Pass the pretzels – it's Bush, the movie
He put Nixon and JFK on screen. Now Oliver Stone has a living President in his sights. As the trailer for 'W' goes viral, Tim Walker says this biopic shouldn't be misunderestimated
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Is it a Saturday Night Live skit? Is it the Dead Ringers Christmas Special? No – it's the teaser trailer for W (pronounced, of course, "Dubya"), Oliver Stone's forthcoming film about the 43rd US President, George W Bush.
Stone is an obsessive chronicler of modern American history. In the past, he's given us movies about presidents, including the life of one (Nixon), and the death of another (JFK). He's done movies about US campaigns in El Salvador (Salvador) and Vietnam (Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Heaven & Earth); movies about the rise of unscrupulous capitalists (Wall Street), and the fall of the Twin Towers (World Trade Center). But W is a departure, even for him. A biopic of a sitting President, due for release on the eve of the next election, its producers even intend to advertise right alongside TV broadcasts for John McCain's campaign.
Stone has called the film "satire", "magic realism biography", but also "a fair, true portrait of the man". A leaked early draft of the script promises a story that jumps back and forth between Bush's dissolute youth and his time in office, from driving his car on to his parents' lawn and challenging his father to a fistfight, to almost choking to death on a pretzel while watching a football game, and telling the Saudi ambassador Prince Bandar that he's given up sweets since the start of the Iraq War, as a "personal sacrifice to show support for our troops". Is this comic material, or pure tragedy?
The teaser, which exploded across the internet this week, begins with a confrontation between George Sr and a young George Jr. "What are you cut out for?", the 41st president demands of his son. "Partying? Chasing tail? Driving drunk? What do you think you are, a Kennedy?"
read more...............
independent.co.uk |
