Hot Momma Gossip

Josh Brolin has been selected to play the lead role in ‘Bush’, a film about the life of the current embattled US president.  After acclaimed roles in the Coens’ No Country For Old Men, American Gangster and Gus Van Sant’s Milk, Brolin has become one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood. While Brolin won’t make a formal deal until financing is sealed, he can be ready for an April start.

Oliver Stone the director for ‘Bush’ looked carefully at actors before setting his sights on Brolin, and told Daily Variety:

“Josh is actually better looking than Bush but has the same drive and charisma that Americans identify with Bush, who has some of that old-time movie-star swagger,” Stone explained.

Working from a script by his “Wall Street”  co-writer Stanley Weiser, the picture is likely to begin shooting in April if financing is put together in time, with much of Stone’s crew ready to commence production after United Artists cancelled Pinkville, his exploration of the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war.

Even though Stone’s critical comments about the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq are on record he refused to discuss his personal views of the president, nor believes they will color his interpretation, saying that:

“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.” “the filmmaker has to hide in the work”.

“Here, I’m the referee, and I want a fair, true portrait of the man,” he continued. “If Nixon was a symphony, this is more like a chamber piece, and not as dark in tone,”

Stone’s goal is to use pivotal events in Bush’s life to explain how he came to power, using a structure comparable to “The Queen.”

“How did Bush go from an alcoholic bum to the most powerful figure in the world?

“It’s like Frank Capra territory on one hand, but I’ll also cover the demons in his private life, his bouts with his dad and his conversion to Christianity, which explains a lot of where he is coming from.”

He continued: “It includes his belief that God personally chose him to be president of the United States, and his coming into his own with the stunning, pre-emptive attack on Iraq. It will contain surprises for Bush supporters and his detractors.”