Any of you see the silly shot at Hollywood President Bush made recently? He didn’t exactly say anything all that menacing, but when he made a comment regarding newly appointed Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, he said, “Many people are surprised when told about the admiral’s show business roots,” Bush said. “After all, he is humble, well-grounded and filled with common sense. Not exactly what one thinks about when they think of Hollywood values.”
Wow, Prez, simmer down… Anywho, it looks like he may want to be careful at how far he goes as he may be portrayed in a new film as Peter Morgan has started work on a follow-up to the Oscar-winner The Queen. How will a movie about the British monarchy affect Bush? Glad you asked, the story is said to dig into former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair’s relationships with U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
Variety reports that the movie will focus on Blair’s reaction to the handover of power from Clinton, a natural liberal ally, to Bush, who came from the other end of the political spectrum. Just imagine what Tony Blair was thinking when Bush took office. The quotes from this flick could be amazing and Michael Sheen is back to play Blair. Chalk this one up as a must see.
While all the fan fare fell in Helen Mirren‘s lap for The Queen I personally thought it was Sheen that carried the picture and made it the success it was. Unfortunately he was ignored during the award season when I may have actually handed him the trophy.
Producer Andy Harries was quoted saying, “Peter sees this as a pivotal moment when the special relationship between Britain and America changed.” Interestingly, Morgan first considered tackling the more obvious drama surrounding the run-up to the Iraq war, when Blair fatally compromised his own premiership through his wholehearted support for Bush’s invasion plans. But in the end Morgan decided that the roots of those events lay in Blair’s difficult adjustment to the transition from Clinton to Bush a few years earlier. Not only that, these Iraq War films seem to do terrible at the box, just look at how the far superior film in The Kingdom suffered up against The Game Plan.
Stephen Frears will not be back to direct as he will be replaced by Tom Hooper with casting currently underway and an April start in the plans.
