedom of speech is not an absolute. You should be able to disagree with someone without being disrespectful. When critics of the President use certain disrespectful terms, it's either a sign of immaturity or or an inability to put forth an intelligent critique.
Xerxex

I respect him, just like every other president (maybe not Hoover). What I wish is that Bush would talk bad to some people, remeber freedom of speech? He would make some people feel stupid. This movie might do good, I mean I'll go and see, who's with me? when 9/11 happened everybody was for the war, what happened its sad to think of all the soldiers that died its not fair, but they started it. And AMERICA is a badass! Also its a MOVIE!
Aussie

I'm going to offend a large majority of readers here and say: Only in fucking America. Taking away everything he has or has not done for the 'magnificent nation' that is America, Bush IS an idiot. He can't speak proper english and he's hopeless under pressure - very presidential qualities right there. Strong leadership is infinitely more important then, oh I dunno, how many nukes a country owns.
Kyle

I don't like Bush and wouldn't vote for anyone running on the neocon platform even if I was paid to do so. But I do come here to read about movies, not movies plus someone's political ideas (especially when spouted off in the manner it was here) and the jabs at the current administration made in this post make me wonder just how accurate your future coverage of this movie will be. Are you going to diss it later if you think it's not harsh enough? Are you going to cover the "historical re-interpretations" (aka: fact stretching/making/filling) that are in the script? Very disappointed to see this posting on a site which has to date been about art and not about politics.
tommyturner

#20 makes my point exactly. By the way, if you are going to criticize someone's mastery of the English language, you should probably make sure you have grasped the most basic rules of grammar. "English" is a proper noun, so it should be capitalized.
Scorpio

Does "W" get shot and die at the end??, because that would be great.
Djo.

Having seen Karl Rove speak a few months back, I can tell you there is absolutely no point in aguing w/ Bush fans. They're decided. He's the 'Decider'. He laughs, they follow. He screws up, they defend him. It's actually a psychosis, which has paralyzed this countries ability to weigh options. If a person is only concerned with Deciding Now, and making the Decisive Decision, and they're ruling out any dissenting voice, they are not strengthening their ability to make decisions, they're crippling it. The same is true of this country right now. Our economy sucks. We'd better go to WAR! Our schools suck. Not now- we need to go to WAR! Our global PR sucks, and our competitiveness on the global market is slipping. ... Can I get a W?
http://www.funwithwarcrimes.com FunWithWarCrimes

Awesome...we're so gonna have a great time with that film. In the meantime, check out our version -- and check out our Dick Cheney -- scary accurate... http://www.funwithwarcrimes.com