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Alpha Stone

Biography

Pete Bain was a genuine person in Spacemen 3 (although hardly the very best known). As Pete Bassman, he’s the main element shape in Alpha Rock, which in his terms (based on a label news release) can be “just like a much less sublime, even more groovy, danceable Spiritualized; the music group merges spacy riffs with metropolitan samples and mechanised drumbeats.” Good plenty of; certainly the music offers strong connections towards the vibe of Spacemen 3 which group’s different spinoffs, melding repetitive riffs both to snaky, early Red Floydish psychedelic acoustic guitar riffs and digital washes/rhythms. It’s psychedelic music for the ’90s, for listeners who would like something that’s neither consciously vintage nor as cool as techno. Be it your handbag or not is dependent quite definitely on individual flavor; for each and every listener that discovers the groove hypnotic, another will see it unbearably tiresome.

Quick Facts


Albums Stereophonic Pop Art Music, Elasticated Waveband, Life's a Motorway


  • Facts
  • Filmography
  • Awards
  • Salaries
  • Quotes
  • Trademarks
  • Pictures

#Fact
1 Endorsed Green Party candidate Jill Stein in the 2016 US Presidential election.
2 Currently writes the first drafts of his scripts in longhand [2016].
3 Received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Connecticut. [May 2016]
4 After his Army service, Stone attended NYU Film School on the government's dime, as about 80% of his tuition was funded by the G.I. Bill. His instructors included Martin Scorsese [2016].
5 In 2016, Oliver Stone gave the graduate school commencement address at University of Connecticut's main campus in Storrs. He told the graduates of his academic failures that led him to drop out of Yale University before starting fresh at a different university and ultimately launching a successful film career. Stone told graduates he flunked out of Yale, where former President George W. Bush was a classmate. After joining the Army and serving in the Vietnam War, he said a filmmaker friend suggested he go to film school. He did, earning a degree from New York University. Stone encouraged graduates to not be too down on themselves if things don't go their way early on [Hollywood Reporter, 2016].
6 Has done a director's cameo in Savages (2012). Dances on the map of France.
7 Parallels with Steven Spielberg: Both directors were born in 1946, to fathers who had served in World War II. Both frequently make historical films, often about U.S. Presidents (JFK (1991), Nixon (1995), Amistad (1997), W. (2008), Lincoln (2012)). They have both directed Tommy Lee Jones in an Oscar-nominated performance (JFK and Lincoln). They have both earned an Oscar nomination for the actor playing the President (Daniel Day-Lewis and Anthony Hopkins once each). They have cast David Paymer and Bruce McGill as members of a President's cabinet. They both frequently use John Williams to score their films.
8 Has been friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger since writing the script for Conan the Barbarian (1982). At one point, they both had offices on the same floor of the same building with Stone's on the left and Schwarzenegger's on the right, which they joked represented their respective political viewpoints.
9 Wrote the novel "A Child's Night Dream" when he was 19 years old. The novel was not published until 1998.
10 Began producing his documentary series The Untold History of the United States (2012) in 2008 and continued working on it between other projects it until 2012, making it a four year production, the longest of his career. He also put up $1 million of his own money into the project's budget.
11 Three of his movies were nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills: Platoon (1986), JFK (1991) and Natural Born Killers (1994). "Platoon" made the list at #72.
12 Rang the NASDAQ opening bell on September 20, 2010 to celebrate the N.Y.C. premiere of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010).
13 (March 23, 2009) Attended the 3rd Annual Asian Film Awards, in which he presented with Joan Chen the award for Best Director to Hirokazu Koreeda.
14 His family's name was originally Silverstein. It was his father Louis Stone who made the decision to change his name to Stone.
15 His father, a retired Army Colonel, opposed his decision to enlist in the Army to fight in Vietnam, and tried to get him assigned non-combat duty. After being transfered out of Bravo Company, Stone was offered a job with the CIA, which he declined, opting to finish his tour of duty in the 1st Cavalry Division.
16 Dedicated Wall Street (1987) to his father, and Heaven & Earth (1993) to his mother.
17 Shia LaBeouf, who acted in Stone's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), described him as "Orson Welles and the Easter Bunny all in one guy".
18 Credits his tour of duty in Vietnam for turning him toward film instead of literature, which was his education. He found that cameras were much more practical to use in the jungle than books and paper, which got soaked.
19 Is one of nine directors to win the Golden Globe, Director's Guild, BAFTA, and Oscar for the same movie, winning for Platoon (1986). The other directors to achieve this are Mike Nichols for The Graduate (1967), Milos Forman for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Richard Attenborough for Gandhi (1982), Steven Spielberg for Schindler's List (1993), Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain (2005), Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity (2013), and Alejandro G. Iñárritu for The Revenant (2015).
20 Returned to America from his teaching job in Vietnam by serving on board a Merchant Marine vessel that came to port in Oregon.
21 Had previously directed six of the acting nominees of the 81st Academy Awards: Sean Penn, Angelina Jolie, Viola Davis, Josh Brolin, Michael Shannon and Robert Downey Jr. as well as having worked as screenwriter for Mickey Rourke. He directed Brolin and Shannon in W. (2008) that same year (although Shannon's scene was cut).
22 In the 1992 Sight & Sound poll, Oliver Stone listed these as his top ten films of all time: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), 1900 (1976), Raging Bull (1980), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), On the Waterfront (1954), Paths of Glory (1957), Citizen Kane (1941), The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974).
23 Midnight Express (1978) and Scarface (1983) were written by him, and in both films, Giorgio Moroder composed the score.
24 Wrote a short film while still a student that was recently turned into a short film by his son Sean Stone. The title of the film is Singularity (2008) and is Sean's first fiction film.
25 Was flown to Vietnam traveling west from Sacremento, California on the evening of September 14, 1967 and crossed the international date line, arriving in Vietnam September 16, losing his 21st birthday.
26 Has worked with all of the Baldwin brothers. He cast Alec in Talk Radio (1988) and the other brothers made appearances in Born on the Fourth of July (1989).
27 Aside from directing James Woods in three of his films, Stone has also produced Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995) and Killer: A Journal of Murder (1995), both starring James Woods.
28 As of 2016, has directed six films where people he based the main characters on were still alive and participated in the making of the film. These are Born on the Fourth of July (1989), World Trade Center (2006), JFK (1991), Snowden (2016), Salvador (1986) and Heaven & Earth (1993). He also worked on W. (2008), a film about George W. Bush while he was still in office.
29 Has worked with two generations of two different acting families. Worked with Jon Voight and his daughter Angelina Jolie in U Turn (1997) and Alexander (2004) respectively. He has also worked with Martin Sheen and his son Charlie Sheen in Wall Street (1987).
30 After graduating from New York University, he worked as a cabdriver and a xerox messenger to support himself.
