The barely credible drama of the Bush family has been compared before to the Kennedys, the Corleones, and even the Macbeths, so perhaps it was only a matter of time before Oliver Stone took it on.
And now he has.
Here’s the trailer for W., the new Stone movie that takes viewers through the 43rd president’s action-packed life. Josh Brolin—who apparently got really involved in the role—plays our president from his time as a college student through the days leading up to the invasion of Iraq.
Stone is no supporter of Bush, and the movie is sure to be unflattering.
Still, it doesn’t look like there will be any big surprises in W. Bad student, bad businessman, bad governor, bad president. Sprinkle on a little drug use and alcoholism and it’s the standard bad Bush presentation. And because this is Oliver Stone, W. will probably be full of lies. That’s too bad, because there’s not really much need for embellishment in this story.
One made up moment in the film occurs when George Bush Sr. is elected president: “I’ll never get out of Poppy’s shadow,” W. tells his wife. “They’ll all keep saying what’s the boy ever done … I mean who ever remembers the son of a president?”
The future first lady then reportedly gives a deeply ironic three-word answer: “ John Quincy Adams.”
W. appears in theaters October 17.
—Daniel Luzer
