Stone Fills Out Cast for Bush Movie
April 1, 2008 — -- Oliver Stone is filling up the cast for his upcoming warts-and-all film about President Bush.
The controversial director is reportedly in final negotiations with "Mission Impossible II" star Thandie Newton to play Condoleeza Rice in his upcoming "W," which starts filming this month.
And "Fantastic Four" star Ioan Gruffudd is the favorite to play British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The film already stars "No Country for Old Men" star Josh Brolin as Bush, "Forty-Year-Old Virgin" star Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush, "Babe" star James Cromwell as George Bush Sr. and Ellen Burstyn as Barbara Bush.
Though the movie is scheduled for release in 2009, there is a chance that it might be pushed up to come out before the November election, say insiders.
According to an early script obtained by ABCNews.com, the movie is a classic American story: In the prime of his life, a man who parties too much and lives in the shadow of his esteemed father turns his life around. He gives up alcohol, embraces religion and finds a new purpose.
But will his desire to impress his dad and purge his personal demons put the world in danger?
The film's script captures purported notorious moments in Bush's life:
It also covers plenty of his administration's lowlights -- from Bush's reported obsession with invading Iraq, which Stone will portray as a desire to avenge Saddam Hussein's assassination attempt on Bush's father and his frustration with the failed search for WMDs to his penchant for malapropisms and cheery optimism about the chances for civil war in Iraq.
The first scene, in which Bush and his advisers brainstorm different terms to describe their global enemies, from "Axis of Hatred" to "Axis of Unbearably Odious," is followed by an early glimpse of the hard-drinking young man when he was a college student at Yale.
Drinking vodka mixed with orange juice out of a trash can at the DKE frat house, Bush impresses the fraternity leader with his ability to memorize the names of his fellow pledges.
Asked whether he'll follow in the steps of his politician father and grandfather, Dubya quips, "Hell no, that's the last thing in the world I'd want to do."
