W. (film) characters Barbara Bush
Cast
Josh Brolin as George W. Bush: Stone's original idea for the main role was to propose it to Harrison Ford, who he said had "a pretty similar face as of George Bush". Stone then cast Christian Bale, who spent months researching for the role, but dropped out after he was not satisfied with the prosthetic makeup tests. Stone remarked, "Christian's a very methodical actor and he has to have the makeup thing work for him." (Bale later went on to portray Dick Cheney in 2018's similarly-themed Vice.) Brolin, cast at the "last minute", spent months working on Bush's distinctive vocal style, calling hotels in Texas and talking to the people at the front desk, listening to their accents. The actor also watched videos of Bush walking. Brolin said, "It changes over the years, how he walks in his 30s, how he walks in foreign lands, before 9/11 and afterward. People hold their emotions in their bodies. They can't fake it. Especially him."
Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush: Banks said she would not do an impression of the First Lady. "I just want to honor her voice, her stillness, and her hairstyle".
James Cromwell as George H. W. Bush, Bush's father and the 41st President of the United States.
Ellen Burstyn as Barbara Bush, Bush's mother and First Lady of the United States
Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney: Stone was interested in Robert Duvall as Cheney, but Duvall turned down the role. Dreyfuss and Stone did not get along well during filming, and Dreyfuss was harshly critical of the director during the film's press junket, noting Stone had attacked him right before the tour began. Dreyfuss also told film critic Nathan Rabin in an interview that he did empathize with the former Vice President, calling him "true to himself", and saying that the real villain of W. was the American public, because it never responded with outrage to the Bush Administration's actions.
Jeffrey Wright as U.S. Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell
Scott Glenn as U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Thandiwe Newton (credited as Thandie Newton) as U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice
Toby Jones as Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove
Bruce McGill as Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet
Ioan Gruffudd as British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Much of Gruffudd's intended scene was cut. The scene depicted Blair revealing his intentions to convert to Catholicism, and his desire to give the United Nations and British and U.S. allies more time and greater involvement before the Iraq invasion.
Noah Wyle as U.S. Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans
Rob Corddry as White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer
Dennis Boutsikaris as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz
Randall Newsome as Paul Bremer, head of the Coalition Provisional Authority
Jason Ritter as Jeb Bush
Michael Gaston as General Tommy Franks
Tom Kemp as David Kay
Paul Rae as Congressman Kent Hance
Stacy Keach as Earle Hudd, Bush's pastor and spiritual advisor. Hudd is a composite of several religious figures influential in Bush's life, including Billy Graham, James Robison, C. Lane Boyd, Kirbyjon Caldwell, Mark Craig, Tony Evans, T. D. Jakes, and Dr. Ed Young.
Jesse Bradford as Thatcher, Bush's college buddy
Marley Shelton as Fran, one of Bush's girlfriends
Anne Pressly as Anchorwoman
Sayed Badreya as Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq
William Chan as Hospital Doctor
Teresa Cheung as Miss China
Colin Hanks as David Frum
Bryan Massey as Skeeter
Brent Sexton as Joe O'Neill
Charles Fathy as the voice of Jacques Chirac
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