Bush experts criticise Stone's 'W'

Geroge Bush's biographers have mixed thoughts on Oliver Stone's biopic of the current US president, The Hollywood Reporter says.

The controversial Stone plans to shoot W later this month with Josh Brolin in the lead role. Biographers who have read the film's script have questioned its accuracy and feel Stone may not be able to give a balanced view of the President.

"[The script] leaves you with the impression that the White House is run as a fraternity house with no reverence for hierarchy, the office itself or for the implications of policy," said Robert Draper, author of Dead Certain: The Presidency of George Bush.

The Bush Tragedy author Jacob Weisberg questioned Stone's claim that he will make "a fair, true portrait" of Bush. "His saying he is going to be fair to Bush is like Donald Trump saying he is going to be modest," Weisberg remarked.

Draper added: "This notion that his schedule is driven by what's on ESPN is ludicrous."

Peter Schweizer (The Bushes: Portrait of a Dynasty) said: "I understand this is a movie, not pure history, but if Stone wants to portray this as an accurate accounting, he has some serious work to do."

Weisberg was particularly critical of the line "there's this darkness that follows me".

"He doesn't think or talk like that," Weisberg said. "The darkness sounds like they've been listening to too much Springsteen. It doesn't ring psychologically true to me."

All biographers agreed on the accuracy of one scene, where a drunk Bush comes home and challenges his father to a fistfight.