As Oliver Stone casts more and more beautiful people in his George W. biopic W, and as rumors fly that the script is even more insane than you could imagine, it seems Stone might be aiming more for a comedy than a straight-up drama. And now that he’s cast the revered actor who will play Bush’s press secretary Ari Fleischer, it’s all but certain that there’s some funny business going on. Because the guy playing Fleischer is Daily Show correspondent and comedy sidekick Rob Corddry. Yes, in an Oliver Stone movie, a guy who had a bit part in Semi-Pro will play a major role.

Seriously, is MTV News just punking us? Is this an April Fool’s Joke that just got left out in the rain? Because casting hotter-than-hot Elizabeth Banks as dowdy automaton Laura Bush is weird, casting hotter-than-hot Thandie Newton as cruel-and-calculating Condoleeza Rice is even weirder, but throwing Rob Corddry into the mix makes this the weirdest cast since, like, The Towering Inferno (and, guys, that movie had both Fred Astaire and O.J. Simpson in it).

Yeah, sure, Corddry could be this amazing dramatic actor that none of us know about. It’s possible. But when you’re a guy who’s just getting started in a comedy career, why would you star in a movie about a President no one likes? And why play a guy who helped convince journalists that the President no one likes was leading us into a war that was worth fighting? OK, OK, I know I shouldn’t be getting into politics, but I’m just that confused.

FYI, the roles of Dick Cheney and Karl Rove have yet to be cast. Since they’re virtually identical fat white men, and there’s only a few fat white men in Hollywood to choose from, let’s start predicting. Alec Baldwin could gain weight! John Goodman could lose weight! Hell, Sarah Silverman could play Cheney with the right prosthetics. With Corddry in the mix, anything is possible. You too could play a neo-con!

From Cinema Blend

NEW YORK (AP) – Oliver Stone’s film about President George W. Bush is expected to begin shooting within a month with a goal of being released before the president leaves office next January.

A person close to the film says “W.” will begin filming late next month in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Stone has said that the film will focus on the life and presidency of Bush and won’t be an anti-Bush statement. He told Daily Variety it would be “a fair, true portrait” of a man who rose out of alcoholism to be the most powerful figure in the world. Representatives for Stone are not confirming reports that Josh Brolin has been cast as the president with Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush.

“W.” will be Stone’s third film dealing with presidential matters, following “Nixon” and “JFK.” The filmmaker has been an outspoken critic of the administration’s decision to invade Iraq.

From WIS TV

Biographers for President Bush are not too pleased with the script for Oliver Stone’s new movie “W” that’s set to start shooting in Shreveport in just a few weeks. The film stars Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush and Josh Brolin as George Bush and is a depiction of the president’s rise to power.

According to a story on the Hollywood Reporter’s website, in the movie President Bush is a foul-mouthed, reformed drunk, obsessed with baseball, Saddam Hussein and has a conflicted relationship with his dad.

Bush biographers are saying while specific scenes are based on fact, the screenplay contains inaccurate and over the top caricatures of Bush and his inner circle. The script has already gone through two drafts.

From KSLA

Welsh actor IOAN GRUFFUD is set to play former British Prime Minster TONY BLAIR in the new OLIVER STONE movie W.
The star is also joined by actress Thandie Newton in the film, based on the life of U.S. President George W. Bush. Newton is reported to be in line to play secretary of state Condoleezza Rice.
No Country For Old Men star Josh Brolin will play Bush in Stone’s drama, which will also feature James Cromwell, Elizabeth Banks and Ellen Burstyn.
Cromwell and Burstyn will play the current President’s parents George Herbert Walker Bush and Barbara Bush respectively, while Banks will portray First Lady Laura Bush.
W is due to began filming on 21 May (08).

From Contact Music

Elizabeth Banks on Playing Laura Bush
How does the actress go from playing a sex-crazed clerk in ”The 40 Year-Old Virgin” to the dignified role of the First Lady of the United States in Oliver Stone’s George W. Bush biopic? EW.com finds out

Elizabeth Banks has starred opposite many a comedic leading man, including Steve Carell (The 40-Year-Old Virgin), Vince Vaughn (Fred Claus), Eddie Murphy (this summer’s Meet Dave), and Seth Rogen (Kevin Smith’s upcoming Zack and Miri Make a Porno). But now she’ll soon get serious with her just-announced role as First Lady Laura Bush in Oliver Stone’s biopic W. And while the amusingly ironic juxtaposition of Zack and Miri Make a Porno with a film about George W. Bush is not lost on Banks, the actress is much more focused on perfecting her interpretation of Mrs. Bush. EW.com spoke to Banks about her involvement in this sure-to-be controversial film.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How do you research the sitting First Lady?
ELIZABETH BANKS: I’m reading — I have about six books. I have the A&E biography that they did, I have all of her speeches, anything that I could find. I just bought her episode of Charlie Rose. I have a lot on my iPod right now. I’m very interested in getting her voice. I feel like if I get her hair and her voice right, it will go a long way toward creating the character.

Read more… »

Elizabeth Banks is in final talks to portray First Lady Laura Bush in Oliver Stone’s George W. Bush biopic, ”W”

Elizabeth Banks (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Spider-Man) is in final negotiations to play First Lady Laura Bush in director Oliver Stone’s George W. Bush biopic, W. Josh Brolin is already on board to play Bush. Stone, who wrote the screenplay with his Wall Street co-writer Stanley Weiser, has been openly critical of Bush’s invasion of Iraq, but he has said the biopic will present a fair and accurate portrait, focused on things like his relationship with his father, President George H.W. Bush, his wild younger days, and his conversion to Christianity. Stone was quoted in Variety last January as saying, ”People have turned my political ideas into a cliche, but that is superficial. I’m a dramatist who is interested in people, and I have empathy for Bush as a human being, much the same as I did for Castro, Nixon, Jim Morrison, Jim Garrison, and Alexander the Great.” Shooting on W is scheduled to start in late April. Banks just finished shooting on Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno. She next appears in the Eddie Murphy comedy Meet Dave and in Bill with Aaron Eckhart and Jessica Alba.

From EW.com