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Oliver Stone Casts Josh Brolin in Biopic About George W. Bush

by Alex Billington
January 21, 2008
Source: Variety

There are two very big stories here. First, Oliver Stone (Any Given Sunday, Alexander, World Trade Center) is making a movie titled Bush, a film focusing on the life and presidency of our 43rd President, George W. Bush. Second, Stone has cast Josh Brolin in the lead role. Wait, so if I heard that correctly, Josh Brolin is going to play George W. Bush?! The report says that a script was quietly finished before the writers strike kicked in and is currently ready to shoot. Given the writers strike is still in effect, Stone can't work on Pinkville, his Vietnam War film, and instead must turn to his Bush script since it is ready to go.

The script for Bush was written by Stone's old NYU classmate Stanley Weiser, who also co-wrote Wall Street with Stone. If the money comes together, it's likely that Bush could head into production by April and could already be pushed into theaters by the election in November. Although Oliver Stone isn't the biggest George W. Bush supporter, his goal is not to create a biased film, but rather use seminal events in Bush's life to explain how he came to power. The structure will be similar to The Queen, a biopic from 2006 on Queen Elizabeth II.

Oliver Stone spoke with Variety about the project and the idea behind it, and here's what he had to say.

"It's a behind-the-scenes approach, similar to 'Nixon,' to give a sense of what it's like to be in his skin," Stone told Daily Variety. "But if 'Nixon' was a symphony, this is more like a chamber piece, and not as dark in tone. People have turned my political ideas into a cliche, but that is superficial. I'm a dramatist who is interested in people, and I have empathy for Bush as a human being, much the same as I did for Castro, Nixon, Jim Morrison, Jim Garrison and Alexander the Great."

I was actually looking forward to both Pinkville and Escobar, another biopic about Pablo Escobar. However, both of those seem to be on hold because of the strike. If Oliver Stone can really pull off something as incredible as The Queen, then I'm all for it. But Josh Brolin as Bush? That just doesn't seem right at all! I think Josh Brolin is an incredible actor who deserves an Oscar for one of his many great performances this year, but he just doesn't seem like Bush at all. What do you think?

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David

Your right, it should totally be Will Ferrell
http://www.feoamante.com Feo Amante

Okay, I'm a huge Oliver Stone fan. But who an artist is and how fans perceive that artist don't always gel. To give you an extreme example: How many people love Lloyd Kaufmann because his movies are so damn godawful that they're great? So Hey, Ollie! I think your movies are very biased and opinionated and I love them! I love Stone's films (well, except for World Trade Center. That was a wash. At least U-Turn had a cult-ish charm) and part of that enjoyment comes from the fact that his movies are biased in the extreme. How can anyone look at the brilliant Salvador, the iconic Wall Street, Platoon, Nixon, JFK, Born on the Fourth of July, Natural Born Killers, and say otherwise? Damn! Just look at that list! Each movie is its own term paper thesis! Stone is a talented film maker first and foremost. True, ever since Bush was elected we've been treated to the most brain-dead drool of anti-right-wing irrational paranoia movies: All of which tanked because all of them – pitifully passed off as intellectual - were the most juvenile playground garbage. Even the most liberal among us are saying, “Crap, man! Give us a break!" What all of these other studio breast-beaters fail to understand is what Stone has always known. You can say whatever you want as long as it is Entertaining! Nobody wants to pay to hear your droning nasal opinion. Well, we’ll take it in small doses like An Inconvenient Truth – but how many documentaries by U.S. Vice-Presidents hit the theater? As soon as Stone nabbed Josh Brolin for this role, and knowing Josh's father, James, actually thinks that the 9/11 was an edict from Prez Bush, I knew that the upcoming Bush film would be biased. But though I know it will be a very biased movie, I know it won’t be another droning Big Brother lecture piece by the Hollywood bullhorn.
CobraKai

Too bad the actor that played Ernest in all those "Ernest goes to wherever" movies is worm food. That guy would have been perfect for the part. Or maybe Don Knotts....but that cat is dead too.
Cajun_Mike

More liberal tripe that will tank at the box office. Every liberal thought on Bush is predicated on some airheaded conspiracy. Any chance there will be a scene in the movie with a bunch of Haliburton executives? Anyone think there will be a scene where Bush is in that classroom as he is informed of the 9-11 attack? How about some diabolical meeting as Katherine Harris stifles those hanging chads in Florida? This movie is easy to forecast. Keep it to yourself, Hollywood Halfwits!
Ghaa

No doubt the 60mins TANG hatchet job will have a place of prominence too.
avoidz

I can't imagine a more boring film at the moment than a biog of George Bush Jr. :/
Keith

I think Brolin will do fine in the roll. He's a top-notch actor so I have no reason to believe he won't be able to bring the character of Bush to life. Cajun_mike- What exactly constitutes a "liberal" thought? If I referenced a fact regarding a negative aspect of Bush's presidency, would that be considered as such?
Siona

Can't we just wait until he's dead?
tiger tim

Former Yalie, son of Wall Street, 'daring rebel outsider' Oliver Stone has lots of time for cokehead cultural incest like this EVEN AS genuine veteran Stone continues to tow the PC franchise slum line by TOTALLY 'overlooking' ---again! the staggeringly important 60th Anniversary of the searingly relevant ----KOREAN WAR.