Turns out Josh Brolin wasn’t Oliver Stone’s first choice to play current Commander-in-Chief, George W. Bushbin his upcoming biopic, “W.”
Apparently, first sought after Christian Bale and spent a shit-ton of money testing out facial prosthetics so Bale would look the part, but then the “The Dark Knight” actor eventually bailed and felt he couldn’t really do the role.
“I needed a star, and Josh Brolin was not a star,” Stone told GQ in their latest issue. “Originally I went for Christian Bale. We did some rigorous prosthetic tests and spent a lot of dough — thousands and thousands of dollars – and then Christian said, ‘I just don’t feel like I can do it.’ I met Josh and liked him, but man, he was scared shitless.”
Stone notes that a ton of actors were scared to take the part and money was an factor as well, but he and Brolin took the minimum amounts of money to get the film on its feet.
“A lot of it was about money. We ultimately got good actors willing to work for no amount of money. We gave them points on the back end. Josh and I set the example. We took nothing. I actually took below the Directors Guild minimum.”
But many have asked – including us – is “W” a comedy? Stone doesn’t rule that out completely and admits there’s a lot of comedic elements in the film (which if you’ve read the scirpt, you’ll know there are, but “comedy” per se is going a bit far, at least from what’s on paper).
“Well, it has to be done with an ebullience and a certain fun, because the guy is goofy. He’s a goofball! And I think he endeared himself to people because he couldn’t get anything right. Kubrick was an idol of mine. I grew up on Strangelove and movies like Network, and they made a big impact on me. So yeah, W. is a satire.”
Will the film be done in time for its Oct 17 release date? Even Stone sounds unsure, but he doesn’t sound terribly upset if they miss the election.
“Honestly, I don’t know. We’re going to try like hell. I have to finish and lock by September 17 (obvs that date was four days ago), and we just wrapped. So it’s a real push. If we miss it, it’s not the end of the world: We’d miss the election, but he’d still be in office.”
The interview also contains a lot of talk about his rightfully maligned 2004 film, “Alexander,” which he calls the only film he “compromised” on because he was rushed by the studio. He claims Warner Bros. has banned him from ever working under their aegis again.
