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Universal Pictures
Q: There are more than few funny moments in the film. Do you expect people will be laughing at Bush's expense?
A: I guess you could call it a tragic-comedy of epic proportions Bush can be goofy because he's awkward, but at the same time he has a stubbornness, an anger, an impatience, that sort of recalls John Wayne. That's what makes him fascinating. I think the movie tries to understand him. We show the good, the bad and the ugly. We try to make him a human being.
Q: It's no secret that you're personally deeply opposed to what the president stands for.
A: I have a private side as 'Oliver Stone, the citizen.' I think it's wrong for me not to speak out as a citizen. I don't want to be muzzled. But when I do my thing as a dramatist, I'm truly, I think, a craftsman and a professional. I stick to the facts.
Q: Karl Rove has left the White House and is a political commentator. Did you ever consider letting him have a look at the film in progress? After all, he was there when many of the events took place.
A: I think Karl Rove is such a warrior, and his self-interest to preserve anything he can of the Bush legacy is so enormous, that he could not respond objectively. He's welcome to see it. He's going to certainly criticize it. I hope that Rove or anyone who criticizes it — and there will be many — will at least have the courtesy to see it first.
Q: You made W as an independent film with a considerable amount of foreign financing. Is that the only way to maintain your own independence?
A: The problem is that truly independent movies have become so small they'll soon be shot in the toilet. Everything that's independent is getting exhumed by the system, except ideas. If you have an idea that's threatening to the political correctness of the time, it's impossible to get it through the system. You have to understand how difficult it is for all filmmakers to do that.
From Parade Magazine
