Oliver Stone: A Bush Fan? | Newsweek Movies

‘Night, Not-So-Sweet Prince
Michael Hirsh 10/29/2008 12:00:00 AM
By odd coincidence (or perhaps not), there are two dramas now playing in Washington theaters that tell the stories of wild young men destined for high office. Each man misspends his youth skulking in the shadow of a powerful father, resentful of the patriarch's success and yet eager for his approval. One drama is the Folger Library's superb production of "Henry IV, Part I," Shakespeare's saga of the errant Prince Hal who, repenting his prodigal ways, promises that when "this loose behavior I throw off … my reformation, glittering o'er my fault, shall show more goodly." Hal does redeem himself in just this way, ultimately becoming (two plays later) the hero of Agincourt, King Henry V.
FAST CHAT
A Steely U.S. Secretary
Sophie Grove 10/18/2008 12:00:00 AM
British actress Thandie Newton tackles the role of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Oliver Stone's new semifictional biopic of U.S. President George W. Bush. Newton spoke with NEWSWEEK's Sophie Grove about the controversial role:
REVIEW
Not Much Dubya in Stone’s ‘W.’
David Ansen 10/11/2008 12:00:00 AM
Two weeks ago, on Anderson Cooper's show on CNN, Paul Begala called the president of the United States "a high-functioning moron." Nobody on the show, which included Republicans and Democrats, batted an eye or uttered a word of protest. What was newsworthy was that the incendiary remark was barely considered newsworthy. That's how far George W. Bush's stock has fallen on the eve of the election: he has passed from controversy to complete irrelevance. Just how peripheral Bush now seems, in the wake of the country's economic meltdown, is not a situation Oliver Stone could have foreseen when he set out to make "W."—nor is it one that works in the movie's favor. The zeitgeist threatens to turn a hot-button movie into a cinematic lame duck.
NEWSMAKERS
Some Sorta Shreveport Slugfest
Oscar Raymundo 7/19/2008 12:00:00 AM
Now here's a headline: GEORGE BUSH AND COLIN POWELL BUSTED IN BAR BRAWL. If only our job were that easy. The arrestees were actually Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright, the actors who play the presidential pair in the upcoming Oliver Stone biopic, "W."
THE ABC’S OF W
Another Player Signs Up for the Bush Leagues

It's almost time for President Bush to pack his things, and Hollywood will miss him. Production begins this week on "W," a biopic about the president directed by Oliver Stone—so you know it will be a subtle love letter of a film. Stone's "W" is being played by "No Country for Old Men" star Josh Brolin (left), who seems kind of hunky for the part, at least compared with the competition:
History: How American Myths Are Made