Bush 'murder' film seals US deal

Death of a President will be shown on UK digital channel More4

A controversial British film portraying the fictional assassination of President George Bush has secured a distribution deal for the US.

Death of a President, which shows Mr Bush being shot dead, was sold for $1m (£535,000) to Newmarket Films.

The movie's subject matter has raised protests from conservatives in the US, and director Gabriel Range says he has received five or six death threats.

The mock documentary will be shown on UK digital channel More4 in October.

Death of a President, funded by Channel 4, shows Mr Bush being targeted by a sniper during an anti-war rally in Chicago in 2007.

He is confronted by a demonstration when he arrives in the city to deliver a speech to business leaders and is shot as he leaves the venue.

Digital effects

Range, who also co-wrote the film, uses archive footage of Mr Bush to create the scenes that lead up to the president being shot.

Digital effects are used to superimpose his head onto an actor for the assassination scene.

I don't think anyone would get the idea of assassinating Bush from this film Gabriel Range Director, Death of a President

The film has drawn criticism from Mr Bush's Republican party, which has branded the film "shocking" and "disturbing".

But Range says people have rushed to judge his work.

"Our film has a very striking premise but it is not sensational or gratuitous," he told Reuters news agency.

"It is an oblique look at the ways the United States has changed since 9/11.

"I don't think anyone would get the idea of assassinating Bush from this film."

Newmarket Films, which also distributed Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ, is expected to give the film a wide release in the US within the next few months.