It's still hard to believe that Oliver Stone is making a movie about George W. Bush. It sounds like a set up for an SNL skit, given the director's occasional propensity for blinkered partisanship and the President's propensity for doing rather stupid things that are very easy to make fun of. But it is actually happening and Stone has now found his Laura Bush.
Elizabeth Banks, whose name is cropping up more and more recently in casting announcements, is in final talks to play the current President's wife when W begins shooting next month. Josh Brolin is already signed to play Dubya himself.
There's no questioning the quality of those involved. Brolin has matured into one of the best actors working today and Banks is well overdue a spot on the A-list. Also, Stone is writing this with Stanley Weiser, who co-wrote Wall Street, still one of Stone's best. But it feels a touch premature to be making this film. Should a biopic of the President's life and time in office not happen after he leaves office? He's still going to be President until January next year and is there not a risk of bringing the movie out before its finale has actually occurred in real life?
Of course, we haven't read Stone's script, so we don't know exactly what portion of Bush's life this will cover – there's certainly a lot of interesting material in his earlier life, which would mean the film could actually end with him getting to the White House. We're sure he's done no end of homework on his subject, so this will be an interesting one to keep an eye on.