31 Sought Marlon Brando for two of his films: U Turn (1997) and Salvador (1986). James Woods who played the character in Salvador (1986) that Brando had turned down, received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Jon Voight, who played the role meant for Brando in U Turn (1997), received a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor.
32 Took a year's absence from Yale University in 1965 to teach at a Catholic private school in Vietnam.
33 Was set to begin filming his fourth Vietnam film "Pinkville" in late 2007. However, after the Writers' strike began, the producers pulled out, and Bruce Willis moved on. Stone then turned his attention to making W. (2008) which will star Josh Brolin.
34 As of May 2008, World Trade Center (2006) is the only one of his war-related films to be made with government cooperation (by the Port Authority).
35 Has sought Warren Beatty for three of his movies (Wall Street (1987), Nixon (1995) and W. (2008)). Beatty declined them all, and the roles went to Anthony Hopkins, Michael Douglas and James Cromwell respectively. Hopkins and Douglas received Oscar nominations for their roles.
36 Although he is a three-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker, it's been consistently difficult for him to acquire actors of his preference for most of the films he has directed. Casting Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday (1999), Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Snowden (2016), and Tom Cruise in Born on the Fourth of July (1989) are the most significant exceptions where Stone's top choice was either available or agreed to partake in an Oliver Stone production.
37 Because of his specialty with Vietnam era period pieces, he was one of the first directors to be offered American Gangster (2007) in 2001. After long consideration, he decided to pursue making his passion project, Alexander (2004), instead.
38 As of May 2008, World Trade Center (2006) is his first film rated "PG-13" and his only feature film to receive a rating of less than "R". As of September 2008, W. (2008) is his second film to receive a PG-13 rating.
39 Was planning to make a film about Eva Perón, but after several disagreements with Argentinian President Carlos Saúl Menem he abandoned the project. He later received a token credit as a writer for Evita (1996), despite having made no input to the script.
40 He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7013 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on March 15, 1996.
41 Interviewed in "Directors Close Up: Interviews with Directors Nominated for Best Film by the Directors Guild of America", ed. by Jeremy Kagan, Scarecrow Press, 2006.
42 Following the furor over JFK (1991), Stone addressed the U.S. Senate over the continued secrecy of documents relating to the John F. Kennedy assassination. Partly through his efforts, the government began declassifying documents.
43 Has directed four actors into Best Actor Oscar nominations, and three actors to Best Supporting Actor nominations. Lead roles were James Woods (Salvador (1986)), Michael Douglas (Wall Street (1987)), Tom Cruise (Born on the Fourth of July (1989)) and Anthony Hopkins (Nixon (1995)). Supporting roles were Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger (Platoon (1986)) and Tommy Lee Jones (JFK (1991)).
44 Received two Academy Award nominations for best original screenplay in the same year, 1987 (Salvador (1986) and Platoon (1986)) but lost to Woody Allen for Hannah and Her Sisters (1986).
45 Was attached to direct American Psycho (2000) with Leonardo DiCaprio in talks to star as Patrick Bateman. After DiCaprio left the project to make The Beach (2000) Stone left it also.
46 Known for the political content of his films, Stone was a member of the Class of 1968 at Yale University along with US President Bill Clinton administration adviser Strobe Talbot and future President George W. Bush (John Kerry was also there at the same time as Stone, though he was several classes ahead of '68). Stone left Yale after only one year (he failed all his second-semester freshman classes) and ended up joining the army and fighting in Vietnam. He never returned to graduate from Yale.
47 Has directed eight different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: James Woods, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Michael Douglas, Tom Cruise, Tommy Lee Jones, Anthony Hopkins and Joan Allen. Douglas won an Academy Award for Wall Street (1987).
48 As of 2004, Stone is attached to direct several projects. "Spite House", which he wrote and will direct about Vietnam. "The Fountainhead", based on the Ayn Rand novel. "Lennon", a biopic of John Lennon, a biopic of Margaret Thatcher, and a biopic of sorts about an attempted assassination plot by the Republican party against President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
49 His 11-minute student film made at New York University is called Last Year in Viet Nam (1971).
50 Was taught by Martin Scorsese at New York University Film School.
51 Oliver's American father, Louis Stone, who was born Louis Silverstein, was from a Jewish family (from Germany and Eastern Europe). Oliver's mother, Jacqueline (Goddet), was French.
52 Was voted the 43rd Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
53 Often talks about the experience of his father Louis Stone taking him to lose his virginity to a prostitute in his mid-teens.
54 Wrote a collegiate letter of recommendation for Claire Danes when she applied to his alma mater, Yale University. She was quickly accepted.
55 On September 14, 1967, he left for Vietnam and was assigned to the 2nd Platoon of Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Infantry Division, stationed near the Cambodian border, as "Private Bill Stone" (fearing that "Oliver" was too effeminate).
56 Directed comedian Rodney Dangerfield in his first and only dramatic role in Natural Born Killers (1994).
57 Is a friend and admirer of Cuban Premier Fidel Castro, and shot a documentary about the world's longest reigning Communist leader, titled Comandante (2003). It was to air on HBO in May 2003, but due to fierce protests by anti-Castro Cuban-American activists, it was shelved and has never been aired on HBO or made available on home video in the United States. Stone then made a new, more pointed documentary titled "Looking for Fidel" that aired on HBO in February 2004, in which he asked Castro questions about his human rights record, and included interviews with anti-Castro activists.
58 The same drum theme playing in the beginning of JFK (1991) (for which he was a producer), plays three times in The Day Reagan Was Shot (2001) (for which he was an executive producer).
59 Shares the exact same birthday as good friend and star of some his films, Tommy Lee Jones. Both were born on September 15, 1946.
60 Underwent infantry training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
61 Speaks French fluently.
62 Friends since childhood with Lloyd Kaufman, founder and president of Troma.
63 Says he kicked a cocaine habit by moving to France while writing Scarface (1983).
64 Arrested for drunken driving and possession of hashish. [June 1999]
65 Oliver's father met his mother while he was President Dwight D. Eisenhower aide in World War II in France. As a child, he was raised by a nanny because his mother frequently took vacations to France. He grew up as a child of privilege.
66 His father Louis Stone was a successful stockbroker on Wall Street, then he suffered some financial setbacks due to bad investments and a bitter divorce from Oliver's mother Jacqueline. The movie Wall Street (1987) is supposed to be modeled after Louis.
67 Father of sons Sean Stone (born December 29, 1984) and Michael Stone (born 1991) with Elizabeth Stone and a daughter, Tara Stone (born November 3, 1995) with Sun-jung Jung.
68 In Vietnam, Stone won the Bronze Star for Valor and the Purple Heart with First Oak Leaf Cluster. Stone was jailed for marijuana possession in Mexico at age 21.
69 Did a tour of duty in Vietnam.
70 Born at 9:58am-EDT
71 Attended Yale University and New York University.


