So hey, it looks like there’s a teaser leaked for Oliver Stone’s Bush biopic, W. Everyone keeps warning that it’s likely to disappear soon, but it’s been up for a while, in various permutations. Some videos have been taken down, only to be replaced by others. This one seems to be working currently:

Needless to say, I don’t really see the point of keeping such a tight lid on promotional material. The more hype the better, right? Maybe they know this, and they’re only taking the videos down so that people seek after them more! Ah ha!

Anyhoo, what we have here is an interesting peek into the subject matter and tone of the film. Anne Thompson has put together a nice little synopsis of the trailer, just in case it gets yanked permanently:

In case the powers that be yank it down before you get a chance to see the teaser, it opens with Josh Brolin as GWB doing a drunken table dance at a bar, while James Cromwell (as GHWB) sternly lectures him, “If I remember correctly, you didn’t like the sporting goods job. Working in the investment firm wasn’t for you either, or the oil rig job. You didn’t exactly finish up with flying colors in the Air National Guard, junior. What are you cut out for? Partying? Chasing tail? Driving drunk? What do you think you are, a Kennedy? You’re a Bush — act like one!”

The montage featured beneath daddy’s disappointed voiceover features college drinking games (or fraternity initiation perhaps), womanizing, a stint in the slammer, gambling and drunk driving — and those are just the antics the MPAA allows studios to feature in a green-band trailer.

“What drove George W. Bush from here…” (”You want an ass-whipping?” the older Bush threatens when things get rowdy between father and son around the house) “…to here?” the trailer speculates, cutting to a shot of a salt-and-pepper-haired Brolin with his feet up on the desk of the Oval Office.

She’s also taken some nice screenshots of the cast, most of whom look almost nothing like the people they’re supposed to portray. Oh well - Anthony Hopkins looked nothing like Nixon.

Toby Jones as Karl Rove is pretty neat casting. I hope they go the American Dad route and put him in red ceremonial robes, at least until he turns into a flock of bats in the climactic finish. But seriously, folks. Don’t we all know George W.’s life history by now? What, exactly, is this film hoping to accomplish? The people who hate Bush couldn’t hate him any more than they already do, and his supporters sure aren’t changing their minds at this point if they haven’t already. If it’s not politically motivated, why is it being released just a few days before the election? And why do it now, instead of ten years from now?

Oliver Stone never gets tired of stirring up controversy. What do you, the viewers at home, think?

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