by Eitan
Holy shit — the W. trailer is now available. Burn After Reading be damned, this ought to be the biggest mainstream mindfuck this fall. I can’t wait. Perfect casting for Condi (Thandie Newton), Karl (Toby Jones), Colin (Jeffrey Wright) and Dick (Richard Dreyfuss). Ellen Burstyn is too pretty to be Barbara, and — what the hell — James Cromwell looks and sounds like a jackass playing George H.W. Bush, whom he made no effort to look or sound like. They should have just hired Dana Carvey. He needs a new project; I don’t think the Master of Disguise sequel is ever going to happen.
This is really going to be an extremely surreal film — the first feature political movie about someone that WE lived through (unless you count Primary Colors, which I don’t really, and The Queen, which wasn’t about our own country). I don’t know if I’ve ever had a feeling of cognitive dissonance so far in advance of a movie as I have with this. There are clearly films I anticipate, especially ones based on books I’ve read, and long to know what the performances will be like, and how the film will work aesthetically. But this is the first film of my lifetime where every single frame will resemble the silent ongoing nightmare I’ve been having for the past seven and a half years. The fact that they’re not releasing this after the next inauguration is a bit jarring. I will likely see W. opening weekend or shortly thereafter, and what will I inevitably end up doing? I’ll turn on the TV, and these SAME people will be there — but who’s that playing them? Oh, it’s Dick Cheney as Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney…
These are the unavoidable characters in the never-ending real life soap opera of American existence — how can we look the real versions in the eye after spending three hours acquainted with Hollywood’s finest recreations of them? It’s like going to a lookalike convention where everyone is dressed to look like your family, or possibly the worst wax museum nightmare of all time.
To quote my sister, “if I didn’t know it was real, I’d think it was fake”
Elliot, are you even remotely as excited for this as I am?
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