Producer

Producer

TitleYearStatusCharacter
The Putin Interviews 2017 TV Series documentary producer
Ukraine on Fire 2016 Documentary executive producer
The Untold History of the United States 2012-2013 TV Series documentary executive producer - 10 episodes
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps 2010 producer - uncredited
Comandante 2003 Documentary producer
The Day Reagan Was Shot 2001 TV Movie executive producer
Any Given Sunday 1999 executive producer
The Corruptor 1999 executive producer
The Last Days of Kennedy and King 1998 Documentary executive producer
Savior 1998 producer
Cold Around the Heart 1997 executive producer
The People vs. Larry Flynt 1996 producer
Freeway 1996 executive producer
Nixon 1995 producer
Killer: A Journal of Murder 1995 executive producer
Indictment: The McMartin Trial 1995 TV Movie executive producer
The New Age 1994 executive producer
Heaven & Earth 1993 producer
The Joy Luck Club 1993 executive producer
Wild Palms 1993 TV Mini-Series executive producer - 5 episodes
South Central 1992 executive producer
Zebrahead 1992 executive producer
JFK 1991 producer
Iron Maze 1991 executive producer
Reversal of Fortune 1990 producer
Blue Steel 1990 producer
Born on the Fourth of July 1989 producer
Salvador 1986 producer
Sugar Cookies 1973 associate producer - as Oliver W. Stone

Director

Director

TitleYearStatusCharacter
The Putin Interviews 2017 TV Series documentary
Snowden 2016
Mi Amigo Hugo 2014 Documentary
The Untold History of the United States 2012-2013 TV Series documentary 12 episodes
Savages: The Interrogations 2012 Video short
Savages 2012
Castro in Winter 2012 Documentary
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps 2010
South of the Border 2009 Documentary
W. 2008/I
World Trade Center 2006
Alexander 2004
America Undercover 2003-2004 TV Series documentary 2 episodes
Comandante 2003 Documentary
Any Given Sunday 1999
U Turn 1997
Nixon 1995
Natural Born Killers 1994
Heaven & Earth 1993
JFK 1991
The Doors 1991
Born on the Fourth of July 1989
Talk Radio 1988
Wall Street 1987
Platoon 1986
Salvador 1986
The Hand 1981
Mad Man of Martinique 1979 Short
Seizure 1974
Last Year in Viet Nam 1971 Short

Writer

Writer

TitleYearStatusCharacter
A Child's Night Dream 2018 based on the novel by pre-production
The Putin Interviews 2017 TV Series documentary screenplay
Snowden 2016 screenplay
The Untold History of the United States TV Series documentary 8 episodes, 2012 - 2013 written by - 4 episodes, 2012 - 2013
Savages 2012 screenplay
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps 2010 characters
Singularity 2008/III Short short film "Michael & Marie"
Alexander 2004 written by
America Undercover 2004 TV Series documentary narration - 1 episode
Comandante 2003 Documentary narration
Any Given Sunday 1999 screenplay
Evita 1996 screenplay
Nixon 1995 written by
Natural Born Killers 1994 screenplay
Heaven & Earth 1993 screenplay
JFK 1991 screenplay
The Doors 1991 written by
Conan 1991 Video Game character
Born on the Fourth of July 1989 screenplay
Talk Radio 1988 screenplay
Wall Street 1987 written by
Platoon 1986 written by
8 Million Ways to Die 1986 screenplay
Salvador 1986 written by
Year of the Dragon 1985 screenplay
Scarface 1983 screenplay by
Conan the Barbarian 1982 written by
The Hand 1981 screenplay
Midnight Express 1978 screenplay
Seizure 1974 screenplay
Last Year in Viet Nam 1971 Short uncredited

Actor

Actor

TitleYearStatusCharacter
The Untold History of the United States 2012-2013 TV Series documentary Narrator
Savages: The Interrogations 2012 Video short Interrogator
Greystone Park 2012 Oliver
On Story 2011 TV Series
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps 2010 Investor
Torrente 3: El protector 2005 Inglés borracho
Alexander 2004 Macedonian Soldier at Zeus Statue (uncredited)
Troma's Edge TV 2000 TV Series Cliff
Any Given Sunday 1999 Tug Kowalski - TV Announcer #1
Nixon 1995 Closing Narration (voice, uncredited)
Dave 1993 Oliver Stone
The Doors 1991 UCLA Film Professor (uncredited)
Born on the Fourth of July 1989 News Reporter
Wall Street 1987 Trader - Office
Platoon 1986 Alpha Company Major in Bunker (uncredited)
The Hand 1981 Bum
Seizure 1974 Anchor (voice, uncredited)
Last Year in Viet Nam 1971 Short War Veteran (uncredited)
The Battle of Love's Return 1971 Cliff

