"W." and "Milk": 2 ambitious political films sure to stir debate

Earlier this month, in the heat of an election-year summer, the political comedy "Swing Vote" appeared in theaters. Audiences cast their votes by staying away — in its first two weeks, the film made only $13 million.

Now, as the fall movie season gets under way, two more political films are on the horizon — and, as befits the awards-season climate, they're both ambitious, high-profile and star-studded. This isn't necessarily typical for a presidential-election year: In fall 2004, the only remotely political studio offering was the Katie Holmes vehicle "First Daughter." (No, nobody went to see that one either.) This year, Oliver Stone's "W." is scheduled to open Oct. 17, and Gus Van Sant's "Milk" arrives in theaters Nov. 26. Both should have people talking, for good or ill.

"W."

Stone's movie, rushed through production in order to get an early fall release, appears to be unprecedented: a film about the life of a president who'll still be in office when the movie hits theaters. Though its studio describes the movie as a drama, the first trailer seems to show something more like a sardonic comedy. Beware, though, the trap of judging a movie based on a 90-second trailer. Stone's work has been all over the map — "Platoon," "JFK," "Natural Born Killers," "Alexander" — and it's too soon to tell where "W." might fall.

Stanley Weiser, who previously collaborated with Stone 21 years ago on "Wall Street," wrote the screenplay for "W.," which is described in press materials as a look at George W. Bush's life — "his struggles and triumphs, how he found both his wife and his faith, and of course the critical days leading up to Bush's decision to invade Iraq." Josh Brolin (who famously got arrested in a bar brawl during the "W." shoot) plays the president; other key roles are played by Elizabeth Banks (Laura Bush), Richard Dreyfuss (Dick Cheney), Jeffrey Wright (Colin Powell), Thandie Newton (Condoleezza Rice), James Cromwell (George H.W. Bush) and Toby Jones (Karl Rove). (Jones is best known for playing Truman Capote in "Infamous"; this role should be, shall we say, an interesting stretch.)

"Milk"

"Milk," by contrast, takes us to a time long gone: the '70s, and the early days of the gay-rights movement. Harvey Milk was a rarity then: an openly gay elected official, named to San Francisco's board of supervisors in 1977. His life was abruptly ended the following year, when fellow Supervisor Dan White shot and killed Milk and Mayor George Moscone. The story of Milk's life and death was movingly chronicled in Rob Epstein's Oscar-winning 1984 documentary "The Times of Harvey Milk" and in Randy Shilts' 1988 book, "The Mayor of Castro Street."

At one point, there were two competing Harvey Milk film projects: Van Sant's "Milk," which is written by Dustin Lance Black (TV's "Big Love"), and Bryan Singer's "The Mayor of Castro Street," written by Christopher McQuarrie. But Van Sant's film, with Sean Penn signed on to play Milk, made it into production first. Shot entirely in San Francisco, it has something in common with "W.": Brolin appears in the film as Dan White (a role originally intended for Matt Damon). Also featured are Emile Hirsch as Milk's friend Cleve Jones, James Franco as his lover Scott Smith and Victor Garber as Moscone.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com