Stone's Bush biopic 'W' in cinemas before elections

WASHINGTON (AFP) - It’s an “improbable story” about a simple man who somehow becomes the most powerful leader in the world, says director Oliver Stone about his new movie “W” a biopic of the current US president.

And always the provocateur, Stone is due to release the movie on October 17, fewer than three weeks before the nation votes to decide who should collect the keys of the White House from President George W. Bush.

But Stone, who at 62 is the same age as Bush, insisted the biopic was “not a hatchet job,” contrary to expectations that it will depict the US leader, whose approval ratings have plummeted to historic lows, in a negative light.

“W” is a “fair” portrait, argued Stone, who went to Yale University at the same time as Bush in the mid-1960s, before dropping out to serve in Vietnam.

Instead the director, whose previous films include the political biography “Nixon” and the satire on American violence “Natural Born Killers,” said he wanted to shed some light on Bush’s true character and his story.

“Fifty million people voted for him on two occasions,” Stone told AFP. “He was in the same league for a long time as Ronald Reagan, until he became so offensive.”