DEATH OF A PRESIDENT Stirs Controversy
by Andre Soares
"I think the film makes it clear it would really be a horrific event. There have been plenty of fictional films about assassinations, so this is not the first in that sense."
That’s British filmmaker Gabriel Range, referring to his controversial faux documentary, Death of a President, which was recently screened — to a warm round of applause — at the Toronto Film Festival.
The film’s title refers to the assassination of U.S. president George W. Bush in the year 2007. Critics of the film have complained that
Death of a President may inspire lunatics to actually try to do away with Bush. (Dick Cheney would then become the next president of the United States.)
Range said he has received death threats because of his film, which airs in the United Kingdom on Oct. 9, on a digital subsidiary of Channel 4.
The U.S. rights to Death of a President have reportedly been sold for US$ 1 million to Newmarket, the same company that handled Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.
Range’s quote was found in the CBC article "Passion of the Christ distributor scores Death of a President at TIFF."
A thorough description of Death of President can be found here.
More on Death of a President at the Washington Post.
Patrick Goldstein article in the Los Angeles Times.
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I am surprised that Harrison Ford is not acting in this one. He was the one specialized in being the president. But taking into consideration it is kind of a documentary, Bush is more indicated.