Richard Dreyfuss told the ladies on The View that he played Dick Cheney in W. for “money.” Well, partly. The four things actors kick around before doing a film are (a) how many of the scenes are mainly about my character?, (b) how many lines and possible close-ups do I have?, (c) how much will I get paid? and (d) how good is the overall script and/or the director?

The question isn’t why Dreyfuss said that W. is “six-eighths of a great film.” The question is, why didn’t he say “three-quarters”?

Drefyuss also said that Oliver Stone is a little bit like Sean Hannity, explaining that “you can be a fascist, even when you’re on the left.” Show me a director who doesn’t believe that he/she is boss and that all opinions must finally be subjugated to his/her creative judgment, and I will show you a namby-pamby. John Ford once said that all strong directors are, to some extent, bastards.