First Look at “W.” — Oliver Stone’s Bush Biopic
It’s not possible to see how much Dallas-Fort Worth appears in the film — if at all. It was shot mostly in Louisiana: Shreveport’s Independence Bowl, for instance, stands in for Arlington Park. Written by Oliver Stone (briefly a Yale classmate of President Bush) and Stanley Weiser (Wall Street), W. has been described by Stone as “satire,” “magic realism biography” and somehow, also “a fair, true portrait of the man.”
But the LATimes notes:
Stone, Brolin and the filmmaking team believe they are crafting a biography so honest that loyal Republicans and the Bushes themselves might see it. Given Stone’s filmmaking history [including such films as Nixon, JFK and The People v. Larry Flynt], coupled with a sneak peek at an early “W.” screenplay draft, that prediction looks like wishful thinking.
W. is set for an October 17 release
I once admired Oliver Stone and who didn’t, why not? Then he began his slide into quasi-whatever. The problem here per Jerome’s hint is that Stone’s story is likely to have a lot of truth in it buried under a Michael Moore layer of denigrating fantasy. Which will undo the original points of an unlikely man becoming likely the most debated leader in American history.
Me? I’d prefer watching The Onion’s satire of President Bush’s flyover-America ‘Farewell Tour’. In three minutes it does what Stone probably take two hours to do. And it makes no pretense to be ‘fair’ ‘magic realism’. At this point give me raucous Daily Show ham-hocks over a sit-down dinner of political invention.
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/bush_tours_america_to_survey
Does anyone know if W will open in Dallas on October 17th? It is a limited release, but I imagine it will open here that weekend.
Thanks!
Sam –
I just e-mailed the local rep for the film and she says that it is opening in Dallas on the 17th and that it will screen in advance for critics nationally on Oct. 14. I’m going to be sure to go to that one so I can fill everyone in on what to expect.
Hey Stephen–
Thanks so much for the information. I, too am anxious to see it. I see they are running the trailers on TV now.
Like him or not, you know Stone is going to make it entertaining!
Thanks again.