July
27
Trailer Watch: Oliver Stone's W. Breaks All the Rules — Including Waiting for Access Hollywood
Posted by Peter Debruge
We interrupt this Comic-Con mania to bring you a sneak peek at Oliver Stone's "W." Could this be the most in-your-face political satire since Dr. Strangelove? See for yourself (click here if the video doesn't load):
According to Ain't It Cool News' Drew McWeeny (who found it first), the trailer wasn't supposed to break until Access Hollywood on Monday night. But the quality of this upload is so sharp, it's gotta be an inside job.
In case the powers that be yank it down before you get a chance to see the teaser, it opens with Josh Brolin as GWB doing a drunken table dance at a bar, while James Cromwell (as GHWB) sternly lectures him, "If I remember correctly, you didn't like the sporting goods job. Working in the investment firm wasn't for you either, or the oil rig job. You didn't exactly finish up with flying colors in the Air National Guard, junior. What are you cut out for? Partying? Chasing tail? Driving drunk? What do you think you are, a Kennedy? You're a Bush -- act like one!"
The montage featured beneath daddy's disappointed voiceover features college drinking games (or fraternity initiation perhaps), womanizing, a stint in the slammer, gambling and drunk driving -- and those are just the antics the MPAA allows studios to feature in a green-band trailer.
"What drove George W. Bush from here..." ("You want an ass-whipping?" the older Bush threatens when things get rowdy between father and son around the house) "...to here?" the trailer speculates, cutting to a shot of a salt-and-pepper-haired Brolin with his feet up on the desk of the Oval Office.
And as if the irony weren't thick enough already, it closes with a montage of the cast playing W's inner circle accompanied by the song "What a Wonderful World."
Shots of the ensemble after the jump...
Featuring Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush
James Cromwell as George H.W. Bush
Ioan Gruffudd as Tony Blair
Ellen Burstyn as Barbara Bush
Jeffrey Wright as Colin Powell
Toby Jones as Karl Rove
Thandie Newton as Condoleezza Rice
Scott Glenn as Donald Rumsfeld
Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney
And Josh Brolin as W.
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A few of the cast members vaguely resemble the people they're playing. I suppose it doesn't matter, really, since Anthony Hopkins didn't look anything like Nixon. But I really don't see what's going to be good or interesting about this movie.
Posted by: Liz | July 27, 2008 at 07:53 PM
Personally, I find it encouraging that they're going with top-notch comic actors over dead ringers. I'm wary of the film's tone, but I like that Stone and company have the nerve to be confrontational with the material.
Posted by: Peter Debruge | July 27, 2008 at 10:26 PM
Shouldn't something that cartoonish be animated?
Sorry, cheap shot, but I kind of agree with the first commenter, Liz. This doesn't look promising.....
Posted by: MD | July 28, 2008 at 09:28 AM
I disagree, I thought the trailer was a blast. Stone's wisely going for a dark comedy, and I'm glad; this material would never work played straight. I'm dying to see Richard Dreyfuss chewing the scenery as the ultimate villain, Dick Cheney.
Posted by: X | July 28, 2008 at 02:19 PM
The reality is too dark to even be a dark comedy. These people just aren't funny.
Posted by: Swift Loris | July 28, 2008 at 08:58 PM
This movie is going to be very demeaning of the President. Nothing good is going to come out of this. All you need to know is that Oliver Stone is doing it. He who all of his films, especially the bio pics, always lie, or tell the story with the typical left slant! Bush isn't perfect, but neither are you!! Don't go see this film. It isn't right that is being made!
Posted by: BGL | July 29, 2008 at 07:48 AM
I am SO EXCITED to see this.
Posted by: rdc | July 29, 2008 at 11:13 AM
I get a big laugh from the winger's comments Re "W" - The Movie! Their gold-hen boy has been deservingly relegated to the worst ever POTUS - along with his gangsta cronies - so they don't want "us" to see the film. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Posted by: Bill in PHX | July 30, 2008 at 07:59 AM
Pure genius. That's what I love about Oliver Stone. He only gets bolder and bolder. The casting is choice, and Josh Brolin is channelling Bush the same way that Jamie Foxx channeled Ray Charles.
Thing is this. The script leaked and the media didn't like it--but that's the thing about films. You never really know what you have until its in the can. And from what it looks like (with the exception of Cromwell, who's voice just isn't Yankee or nasal enough to be HW), the casting is dead on, and the short time schedule has just made Stone that much more inspired.
In a way, I think this film will be surprisingly sympathetic to Bush. Everyone loves the story of the anti-hero who rises from adversity to become a king---but then changes with power. Admit it--from the second he's dancing on the bar to a honky tonk version of John Lee Hooker's "One Burbon, One Scotch, One Beer," the trailer had you at hello.
Posted by: Da Punisher | July 31, 2008 at 10:19 PM