Oliver Stone

William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946 in New York City) known simply as Oliver Stone is an Academy Award-winning American film director.

Controversy

Stone's films often deal with political matters and are sometimes critical of the government. JFK, for instance, hypothesizes about many high level government officials, including Lyndon B. Johnson, having a hand in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In 1991, he showed the film to Congress on Capitol Hill, which led to the Assassination Materials Disclosure Act of 1992. The film was widely criticized in the media as being a mixture of truth and fiction, which prompted Stone to publish an annotated version of the screenplay, in which he cites references for his claims. Similarly, he published an annotated version of his screenplay for the film Nixon, which was criticized for its portrayal of President Richard Nixon.

Related Topics:
Lyndon B. Johnson - John F. Kennedy - 1991 - Congress - Capitol Hill - 1992 - Nixon - Richard Nixon

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Stone has admitted to using drugs while making films. On the DVD of Natural Born Killers: The Director's Cut, he recounts stories of taking psylocibin mushrooms with some unnamed members of the cast and crew and almost getting pulled over by a police officer - a situation which he later wrote into the film. Natural Born Killers is filmed and edited in a frenzied style where animation, grainy black and white 8mm film, color 35mm film, and VHS are intercut and juxtaposed in a psychedelic montage of images showing not only the story's action, but also conveying the characters thoughts and feelings. The film was criticized by some for its apparent glorification of violence. Stone refutes this claim, saying that it is a satire of the American media's glorification of violence and violent people. In fact, the original screenwriter of Natural Born Killers, Quentin Tarantino, was unhappy with the end result of the film because of the attention Stone gave to the aspects of the story involving the media, and asked that his name be removed from the credits.

Related Topics:
Psylocibin - Psychedelic - Quentin Tarantino

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In 1999, Stone was arrested and pleaded guilty to drug possession and no contest to driving under the influence. He was ordered into a rehabilitation program. He was arrested again on the night of May 27, 2005 in Los Angeles for drug possession and driving under the influence.

Related Topics:
1999 - Drug possession - Driving under the influence - Rehabilitation program - May 27 - 2005 - Los Angeles

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