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

TitleYearStatusCharacter
Gravesend 1997 presenter
U Turn 1997 script revisions - uncredited
Killer: A Journal of Murder 1995 presenter
Natural Born Killers 1994 executive album producer - uncredited

Cinematographer

Cinematographer

TitleYearStatusCharacter
Last Year in Viet Nam 1971 Short
Street Scenes 1970 Documentary

Editor

Editor

TitleYearStatusCharacter
Seizure 1974
Last Year in Viet Nam 1971 Short uncredited

Soundtrack

Soundtrack

TitleYearStatusCharacter
Midnight Express 1978 writer: "Istanbul Blues"

Thanks

Thanks

TitleYearStatusCharacter
American Federale 2013 Documentary special thanks
Savages 2012 special thanks
How to Kill Christian: Or How We Made Our First Movie and Didn't Kill Each Other 2009 Video documentary the producers wish to thank
Dangerous Dynasty: The Bush Legacy 2009 Video documentary short special thanks
No Stranger to Controversy: Oliver Stone's George W. Bush 2009 Video short special thanks
A.W.O.L 2006 Short very special thanks
Thefts 2006 Short special thanks
Out of the Shadows: The Man Who Was Deep Throat 2006 Video documentary short special thanks
Woodward and Bernstein: Lighting the Fire 2006 Video documentary short special thanks
Perfect Is the Enemy of Good 2005 Video documentary short special thanks
Resurrecting 'Alexander' 2005 Video documentary short special thanks
The Death of 'Alexander' 2005 Video documentary short special thanks
I Will Follow You Into the Dark 2004 Short special thanks
Actors Anonymous: The Truth Behind the Dream 2003 Documentary special thanks
Chaos Rising: The Storm Around 'Natural Born Killers' 2001 Video documentary short special thanks
Money Never Sleeps 2000 Video documentary special thanks
Zapruder 2000 Short special thanks
HBO First Look 1999 TV Series documentary short special thanks - 1 episode
Peace Is Every Step: Meditation in Action: The Life and Work of Thich Nhat Hanh 1998 Documentary thanks
Patton: A Tribute to Franklin J. Schaffner 1997 Video documentary special thanks
Beyond 'JFK': The Question of Conspiracy 1992 TV Movie documentary special thanks
Malcolm X 1992 special thanks

