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Early word on ‘W.’
We won’t spoil the whole thang by running Variety’s mixed review of Oliver Stone’s super-anticipated, factually based Prez Bush hit-piece “W.” — which, recall, is the opening night film at the Austin Film Festival on Oct. 16.
But we will share a report of the Los Angeles premiere of the film by Variety’s Anne Thompson. Read on:
Lionsgate threw a party at the Landmark in Westwood Monday night for Oliver Stone’s W, which was basically an intimate L.A. premiere for Stone and his cast; the movie will also premiere in New York and the Austin Film Fest. Josh Brolin soaked up the applause, flanked by his father and uncle; everyone agreed that he did a helluva job as George W. Bush, from Yale frat-party boy to reformed drunk and born-again Christian and one of the worst presidents in United States history. James Cromwell also scored big as Bush, Sr. in the father-son drama. Cast members Richard Dreyfuss, Scott Glenn, Ioan Gruffudd, and Noah Wyle were also on hand, along with producers Bill Block and Moritz Borman.
Stone is rushing the $30 million movie (distributed by Lionsgate and financed by Block’s foreign sales firm QED International, with $25-million in P & A backing from Omnilab Media) into the marketplace October 17, less than three weeks before the presidential election, betting that audiences are hankering for a sharp psychological profile of their departing president. More than ever though, as the world teeters on the brink of financial disaster, it’s hard not to be very angry with Bush. And Stone’s movie focuses on Bush’s failures in Iraq, which are not center stage right now.
The movie is utterly plausible, well-acted by a top-notch ensemble (except for a too-broad Thandy Newton as Condoleeza Rice) and surprisingly balanced, compassionate and even-handed. Somehow the film lacks the urgency of its own making.
“We started it in May and finished it this week, so we’re pretty much on edge here,” Stone told the crowd, which included Ellen Barkin, Casey Affleck, Phil Noyce, Jonah Hill, Maria Bello, Patrick Wachsberger, Andy Vajna, Jake Bloom, Irving Kershner, Bob Cooper, Jay Roach, CAA’s Bryan Lourd, Doc O’Connor and Dan Aloney, James Woods, Al Pacino, Paul Haggis, and Bill Maher. “This is based on a true story. We actually did a lot of research to bring to life these murky things.” Stone cited his reliance on the “raw body of material” of a dozen journalists, from Barton Gellman and Bob Woodward to James Risen, Michael Isikoff, Jane Mayer and Frank Rich. “There’s more to come out,” he said, “but enough here to start. Why make this movie? Where are we now as a country, and and where are we going? A large part of of that answer lies with this character, George Bush.”
At the after-party, Stone admitted that he was walking a “tightrope” with W, because these are all well-known, real people. It’s not satire, like Dr. Strangelove, which is “fiction, beautifully done,” he said. “We couldn’t go to Strangelove. We have Saturday Night Live and Comedy Central. They have done that. We have to find credibility, we have to eventually care about him—not sympathize. I didn’t like Nixon, but I was able to empathize with him. Bush is the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain now. All his policies are in place. We’ll be dealing with this stuff for 20 years.”
Comments
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By Adrienne Paschal
October 18, 2008 9:36 AM | Link to this
We do not need more Fictional accounts of real people and real events. What we need is unbiased media representatives who are professional enough to, without propanganda, manipulation and steering, deliver real facts, all the time.
Wow�maybe the general American people are as stupid as the Democrats and the media pundits seem to think!!!
There really ARE people out there that believe th economical situation we are now in is ALL Bush�s fault! Can they not read the facts and records from the past administrations? There really ARE people out there that believe the media on TV every night when they tell us the �vote� is already over.
Thats what they need and want you to believe…so that the people out there who don’t take a stand will just write down the so called already declared “winner’s” name or not go at all. They WANT Republican voters to listen and become frustrated enough to say, “its already done, so I won’t even bother going down there to vote”.
Thats what the liberal news stations and media reporters are counting on and that is what the people who produced this movie are counting on�the same �SLUMBERING” people that originally decided OJ Simpson was innocent, will now race to this movie to watch a �roasting� of a man that, yes, made a mistake or two in his two terms, but that did NOT create the screwed up world we are living in now.
Wake up people. You are smarter than this.
Adrienne
By Joseph Craig
October 17, 2008 5:27 AM | Link to this
The Real Achievement Documented in Oliver Stone’s New Movie, W
Assuming that there is, at least, a grain of truth in Oliver Stone’s movie, W, the movie demonstrates that any one of us can rise from base activities and condescending parents and friends, to do great good for the public for when the United States needed a warrior president, George W. Bush was there to protect this great nation and its peoples, and when the United States needed a prosperity president, George W. Bush was there to turn the Clinton Recession around and bring the United States prosperity despite the facts that it was reeling from the economic destruction of the horrific 9-1-1 attack and the United States waging World War III.
Thank you Oliver Stone for inspiring us, common folk, by demonstrating that we can overcome adversity and become great public servants for this, the greatest nation under God.
Joseph Craig
By Larry
October 13, 2008 2:25 PM | Link to this
Who is going to watch this movie? Bush fans will avoid it. Can’t imagine Bush haters sitting for 2 hrs watching a man they hate…even if he is portrayed as a buffoon. And I understand this film is as accurate as Stone’s JFK Assassination film.
By Osama bin Laden
October 9, 2008 12:20 PM | Link to this
I like George W Bush. He lets me run wild.
By lucy
October 9, 2008 11:38 AM | Link to this
I am sure that this movie is pure fiction based on Stone’s own admission that he relied on “a dozen journalists, from Barton Gellman and Bob Woodward to James Risen, Michael Isikoff, Jane Mayer and Frank Rich”.
Relying on these journalists for an accurate portrayal of George Bush - I doubt they’ve ever been in the same room with him.
What a joke!