liver Stone is not a director who is afraid of controversy. If anything he thrives on it. The man was put through the ringer for presenting conspiracy theory as fact in his 1991 masterpiece JFK and attacked for his aggressively stylized portrayal of violence two year later with Natural Born Killers. But none of it has stopped him from continuing to produce his distinctic brand of visually arresting and politically charged cinematic entertainment. Well, at least that was true until his ego took a serious lashing after the critical and commercial mauling of Alexander. He tried to make amends with World Trade Centre which was intended to be an honest portrayal of September 11, but ended up as sentimental drivel (particularly when compared to Paul Greengrass’ stunning United 93). Since then, Stone has disappeared from the limelight, but he’s about to attempt a comeback. The man who humanized Richard Nixon will soon be the first director to tackle the George W. Bush story.

The movie was written by Stanley Weiser, an old Oliver Stone collaborator who wrote Wall Street with the director back in 1987. While there has been an attempt to keep the details of the screenplay under wraps, it’s been reported that the movie will concern the rise of Bush from a drug out failed owner of a baseball team to the president of the United States. Given Stone’s staunch liberal political stance, it’s hard to imagine that this will be a heroic portrayal of the president. Although, the once hard-edge director has softened in recent years, so perhaps the movie won’t be as scathing as the subject deserves. The film is set to be shot in the summer, so most of the casting has already been locked and the choices are quite interesting so far.

George W. Bush will be played by the actor of the moment, Josh Brolin. After years toiling in obscurity following success as a teen actor in movies like The Goonies, Brolin is finally coming into his own. In 2007, he had three solid roles that suddenly made his name bankable in Hollywood. He scored strong supporting work in Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror and Ridley Scott’s American Gangster and gave a brilliant lead performance in The Coen Brothers’ No Country For Old Men. This seems like a good choice because Brolin has both the dramatic and comedic talents necessary to tackle the role. He even bears a slight resemblance to Bush, even if he’s far more attractive than the big W. However, this is Hollywood and that’s to be expected. Particularly given the fact that Brolin is in no way the most unrealistically attractive casting choice. Those titles would have to go to the actresses playing Laura Bush and Condoleezza Rice.