Self

Self

TitleYearStatusCharacter
Oh Shit with Oliver Stone & Ryan Hansen 2011 Short Himself
Turning Like Clockwork 2011 Video documentary short Himself
The Invocation 2010 Documentary Himself
This Week 2010 TV Series Himself
IMDb's 20th Anniversary Star of the Day 2010 TV Series documentary Himself
Entertainment Tonight 2010 TV Series Himself
Breakfast 2006-2010 TV Series Himself - Director / Himself - Guest
In the House with Peter Bart & Peter Guber 2010 TV Series
Larry King Live 2010 TV Series Himself - Guest
In the Tracks of Georges Delerue 2010 Documentary Himself - Director
At the Movies 2010 TV Series Himself
Rolling with Stone 2010 Documentary Himself
Gomorron 2010 TV Series Himself - Från Cannes
NBK Evolution: How Would It All Go Down Now? 2009 Video documentary short Himself
South of the Border 2009 Documentary Himself
AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Michael Douglas 2009 TV Movie Himself
No Stranger to Controversy: Oliver Stone's George W. Bush 2009 Video short Himself
Ciak Point Torino 2008 2008 TV Movie Himself
Strada 2008 TV Series Himself
Sunday AM 2008 TV Series Himself - Director
Saturday Night Live 2008 TV Series Himself
The Colbert Report 2008 TV Series Himself - Guest
Behind the Wheel 2008 Documentary Himself
Bienvenue à Cannes 2007 Documentary Himself
Pierre Rissient: Man of Cinema 2007 Documentary Himself
Influence and Appreciation: A Martin Scorsese Tribute 2007 Video documentary short Himself
Act of Violence: Dealing with the Devil 2007 Video short Himself
Crime Wave: The City Is Dark 2007 Video short Himself
Side Street: Where Temptation Lurks 2007 Video short Himself
Tension: Who's Guilty Now? 2007 Video short Himself
They Live by Night: The Twisted Road 2007 Video short Himself
Oswald's Ghost 2007 Documentary Himself - Filming JFK Movie
Biography 1995-2007 TV Series documentary Himself
AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Al Pacino 2007 TV Movie Himself
The Boomer Century 2007 TV Movie documentary Himself
The British Comedy Awards 2006 Live 2006 TV Special Himself
The Making of 'World Trade Center' 2006 Video documentary Himself
Visual and Special Effects 2006 Video documentary short Himself
San Sebastián 2006: Crónica de Carlos Boyero 2006 TV Movie documentary Himself
The Late Late Show 2006 TV Series Himself - Guest
Film '72 2006 TV Series Himself
Oliver Stone - Hollywoods Lieblingsrebell 2006 TV Movie documentary Himself
Canada A.M. 2006 TV Series Himself
Shootout 2006 TV Series Himself
Out of the Shadows: The Man Who Was Deep Throat 2006 Video documentary short Himself
Woodward and Bernstein: Lighting the Fire 2006 Video documentary short Himself
The Autograph Hunters 2005 Short Himself
Perfect Is the Enemy of Good 2005 Video documentary short Himself
Resurrecting 'Alexander' 2005 Video documentary short Himself
The Death of 'Alexander' 2005 Video documentary short Himself
Vangelis Scores 'Alexander' 2005 Video documentary short Himself
The 100 Greatest War Films 2005 TV Movie documentary Himself
La semaine du cinéma 2005 TV Series Himself
Fight Against Time: Oliver Stone's Alexander 2005 Video documentary Himself
Tout le monde en parle 2004 TV Series Himself
Mioch versus Goderie 2004 TV Series Himself
HBO First Look 1999-2004 TV Series documentary short Himself
On the Set of 'Alexander' 2004 Video documentary short Himself
Five Directors on 'The Battle of Algiers' 2004 Video documentary short Himself
Film School 2004 TV Series Himself
Entrevistas: Dando forma a internet 2004 TV Mini-Series Himself
Charging for Alexander 2004 TV Short documentary The Director
America Undercover 2003-2004 TV Series documentary Himself
Unseen + Untold: Scarface 2003 TV Movie documentary Himself
Scarface: Creating 2003 Video documentary short Himself
Scarface: The Rebirth 2003 Video documentary short Himself
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes & Villains 2003 TV Special documentary Himself
HARDtalk 2003 TV Series Himself
Hollywood High 2003 TV Special documentary Himself
Comandante 2003 Documentary Himself
John Ford Goes to War 2002 Documentary Himself
Anthony Hopkins: A Taste for Hannibal 2002 TV Movie Himself
Jim Brown: All American 2002 TV Movie documentary Himself (Filmmaker)
Hollywood, Inc. 2002 TV Series documentary Himself
A Tour of the Inferno: Revisiting 'Platoon' 2001 Video documentary Himself / Director
Oliver Stone's America 2001 Video documentary Himself
Into the Valley of Death 2001 Video documentary Himself
Chaos Rising: The Storm Around 'Natural Born Killers' 2001 Video documentary short Himself
Money Never Sleeps 2000 Video documentary Himself
Hollywood, D.C. 2000 TV Movie documentary Himself
Conan Unchained: The Making of 'Conan' 2000 Video documentary Himself
Mundo VIP 2000 TV Series Himself
Tonight 2000 TV Series Himself - Interviewee
The Directors 2000 TV Series documentary Himself
Censored! 1999 TV Movie documentary Himself
The Century: America's Time 1999 TV Mini-Series documentary Himself - Vietnam Vet
One Vision 1998 Documentary Himself
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies: America's Greatest Movies 1998 TV Special documentary Himself
1998 ALMA Awards 1998 TV Special Himself
E! True Hollywood Story 1998 TV Series documentary Himself
The Making of 'Scarface' 1998 Video documentary Himself
Great Books 1998 TV Series documentary Himself
Frank Capra's American Dream 1997 TV Movie documentary Himself - Interviewee: Director
The Road of Excess 1997 Video documentary short Himself
Jeopardy! 1997 TV Series Himself - Guest Contestant
Patton: A Tribute to Franklin J. Schaffner 1997 Video documentary Himself
1996 MTV Video Music Awards 1996 TV Special Himself
Moving Pictures 1996 TV Series documentary Himself
1996 VH1 Honors 1996 TV Movie Himself
Empire of the Censors 1995 TV Movie documentary Himself
Liebe in Hollywood 1995 TV Movie documentary Himself
The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies 1995 TV Movie documentary Himself
Music for the Movies: Georges Delerue 1995 TV Movie documentary Himself
Der Klang der Bilder 1995 TV Movie documentary Himself
Nixon: Featurette 1995 Video documentary short Himself
Moviewatch 1994 TV Series documentary Himself
Ça se discute 1994 TV Series Himself
Vincent à l'heure 1994 TV Series Himself
The 9th Annual IFP/West Independent Spirit Awards 1994 TV Special Himself
Gente de primera 1994 TV Series Himself
Primer plano 1993 TV Series Himself - Interviewee
The Last Party 1993 Documentary Himself
Wild Palms 1993 TV Mini-Series Himself
Beyond 'JFK': The Question of Conspiracy 1992 TV Movie documentary Himself
Oliver Stone: Inside Out 1992 TV Movie documentary Himself
Our Hollywood Education 1992 Documentary Himself
From Hollywood to Hanoi 1992 Documentary Himself
The Dick Cavett Show 1992 TV Series Himself - Director
Investigative Reports 1992 TV Series documentary Himself
The JFK Conspiracy 1992 TV Movie documentary Himself
The 64th Annual Academy Awards 1992 TV Special Himself - Nominated: Best Picture, Best Director & Best Adapted Screenplay
Tonight Live with Steve Vizard 1992 TV Series Himself
The 49th Annual Golden Globe Awards 1992 TV Special Himself - Winner: Best Motion Picture - Drama & Best Director
The 6th Annual IFP/West Independent Spirit Awards 1991 TV Special Himself - Presenter
The 48th Annual Golden Globe Awards 1991 TV Special Himself - Nominee: Best Motion Picture - Drama & Presenter
Hollywood Minute 1991 TV Series Himself
1990 MTV Video Music Awards 1990 TV Special Himself - Presenter
The 62nd Annual Academy Awards 1990 TV Special Himself - Winner: Best Director & Nominee: Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay
The 42th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards 1990 TV Special Himself - Winner
The Arsenio Hall Show 1990 TV Series Himself - Guest
The 47th Annual Golden Globe Awards 1990 TV Special Himself - Winner: Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Director & best Screenplay
First Works 1989 TV Movie documentary Himself
The Media Show 1987-1989 TV Series documentary Himself
The Annual ACLU Honors: A Salute to Michael Douglas 1987 TV Movie Himself
The 59th Annual Academy Awards 1987 TV Special Himself - Winner: Best Director & Nominee: Best Original Screenplay
The Morning Program 1987 TV Series Himself
The 44th Annual Golden Globe Awards 1987 TV Special Himself - Winner: Best Director & Nominee: Best Screenplay
Saturday Night at the Movies 1974 TV Series Himself (2007)
A Rush to Judgment Documentary post-production Himself
Tucker Carlson Tonight 2017 TV Series Himself
Democracy Now! 2010-2017 TV Series Himself
CBS This Morning 2017 TV Series Himself
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 2016-2017 TV Series Himself / Himself - Guest
The Putin Interviews 2017 TV Series documentary Himself
Close Up with the Hollywood Reporter 2017 TV Series Himself
Tavis Smiley 2010-2016 TV Series Himself - Guest
A Football Life 2016 TV Series Himself
Drôle d'endroit pour une rencontre 2016 TV Series Himself
Cinema 3 1987-2016 TV Series Himself - Interviewee
Días de cine 1996-2016 TV Series Himself - Interviewee
C à vous 2016 TV Series Himself
Made in Hollywood 2010-2016 TV Series Himself
Snowden Live 2016 Video short Himself
Today 1991-2016 TV Series Himself - Guest
French cinema mon amour 2015 TV Movie documentary Himself
King Kill 63 2015 Documentary Himself
Mindfulness: Be Happy Now 2015 Documentary Himself
Tom Cruise: Show Me the Movies 2015 TV Movie documentary Himself
Brand: A Second Coming 2015 Documentary Himself
Talk Stoop with Cat Greenleaf 2015 TV Series Himself - Guest
Once in a Lew Moon 2015 Documentary Himself
Frank Langella: An Actor's Actor 2014 Short Himself
The Weight of Chains 2 2014 Documentary Himself
Hollywood Banker 2014 Documentary Himself
Natural Born Killers: Method in the Madness 2014 Video short Himself
Rock Poet 2014 Documentary
Mi Amigo Hugo 2014 Documentary Himself
The Big Interview with Dan Rather 2014 TV Series Himself
Le grand journal de Canal+ 2008-2014 TV Series documentary Himself
Hollywood: Chronicle of an Empire 2014 TV Movie documentary Himself
Na plovárne 2013 TV Series Himself
Vangelis and the Journey to Ithaka 2013 Documentary Himself
Piers Morgan Tonight 2012-2013 TV Series Himself - Guest
Cinerama Dome's 50th Anniversary Celebration 2013 Video short Himself
Real Time with Bill Maher 2008-2013 TV Series Himself - Guest
61º Festival Internacional de Cine de San Sebastián - Gala de inauguración 2013 TV Special Himself
LT: The Life & Times 2013 Documentary Himself
Oribâ Sutôn to Hiroshima 2013 TV Movie documentary Himself
News Zero 2013 TV Series Himself
Breaking the Set 2013 TV Series Himself - Academy Award winning Director (2013)
The Real Story 2013 TV Series Himself
The '80s: The Decade That Made Us 2013 TV Mini-Series documentary Himself
Project Censored the Movie 2013 Documentary Himself - Filmmaker
The One Show 2013 TV Series Himself
Milius 2013 Documentary Himself
Martin Bashir 2013 TV Series Himself
Viewpoint with Eliot Spitzer 2013 TV Series Himself
The Untold History of the United States 2012 TV Series documentary Himself - Narrator
Stanley Kubrick in Focus 2012 Short Himself
A Night at the Movies: Hollywood Goes to Washington 2012 TV Movie documentary Himself - Interviewee
Rencontres de cinéma 2008-2012 TV Series Himself
Premio Donostia a John Travolta y Oliver Stone 2012 TV Special Himself - Winner
Casting By 2012 Documentary Himself
Larry King Now 2012 TV Series Himself - Guest
Charlie Rose 1996-2012 TV Series Himself - Guest
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon 2010-2012 TV Series Himself - Guest
Chelsea Lately 2012 TV Series Himself - Guest
Hollywood Hi-Tech 2011 TV Series Himself - Guest

