Oliver Stone’s W. heats up

In theaters Friday: Prom Night, Street Kings, Smart People
New on DVD: Lions for Lambs, Resurrecting the Champ, There Will Be Blood

One of the most interesting films coming down the pike is Oliver Stone’s W.. If done well, this could be the blockbuster equivalent of No End in Sight or The Bush Tragedy . If done poorly, it could be Nixon. Maybe if Stone lives long enough he can make a movie about every president from 20th century…as it is, W. looks like your typical presidential biopic.

2007’s comeback of the year Josh Brolin is signed on to play Dubya (dude, was Will Ferrell busy?), and funny gal Elizabeth Banks will play things straight as First Lady Laura. James Cromwell and Ellen Burstyn will play mom and dad Bush respectively (though it would be more interesting if those roles were reversed. Condoleezza Rice must be ecstatic that Thandie Newton is in final talks to play her. And Paul Giamatti is rumored to be playing either playing Karl Rove or Dick Cheney. He could play both for all I care. But there’s been no word on who will play Donald Rumsfeld, so I’ll make my suggestion: James Morrison. I’d love to see 24’s Bill Buchanon tackle “Rummy.”

W. is shooting in Shreveport and will hit theaters in early 2009.

I wanted to say something about the passing of Charlton Heston over the weekend at the age of 84. The last several years he had shown symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and he battled prostate cancer in the 1990s, but the actual cause of death is unknown at this time. He was certainly a polarizing figure for his allegiance with the NRA, and most people my age only know him as Michael Moore’s foe in Bowling for Columbine, but Heston truly was an accomplished actor with an incredible resume. It’s like he thumbed through a world history textbook and, unable to make up his mind, he decided to play everyone. Moses, check. John the Baptist, check. Marc Antony, check. Michaelangelo, check. Thomas Jefferson, check. Instead of going over Heston’s best roles, I thought I would list some of my favorite quotes, because no modern actor could boil down an entire performance into a few lines like Chuck could.

1. “Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!” –Planet of the Apes, 1968

2. “Soylent Green is people!” –Soylent Green, 1973

3. “A policeman’s job is only easy in a police state.” –Touch of Evil, 1958

4. “The evil that men should turn their brothers into beasts of burden, to be stripped of spirit, and hope, and strength – only because they are of another race, another creed. If there is a god, he did not mean this to be so.” –The Ten Commandments, 1956

5. “Children of God? In that dead valley where we left them? I tell you every man in Judea is unclean, and will stay unclean, until we’ve scoured off our bodies the crust and filth of being at the mercy of tyranny. No other life is possible except to wash this land clean!” –Ben Hur, 1959

6. “This isn’t the real Mexico. You know that. All border towns bring out the worst in a country. I can just imagine your mother’s face if she could see our honeymoon hotel.” –Touch of Evil, 1958