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

[totalliberal]

Mahahaha. For all of those who believes what he says about not being political. Take your blankie and go to bed. Call us again when you grow up.

[RJII]

i can't wait to see this with friends and booze

[3rdCitizen]

Actually, I liked Platoon. But apart from that, I can't think of another Oliver Stone film that worked for me (I've only seen a few). As for W: those on the right won't want to see it because they'll assume it's just a hatchet job; and those on the left won't want to see it because we've already had more that we can stand of the Bush saga. So, who's the audience for this film supposed to be?

[barrycourage]

Shakespeare and Oedipus?

Interesting.

I thought it would be more like Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury."

[SpottyBush]

The movie was most likely made several years too early. I must say I am very sceptical of this releasee, not for it's content or quality, but rather it's timing. Americans have not had a chance to get closure on the Bush years and its to early to pass our final judgement on his character. George Bush is still a bit of a mystery.

This financial meltdown combined with W's lame duck status represent not just the end of the Bush dynasty but a body-blow to the orthodox Republican idealogy as espoused by Bush and his cronies. This movie could have ended with America in financial ruin, how fitting, as W's fingerprints are all over this American tragedy!

Many have compared Palin to Reagan, which I find quite a stretch. However Palin and Bush are mirror images of each other, dumb-down candidates that live in a mythical yet pragmatic world of good and evil.

[plages]

No thank you!

[Iliana3]

There is nothing like the drama of the present times and we need a bard like that of the late 1500' into the 1600's for in reality we do tend to forget history and in a matter of months not years from what I can see. Heavens read of the late 1800's and move onwards up into the early 1900's and what do you see? Read about the 20's and move right up into the October of 29. Fast forward to the ladt 30's and what do you see? Now right up to the present century and I swear it is a rerun that is going all around in circles. We need to have the pictures and images on the screen for we certainly do not read the history books at all.

[trmccoyx]

In 1992, I was blessed to do production on a television show with Charles Kurault. After the live broadcast, I took Mr. Kurault to dinner. At the time the movie "JFK" had been out and I asked Charles what he thought of it since he and Dan Rather's careers were springboarded by their incredible coverage of the assasination. His only response, in the amazing voice he was famous for was, "Oliver Stone,....­pompous little f- - -!". For me that has qualified everything that Mr. Stone has done since.

Hollywood continues its plunge into communal mental illness.

[NTO08]

I do think JFK was an awful film...a hodgepodge of crazy conspiracy ideas that were off the wall...thi­s however sounds like a great film...des­pite Kuralt's profane utterings, Stone is capable of turning out some good films...

[Tsul]

The timing of release couldn't be better. Americans will flock to this film in kind of a masochistic frenzy. I salute you OS; let the sheeple see for themselves how uncomprehensible the last eight years have been. Don't let him leave the Whitehouse before getting a gander at "this one"!

[ESerafina42]

I won't be among those flocking to it, however bad it makes him look. I've been LIVING the nightmare - why would I want to go see a movie about it?

[rbrinega]

Dana Perino commenting on accuracy -- hi-larious!

[UFGator4Obama]

That's exactly what I thought too. I was thinking to myself "Perino, you of all people shouldn't open your mouth about accuracy." Doesn't she remind you of the fictional Ainsely Hayes from West Wing?

[pizzmoe]

True, but that is one of the funnier things she has ever said. I wonder who wrote it?

[Yermammy]

THAT DOES IT FOR ME! If Dana Doofus doesn't like it, then I'm ON IT! Gawd, can you get any more cheesy than this Tokyo Rose? They should have Elizabeth Hasslebeck fill in on those blond days.

[NTO08]

Liz does have the talking points down...

I always thought the worst press sec was Ari Fleischer.­..what an arrogant p---k!

[moderate1]

"The movie's not a smear job."

"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."

Ha, how self absorbed do you have to be to say make the first comment then make the second comment a sentence later? Only you Oliver Stone....o­nly you. What a joke. I'm no GWB fan, but how can anyone not recognize that a movie based around the second comment isn't a smear job?

[pakaal]

A "Smear" is typically a false accusation, whereas the movie catalogues what Bush actually did.

But releasing a movie about the mistakes made by a sitting president, just before a presidential election 'not political'? THAT is a big stretch, like it or not.

[NWGuy]

Obviously and of course, there is politics involved. But, I really don't have a problem with it as the repubs and the MSM have been doing everything possible to make the last 8 years magically disappear. A little spin in the other direction is a bit of balancing.

The ol' adage of "he who forgets history,..­." is in play here. The repubs want everyone to forget history with the sole purpose of repeating history (keeping repubs elected), the dems need to keep everyone reminded of history so not to re-elect the repubs. During 6 of the 8 Bush years, the repubs had complete control of the WH and congress, during this time they showed who they really were by their deeds. These years had extreme partisanship, corruption, policy over fact, weakening of civil liberties thru fear mongering, and attacks on the Constitution. If this flick helps remind people who the republicans really were and are (Remember, McCain may be a "maverick", but he is still a republican), then go for it!

[foxfan]

Oliver Stone is so full of crap it's not even funny. Take a few real events, make up a story around them, and call it a movie. Hey everyone. Check out "An American Carol". It actually is funny.

[Yermammy]

That is the most complete set of words, strung in a line to form sentences, I've ever witnessed, by a mouth breather, unashamedly admitting he actually views Fax Nuisance, which would be impossible, considering the source! Good show, Timmy! Now put your helmet back on.

[foxfan]

Does your blabbering have a point to make?

[ladyv]

Well, if anyone knows about historical accuracy, it's Dana "Bay of Pigs? What's that?" Perino.