Archive Footage

Archive Footage

TitleYearStatusCharacter
Good Morning Britain 2017 TV Series Himself
The O'Reilly Factor 2017 TV Series Himself
World Order 2015 Documentary Himself
Hôdô Tokushû 2013 TV Series Himself
Whistleblowers: The Untold Stories 2011-2012 TV Series Himself - Award Winning Director / Himself - Award Winnng Producer
The Undefeated 2011 Documentary Himself
E! True Hollywood Story 2010 TV Series documentary Himself
Breakfast 2010 TV Series Himself
Filmania: Eiga no tatsujin 2009 TV Series Himself
Biography 2008 TV Series documentary Himself
Conspiracy Files 2006 TV Series documentary Himself
The Erroneous Earth Kitchen 2006 Documentary short Himself
Alberto Iglesias, el músico fiel 2006 TV Movie documentary Himself (uncredited)
Cinema mil 2005 TV Series Himself
Make Your Own Damn Movie! 2005 Video documentary Cliff (uncredited)
Peter Jennings Reporting: The Kennedy Assassination - Beyond Conspiracy 2003 TV Movie documentary Himself
Who Is Alan Smithee? 2002 TV Movie documentary Himself (uncredited)
Cronkite Remembers 1997 TV Mini-Series documentary Himself (editing 'JFK') (uncredited)

