‘W.’ casts aspects of Bush’s life in Stone
Oliver Stone waited almost two decades to make a movie about the Vietnam War, but he couldn’t wait till President George W. Bush was out of office to immortalize him on film.
“W.,” which opened Friday, is a rarity: a biopic about someone in the public eye still doing basically what he’s doing on film.
The ending of George W. Bush’s presidency is still being written, yet Stone wanted “W.” to come out while its title figure is in office, either before the election or the next president’s inauguration.
With so much “dynamic” research having been done on the administration’s build-up to the Iraq War – and with the country still involved in wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the general war on terror – Stone wanted to move quickly.
“It’s dynamite what came out, the concept of manipulation to war, so now that we know it, let’s get it out there fast,” Stone said.
As for the release date, he noted, “I could’ve delayed this to January, but I thought it was ready. I was happy with the movie. Sometimes like with ‘Salvador’ or ‘Talk Radio,’ you do these things fast, and you feel like it fits the spirit of it.”
“W.” is not the first political movie to come out during a presidential election. Michael Moore released his searing documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11” in the summer of 2004.
In contrast to Moore, Stone said he wasn’t trying to influence the current presidential race.
“The election is between two other people,” Stone said. But, he added, the current president won’t be out of our world for many years: “This guy’s influence is major. It impacted the world, he changed the way America works, he changed our foreign policy, he has the Bush Doctrine in place, so he’s not going away in January, unfortunately.”
Still, the lingering question is whether this movie is too soon. Paul Greengrass’ “United 93” met resistance for vividly depicting the events of Sept. 11, 2001, a full five years after the fact.
Chicago Tribune movie critic Michael Phillips favorably reviewed “W.,” but Variety’s Todd McCarthy wrote that the movie “feels like a rough draft of a film it might behoove him to remake in 10 or 15 years. … It’s questionable how wide a public will pony up to immerse itself in a story that still lacks an ending.”
Although Stone made “W.” quicker and closer to the actual events than his other two president movies, “JFK” (1991) and “Nixon” (1995), he thinks the new film should maintain its relevance over the long haul.
“That’s the way I make movies,” he said. “I took the point of view as a dramatist, not a polemicist. I think we made a movie that’s going to hold up in 15 years.”
The birthday bunch
Actress Shelley Morrison (“Will and Grace”) is 72. Actor Bob Hoskins is 66. Actress Jaclyn Smith (“Charlie’s Angels”) is 63. “Wheel of Fortune” host Pat Sajak is 62. Musician Bootsy Collins is 57. Actor James Pickens Jr. (“Grey’s Anatomy”) is 56. Actress Rita Wilson is 52. Actor Dylan McDermott (“The Practice”) is 47. Actor Cary Elwes is 46. Singer Natalie Merchant is 45. Country singer Keith Urban is 41. Actor Tom Cavanagh (“Ed”) is 40. Actor Jon Heder (“Napoleon Dynamite”) is 31. Singer Mark Barry of BBMak is 30.