Oliver Stone Wants To Make Bush: The Movie

Oliver Stone sure does love making movies about presidents. Well, presidents and ancient Greek kings. And fat singers.

But let's concentrate on the president bit for the time being, because Oliver Stone says that he's got a script written about George Bush, and he's itching to get it turned into a movie before Bush stops being president.

Stone's film is thought to hinge on some of the most difficult decisions George Bush ever had to make, primarily the seminal three-day deliberation on whether pretzels go down your food hole or your air hole. History has already taught us his findings on that matter.

If you're a president of America, there are certain things that you can look forward to. All-consuming power, for one, plus a school will probably end up naming a library after you when you're almost dead or something. But best of all, Oliver Stone will probably end up making a film about your life.

So far, John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon have both got the Oliver Stone treatment, with eagerly-anticipated William H. Harrison and Calvin Coolidge biopics on their way as soon as Oliver Stone has run out of any better ideas. And since Oliver Stone's 'better ideas' include both Alexander and World Trade Center, you probably shouldn't hold your breath.

And another one of Oliver Stone's brilliant ideas is to make a film about President George W Bush. And make it now, damnit! Speaking to Daily Variety, Oliver Stone laid out his plans for the George Bush movie:

Stone, an outspoken critic of the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq, told the trade publication he's not looking to make an anti-Bush polemic. He said he wants "a fair, true portrait of the man. How did Bush go from being an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world?" … Stone told Daily Variety that "Bush" is "a behind-the-scenes approach, similar to 'Nixon,' to give a sense of what it's like to be in his skin." It will "contain surprises for Bush supporters and his detractors," he said.

Now, as good an idea as it might seem to make a movie about an outgoing president - especially one as spectacularly unpopular as George Bush - it's worth remembering that both JFK and Nixon were made decades after the events they depicted, allowing Oliver Stone some perspective on the people the movies focused on. But Oliver Stone wants Bush to be released when George Bush is still president and all pushed up in everyone's face like a safari park monkey that won't let go of your windscreen even though you've got the wipers turned on full blast. 

The point being that without a bit of room between Bush's presidency and the movie's release, Bush might end up as a bad daytime TV biopic or, worse, a Michael Moore film with actors instead of an annoyingly patronising fat bloke shouting at a building.

Still, we'll get to see what Bush is like just as soon as Oliver Stone gets the finance to put it together. And if it's a tenth as good as Alexander… well, if it's a tenth as good as Alexander it'd probably kill everyone who watches it stone dead. Seriously, have you seen Alexander?

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Oliver Stone Looks to Direct 'Bush' - AP