Filmmaker Oliver Stone and the American presidents that three of his films have chronicled: John F. Kennedy, Richard M. Nixon and the current president, George W. Bush, the focus of "W."
Oliver Stone And The Kingdom Of The Cinematic American Presidents
By Omar P.L. Moore/The Popcorn Reel
October 13, 2008
It's an occupation that filmmaker Oliver Stone has been very familiar with: chronicler of American presidents. He reintroduces these larger-than-life politicians to the American public in ways either different or the same as those alive at the time of their political travails remembered them. Whether it was John F. Kennedy in "JFK" (1991) or Richard M. Nixon in "Nixon" (1995), Mr. Stone gained both grief and mileage from the controversies that some insisted these two films -- particularly the former -- sparked.
With Mr. Stone's latest U.S. presidential figure on the big screen, George W. Bush however, there will be no historical distance from the audience that will receive his new film "W." on Friday (in the U.S. and Canada).
That's because Mr. Bush currently occupies the White House as the sitting U.S. president until twelve noon (U.S. Eastern Time) on January 20 of 2009.
With an overwhelming majority of Americans holding scorn and disdain for the 43rd president and suffering what some would term "Bush fatigue", Mr. Stone, in what might be seen as a chance to jump the gun on alternately potentially kind historians and public aversion to anything Bush, has worked feverishly over the last five months to get "W." into movie theaters. Considering rejection of all things Bush, the public reception to "W." may be lukewarm or it may be as some people are literally counting down the weeks, hours and minutes until Mr. Bush leaves the White House.
"W." happened by accident -- Mr. Stone, 62, was beginning production late last year on "Pinkville", based on the My Lai Massacre during the war in Vietnam and the letters and memoirs of Lt. William Calley, when the film's financing fell from view, meaning that production had to be shut down. "Pinkville" was to star Bruce Willis and Channing Tatum. The window of opportunity to make "W." happen was very brief, and when screenwriter Stanley Weiser approached Mr. Stone with the chance to make the film, Mr. Stone did not hesitate. "I felt if we didn't do the Bush movie at that moment, it wouldn't be made, not for a long time," said Mr. Stone in the film's production notes. (Mr. Weiser also co-wrote Mr. Stone's "Wall Street" with the director.) Mr. Stone, a converted Buddhist and an avid student of global political history knew that it was possible to get this independent film out for release not only while George W. Bush was still in office, but also before the critical presidential election in November.
Mr. Stone has a diversified background in life. Born and raised in New York City in a relatively well-off family, Mr. Stone went to Yale University in the early 1960's where he met none other than John Kerry and George W. Bush, the latter of whom was in the freshman class with Mr. Stone. On HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher recently, Mr. Stone recalled of both 2004 presidential candidates from their Yale days: "They were not in the vanguard -- ironically, you know, John Kerry was a big shot on campus when I got there. And he was the man. And George was a "C" student so there's an irony to this whole thing in history, I think."
While Mr. Kerry and Mr. Bush went on to complete their four years at Yale, Mr. Stone dropped out at the end of the first year to voluntarily fight for his country in Vietnam, in the combat division of both the 25th Infantry Division and the First Cavalry Division, for more than a year and a half. (According to Wikipedia, the filmmaker dropped out of Yale twice.)
Mr. Stone's Oscar-winning 1986 film "Platoon" was essentially an autobiographical account of Mr. Stone's tour of duty in Vietnam, for which he earned a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
Mr. Kerry, it should be pointed out, fought for the U.S. in Vietnam for several years and earned three Purple Hearts, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star. Mr. Bush did not fight in Vietnam.
Asked by Mr. Maher what would have happened to Mr. Bush had he fought in Vietnam, Mr. Stone replied: "Well, frankly he probably would have died. And so he's here and we've got to deal with it."