Won awards

Won awards

YearAwardCeremonyNominationMovieAward shared with
2016 Tribute Award Gotham Awards
2016 Satellite Award Satellite Awards Best Screenplay, Adapted Snowden (2016) · Kieran Fitzgerald
2015 OFTA Film Hall of Fame Online Film & Television Association Creative
2013 Special Prize for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
2012 Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award San Sebastián International Film Festival Special 60th Anniversary Award
2011 Taormina Arte Award Taormina International Film Festival
2010 International Lifetime Achievement Award Bombay International Film Festival
2007 A Tribute to... Award Zurich Film Festival
2007 Yoga Award Yoga Awards Worst Foreign Film World Trade Center (2006)
2006 Lifetime Achievement Award Dubai International Film Festival
2006 Hollywood Movie of the Year Hollywood Film Awards World Trade Center (2006)
2006 Hollywood Film Award Hollywood Film Awards Director of the Year World Trade Center (2006)
2006 Yoga Award Yoga Awards Worst Foreign Director Alexander (2004)
2004 Golden Kinnaree Career Achievement Award Bangkok International Film Festival
2004 Special Award Camerimage Director with Unique Visual Sensitivity
2004 Lifetime Achievement Award Stockholm Film Festival
2003 Honorary Award of the Festival Marrakech International Film Festival
2002 International Filmmaker Award Palm Springs International Film Festival
2000 Movie Masterpiece Award Empire Awards, UK JFK (1991)
1998 Crystal Iris Brussels International Film Festival
1998 Best Documentary Hermosa Beach Film Festival The Last Days of Kennedy and King (1998) · Vince DiPersio (producer/director)
1998 Best Documentary Hermosa Beach Film Festival Best Documentary The Last Days of Kennedy and King (1998) · Vince DiPersio (director)
· Bill Guttentag (director)
1996 CFCA Award Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Best Director Nixon (1995)
1996 Freedom of Expression Award National Board of Review, USA The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) · Milos Forman
1996 Star on the Walk of Fame Walk of Fame Motion Picture On 15 March 1996. At 7013 Hollywood Blvd.
1995 Primetime Emmy Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Made for Television Movie Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995) · Janet Yang (executive producer)
· Abby Mann (executive producer)
· Diana Pokorny (producer)
1995 Yoga Award Yoga Awards Worst Foreign Film Natural Born Killers (1994)
1994 Honorable Mentions (The Next Ten Best Picture Contenders) Awards Circuit Community Awards Honorable Mentions Natural Born Killers (1994)
1994 Grand Special Jury Prize Venice Film Festival Natural Born Killers (1994)
1993 Blue Ribbon Award Blue Ribbon Awards Best Foreign Film JFK (1991)
1993 Empire Award Empire Awards, UK Best Director JFK (1991)
1993 Readers' Choice Award Kinema Junpo Awards Best Foreign Language Film JFK (1991)
1993 Mainichi Film Concours Mainichi Film Concours Best Foreign Language Film JFK (1991)
1993 Readers' Choice Award Mainichi Film Concours Best Foreign Language Film JFK (1991)
1992 Golden Globe Golden Globes, USA Best Director - Motion Picture JFK (1991)
1992 DFWFCA Award Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards Best Director JFK (1991)
1992 Jupiter Award Jupiter Award Best International Film JFK (1991)
1992 Jupiter Award Jupiter Award Best International Director JFK (1991)
1992 Special Award ShoWest Convention, USA Meritorious Achievement
1990 Oscar Academy Awards, USA Best Director Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
1990 Golden Globe Golden Globes, USA Best Director - Motion Picture Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
1990 Golden Globe Golden Globes, USA Best Screenplay - Motion Picture Born on the Fourth of July (1989) · Ron Kovic
1990 Honorary Golden Berlin Bear Berlin International Film Festival

For his close relationship to the festival. The award was presented as Special Prize of the 40th ... More

1990 DGA Award Directors Guild of America, USA Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Born on the Fourth of July (1989) · Clayton Townsend (unit production manager plaque)
· Stephen Lim (first assistant director plaque)
· Joseph P. Reidy (first assistant director plaque)
· David Sardi (second assistant director plaque)
1990 Jupiter Award Jupiter Award Best International Director Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
1988 BAFTA Film Award BAFTA Awards Best Direction Platoon (1986)
1987 Oscar Academy Awards, USA Best Director Platoon (1986)
1987 Golden Globe Golden Globes, USA Best Director - Motion Picture Platoon (1986)
1987 Silver Berlin Bear Berlin International Film Festival Best Director Platoon (1986)
1987 BSFC Award Boston Society of Film Critics Awards Best Director Platoon (1986)
1987 DGA Award Directors Guild of America, USA Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Platoon (1986) · H. Gordon Boos (first assistant director plaque)
1987 Independent Spirit Award Independent Spirit Awards Best Director Platoon (1986)
1987 Independent Spirit Award Independent Spirit Awards Best Screenplay Platoon (1986)
1986 KCFCC Award Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards Best Director Salvador (1986)
1986 KCFCC Award Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards Best Director Platoon (1986)
1979 Oscar Academy Awards, USA Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Midnight Express (1978)
1979 Golden Globe Golden Globes, USA Best Screenplay - Motion Picture Midnight Express (1978)
1979 WGA Award (Screen) Writers Guild of America, USA Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium Midnight Express (1978)

