When it was revealed that Josh Brolin had been cast as George W. Bush in Oliver Stones my first thoughts were ‘Why the hell are they making a movie on George Bush?’, and secondly, ‘Josh Brolin doesn’t look anything like him. Brolin looks slightly intelligent for a start.’
However, Entertainment Weekly have released the first images of Brolin in costume, and he does kind of look like the President.
Oliver Stone has publicly promised the biopic will be a “fair, true portrait of the man,” but already there are those accusing him of the politics of personal destruction – and, worse, of trying to influence the election by painting the current Republican administration as reckless doofuses. Naturally, Stone vehemently denies all charges.
“Bush may turn out to be the worst president in history,” he declares. “I think history is going to be very tough on him. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t a great story. It’s almost Capra-esque, the story of a guy who had very limited talents in life, except for the ability to sell himself. The fact that he had to overcome the shadow of his father and the weight of his family name – you have to admire his tenacity. There’s almost an Andy Griffith quality to him, from A Face in the Crowd. If Fitzgerald were alive today, he might be writing about him. He’s sort of a reverse Gatsby.”
The rest of the cast includes Thandie Newton as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Ioan Gruffudd as Tony Blair, Rob Corddry as Ari Fleischer, James Cromwell as George Herbert Walker Bush, Ellen Burstyn as Barbara Bush and Jeffrey Wright as General Colin Powell.
Josh Brolin As George W. Bush
