Oliver Stone On "W": "It's Not A Political Film"

In the November issue of Maxim (on sale nationwide on Tuesday, October 21), Oliver Stone, the maker of such incendiary dramas as Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, JFK, Nixon, and Wall Street, sits down with Pulitzer Prize winning author, Charlie LeDuff, for a candid discussion about his new film W.

The film was shot in six weeks in the hot Louisiana summer and edited over the course of the next two months in Los Angeles so that it can be released just weeks before the presidential election. The media, the political right, and the White House have reacted predictably. They say that Stone, the bleeding-heart propagandist, is trying to swing the election to the Obama side with another of the director's historical fantasies. But Stone tells Maxim that this is untrue. "Why release it before the election? Because Bush is still around. I think if the ghost leaves Washington in January, you ought to give him a nice exorcism. He's not going away. Bush is still very young. He's not going away."

Oliver Stone on W: "The movie's not a smear job. I wouldn't want to spend a year of my life making something that is demeaning to somebody, being malicious. That's the wrong approach to art. It's not a political film, but a Shakespearean one. It's a film about George W. rebelling against his father, doing better than his father, believing that he's stronger than his father, and outdoing his father...and it's about the colossal mistakes he made and the lies he told. In a way it's Oedipal. One can say he did kill the father because he did destroy the legacy, the name. It's a big thing with the Bushes."

James Cromwell (who portrays George H.W. Bush) on W: "Sure, it's a political film. It would be horseshit to say it's not. If this is not a political film, then I'm sorry. I'm completely lost. If it's fiction, it doesn't lessen the impact on the cost of war, the waste, the horror. If anyone has the cojones to pull that off, it's Oliver Stone."

Josh Brolin (who portrays George W. Bush) on W: "I was like everybody else--thinking that W. was going to be a heavy-handed, leftist view of our current administration. But what I read in the script was a fair and compelling life story of a man who eventually became president of the United States."

Dana Perino (White House Press Secretary) on Oliver Stone: "Oliver Stone is known for being about as accurate a historian as Gilligan was a navigator."

READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW

-OR-

READ THE FIRST "W." REVIEWS

Comments

[caterpol]

Why are people so good at missing the point?

In "W", Stone says he's taken a classical POV of a son trying to outdo a father. Hence, it's not about contemporary politics, rather it's thematically Shakespearean. It's a story about a son's innner demons nearly destroying a country.

How is that not compelling?

[njhamdan]

it is....and important to try to understand what drives these people

[grf67]

Who would possibly believe anything released by the White House or said by dana perino. Both have a long history of lying to the American people.

[minty68]

How long will this film be?

[Cuulmann]

Hey Oliver Stone... if your film is NOT political... then why the HELL do you want me to pay to see it?

WHY should I care about W's bio? I know enough about the man to loathe him... and despise everything he was and is...

Prediction: W is going to TANK!! What a STUPID idea to have made the film in the first place, Oliver!!!

[writerforhire]

Oliver Stone makes motion pictures dramatizing events for a single purpose to create a box office sensation and of course, a body of artistic expression that will last beyond him. He is a talented director who gives accurate portrayals of days, times seasons and events that have shaped our lives and yet everything is generated from his prospective with historical research added for authenticity.

With all that said he is still a director who creates motion pictures and not documentaries.

[AliLiz]

Why would we want to see a movie about a loser if it did not have some good and this case it must be political good. Why did Stone even do this?

Bush is over.

[radiojunkie]

Obviously, W has pissed off lots of people to make an understatement. I'm not so sure that everybody has wondered "why" he is such a complete g o o n.

I for one find it interesting to discover the inside track from presidential historians about our past leaders. That said, W is still a goober. Presidential historians are going to have to approach W's administration in a less than conventional approach. Who better than a film director to take a peak before we get the lowdown from historians.

[ProfessorDuh]

Too bad. If it isn't a political film and an expose of the worst president in history, I'm not going to see it.
You're driving away your audience, Stone.

[Brainspore]

I'm not really concerned whether this is a "political" film or not as long as it's reasonably true to history; all filmmakers are allowed to show a point of view. But I think Stone would have done better from an aesthetic perspective to wait a few more months before finishing his movie, if only so it would have an ENDING.

[gcallaghan]

I saw a Stone interview on TV. In it he stated he had no agenda and was trying to show UU as he really is, so people can understand him and, if anything, it's sympathetic to his plight. For that reason, I won't waste a nickel to see or rent this turkey. Stone wasted a golden opportunity for the world to understand the extent of UU's depravity and stupidity, the effects of which surround us and are spreading globally as I write this.

Incopetence such as UU's can only be deliberate - that is the only thing that makes sense. Why isn't that explored in the movie?

[Novoski]

Ollie always comes through in his films! Looking forward to it.

[ItsNotBlackPeoplesFault]

Okay. I like you Mr Stone and all. I've watched some awesome movies of your's. But for you to say this isn't a political Movie is a complete load of crap. You shouldn't have even fixed your mouth to say that. How can it not be a political movie. It's about a political figure. DUH! Geez even your actors are saying so. You're sellin Wolf Tickets.

[FatherWolf]

I'm not going to see the movie (I'm NOT an Oliver Stone fan) but from the photos it appears that Josh Brolin has more charisma and style than Bubble Boy ever had.

[Rubyfoo]

I'm a sympathizer, but it does seem a wee bit disingenuous to release a "non-political" film just before a presidential election.

[grantlingel]

this movie is going to be incredible.. Oliver Stone is the man.
http://grantlingel.blogspot.com

[LCRover001]

I'd call it more of a tragic comedy.

[speckitis]

It really is tragic.... Bush was given everything to be a great president.... He was given a surplus. He was given a booming economy... And then, on 9/11/2001, he was given the key ingredient for being a great president, he was given a national tragedy to rally the whole world behind.... Yet, because of his arrogance, hubris, incompetence, and "Joe Six-Pack" stupidity, he will be remembered as a disastrous and colossally dangerous president. The worst of the worst.

What a waste.

[Homecreek]

He was not given a surplus and he was not given a booming economy. Clinton's house of cards called the tech boom had already busted and the surplus would have been if the tech boom did not bust and the Dow went to 36000. It was all smoke and mirrors. (The smoke was from Billy Boy's "special" cigars!!)

[123dee]

Bush has a couple of months until the end of his term, why release it now,
or maybe Stone wants a sequel W 2 the tragic end