Editorials > Elizabeth Banks to Play Laura Bush in W

Elizabeth Banks is in talks with director Oliver Stone to play First Lady Laura Bush in W., a biopic on the life and presidency of George W. Bush. Josh Brolin was recruited to play the commander in chief about a month ago while the project was still being called Bush.

Stone wrote the screenplay with his Wall Street co-writer Stanley Weiser. Moritz Borman and Jon Kilik are producing. Shooting begins in late April in Shreveport, LA.

Brolin is forty, Banks is thirty-four, and both of the Bushes are sixty-one. Even when they first took office they were fifty-four. I guess Stone really wants to dive back into the couple's past and then start pouring the make-up on to make them look older. Either that or Oliver Stone's eyesight has really deteriorated over the years. Maybe Brolin can ask his dad for tips on playing an aging Republican.

(The Hollywood Reporter) 

-David Morgan