Early Word

Oliver Stone Hearts Dubya

The director's sympathetic biopic.

People have been wondering what depravities Oliver Stone will visit on George W. Bush in his upcoming biopic “W” (Oct. 17). But a clever profile in the Times of London notes that the two men are in many ways similar: Both enrolled at Yale the same year; both have big-time “Daddy issues”; etc. Indeed, Stone is not without sympathy for Bush: “It is a human portrait of a man, not meant to insult people who believe in what Bush believes in,” he says. Stone continues: “You laugh in your mind, because Bush is a goof-ball, because he’s awkward, but at the same time he has a stubborn-ness, a John Wayne ethos, an anger, an impatience, that make him fascinating. You may hate Wayne’s politics, but you may well enjoy his company on screen.”