W. (2008/I)

Director:

Oliver Stone

Writer (WGA):

Stanley Weiser (written by)

Release Date:

17 October 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

Get Ready

Plot:

A chronicle on the life and presidency of George W. Bush.

Plot Keywords:

George W. Bush | President | 2000s | USA | Oil

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Josh Brolin	...	George W. Bush
Colin Hanks	...	Speechwriter #1
Toby Jones	...	Karl Rove
Dennis Boutsikaris	...	Paul Wolfowitz
Jeffrey Wright	...	Colin Powell
Thandie Newton	...	Condoleezza Rice
Scott Glenn	...	Donald Rumsfeld
Richard Dreyfuss	...	Dick Cheney
Bruce McGill	...	George Tenet
Wes Chatham	...	Fraternity Enforcer
Jesse Bradford	...	Fraternity President
Sean Stone	...	Fraternity Pledge #1
Ben Mayer	...	Fraternity Pledge #2
James Cromwell	...	George H.W. Bush
Juan Gabriel Pareja	...	Oil Worker

Also Known As:

Bush (USA) (working title)
Oliver Stone's W. (Germany) (TV title)
W. - Ein missverstandenes Leben (Germany) (DVD title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language including sexual references, some alcohol abuse, smoking and brief disturbing war images.

Runtime:

129 min

Country:

USA | Hong Kong | Germany | UK | Australia

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #44818) | UK:15 | Canada:G (Québec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) | Portugal:M/12 | Ireland:PG | Finland:K-7 | Australia:M | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Argentina:13 | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Germany:12 | Brazil:14 | Hong Kong:IIA | Singapore:NC-16 | Mexico:B

Filming Locations:

Shreveport, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Emperor Motion Pictures

Trivia:

Filming during the middle of Summer in Louisiana meant that elaborate prosthetic makeup could not be used, due to fears the humidity would melt the actors' faces.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Cheney says "Atta met Saddam's intel chief in Czechoslovakia." Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, ten years earlier.

Quotes:

George W. Bush: Who's ever remembered the son of a president?
Laura Bush: John Quincy Adams!
George W. Bush: Yeah, but that was like, three hundred years ago wasn't it?

Movie Connections:

References "60 Minutes" (1968)

Soundtrack:

TV Tag B

A Few Pieces Of An Historical Puzzle

Oliver Stone and Josh Brolin manage the impossible by giving a present reality a sort of farcical look. Frightening to see how easily the farce and the reality merge and marry in the most natural way. George W, eats his way into history. The most mediocre of men drowning in a pool of his own making and in a way, drowning all of us with him. But, somehow, neither Stone nor Brolin describe a monster. On the contrary, here the monstrosity is in our hands. The man was voted (sort of) twice. Richard Dreyfuss IS Dick Cheney. A terrifying truthful performance. Thandie Newton is the one really out there. She plays her "yes woman" like Talia Shire in the Godfather III. Very bizarre, but fun. So, the biggest surprise is that Stone didn't come with a hatchet but with a magnifying glass. Seeing what we already knew but a bit larger made for a riveting evening at the movies.