Nominated awards

Nominated awards

YearAwardCeremonyNominationMovieAward shared with
2005 Razzie Award Razzie Awards Worst Director Alexander (2004)
2005 Razzie Award Razzie Awards Worst Screenplay Alexander (2004) · Christopher Kyle
· Laeta Kalogridis
2000 Golden Berlin Bear Berlin International Film Festival Any Given Sunday (1999)
1998 Razzie Award Razzie Awards Worst Director U Turn (1997)
1997 BAFTA Film Award BAFTA Awards Best Screenplay - Adapted Evita (1996) · Alan Parker
1997 OFTA Film Award Online Film & Television Association Best Picture The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) · Michael Hausman
· Janet Yang
1997 OFTA Film Award Online Film & Television Association Best Drama Picture The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) · Michael Hausman
· Janet Yang
1997 OFTA Film Award Online Film & Television Association Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Evita (1996) · Alan Parker
1996 Oscar Academy Awards, USA Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Nixon (1995) · Stephen J. Rivele
· Christopher Wilkinson
1995 Golden Globe Golden Globes, USA Best Director - Motion Picture Natural Born Killers (1994)
1995 CableACE CableACE Awards Movie or Miniseries Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995) · Abby Mann (executive producer/writer)
· Janet Yang (executive producer)
· Diana Pokorny (producer)
· Mick Jackson (director)
· Myra Mann (writer)
1994 Golden Lion Venice Film Festival Natural Born Killers (1994)
1993 BAFTA Film Award BAFTA Awards Best Screenplay - Adapted JFK (1991) · Zachary Sklar
1993 Silver Ribbon Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Best Foreign Director (Regista del Miglior Film Straniero) JFK (1991)
1992 Oscar Academy Awards, USA Best Picture JFK (1991) · A. Kitman Ho
1992 Oscar Academy Awards, USA Best Director JFK (1991)
1992 Oscar Academy Awards, USA Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published JFK (1991) · Zachary Sklar
1992 Golden Globe Golden Globes, USA Best Screenplay - Motion Picture JFK (1991) · Zachary Sklar
1992 CFCA Award Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Best Screenplay JFK (1991) · Zachary Sklar
1992 DGA Award Directors Guild of America, USA Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures JFK (1991)
1992 Edgar Edgar Allan Poe Awards Best Motion Picture JFK (1991) · Zachary Sklar
1992 PGA Award PGA Awards Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures JFK (1991) · A. Kitman Ho
1992 WGA Award (Screen) Writers Guild of America, USA Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium JFK (1991) · Zachary Sklar
1991 BAFTA Film Award BAFTA Awards Best Screenplay - Adapted Born on the Fourth of July (1989) · Ron Kovic
1991 Golden St. George Moscow International Film Festival The Doors (1991)
1991 PGA Award PGA Awards Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures Reversal of Fortune (1990) · Edward R. Pressman
1990 Oscar Academy Awards, USA Best Picture Born on the Fourth of July (1989) · A. Kitman Ho
1990 Oscar Academy Awards, USA Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Born on the Fourth of July (1989) · Ron Kovic
1990 Golden Berlin Bear Berlin International Film Festival Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
1990 David David di Donatello Awards Best Foreign Director (Migliore Regista Straniero) Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
1990 PGA Award PGA Awards Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures Born on the Fourth of July (1989) · A. Kitman Ho
1990 WGA Award (Screen) Writers Guild of America, USA Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium Born on the Fourth of July (1989) · Ron Kovic
1989 Golden Berlin Bear Berlin International Film Festival Talk Radio (1988)
1989 Independent Spirit Award Independent Spirit Awards Best Director Talk Radio (1988)
1987 Oscar Academy Awards, USA Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Platoon (1986)
1987 Oscar Academy Awards, USA Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Salvador (1986) · Richard Boyle
1987 Golden Globe Golden Globes, USA Best Screenplay - Motion Picture Platoon (1986)
1987 Golden Berlin Bear Berlin International Film Festival Platoon (1986)
1987 David David di Donatello Awards Best Foreign Screenplay (Migliore Sceneggiatura Straniera) Platoon (1986)
1987 Independent Spirit Award Independent Spirit Awards Best Feature Salvador (1986) · Gerald Green
1987 Independent Spirit Award Independent Spirit Awards Best Director Salvador (1986)
1987 Independent Spirit Award Independent Spirit Awards Best Screenplay Salvador (1986) · Richard Boyle
1987 WGA Award (Screen) Writers Guild of America, USA Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Platoon (1986)
1987 WGA Award (Screen) Writers Guild of America, USA Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Salvador (1986) · Richard Boyle
1986 Razzie Award Razzie Awards Worst Screenplay Year of the Dragon (1985) · Michael Cimino
1979 Grammy Grammy Awards Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Special Midnight Express (1978) · Giorgio Moroder
· Billy Hayes

2nd place awards

2nd place awards

YearAwardCeremonyNominationMovieAward shared with
1989 LAFCA Award Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards Best Director Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
1986 NYFCC Award New York Film Critics Circle Awards Best Director Platoon (1986)

3rd place awards

3rd place awards

YearAwardCeremonyNominationMovieAward shared with
1987 NSFC Award National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA Best Director Salvador (1986)

TitleSalary
Scarface (1983) $300,000

#Quote
1 I'd point out to those of you who are struggling to be independent and to stay independent, that's the hard part, staying independent, I'd like to remind you that you can be critical. You can be critical of your government, and we've forgotten that. (...) The 1970s can come back, if you embody that in your own work. So don't go easy on what you think is wrong. Think internationally. There are other values beside our little little echo bowl we have there. [2016]
2 Mr. Snowden [Edward Snowden] said very clearly, that the mechanism is in place now so that when there is another terror attack, which inevitably there probably will be in this country, the next president, whoever he may be, will have the authority to really close down the system in the most oppressive way than it's ever been. [2016]
3 With Trump [Donald Trump], I hope that he has the good sense, because he's a businessman, that he would find a way to make a deal with Russia as well as China, and that would be better for everybody. [2016]
4 It's a dangerous world where one country [the U.S] is telling the world what to do, with the exception of Russia, China and North Korea. (...) Let's hope for a balance of power. [2016]
5 Wall Street (1987) was an unfortunate situation because we fired [composer] Jerry Goldsmith. We paid him a lot of money, and I was unhappy with the music he had written. He was a big composer at the time, and he was really insulted, so I didn't make a lot of friends in the musicians' union when that got around - at that time, replacing a composer that way just wasn't done, I suppose. We were running out of time, and I liked The Police and had some kind of connection to Stewart [Stewart Copeland] that I can't quite remember, and he came in and did a nice job very quickly. [2015]
6 [on Talk Radio (1988) as a learning experience] I wasn't thinking of it so much as "my" movie as a chance to develop technique. Remember, I was a young director looking for new ways to express myself on film. (...) A lot of it was Robert Richardson and I learning how to use space by shooting in that tight little studio, which was cleverly built by [production designer] Bruno Rubeo. As you noticed, we used a lot of glass and reflections, bringing the lights up and down so that characters would appear and disappear, playing with different levels of reality within the studio. We got very comfortable with the idea of confinement on that set, which meant that then we could apply those ideas to a larger canvas when we moved on to Born on the Fourth of July (1989). There was a lot of location shooting on "Born..." and very little on "Talk Radio"; we did have the middle section with the basketball game and some scenes in cars, but all of that stuff in the studio was methodically shot. We shot it in around 30 days, and every one of those days was thought out to the max - boarded, rehearsed, with poor Eric Bogosian saying 40 or 50 lines of dialogue while moving and hitting marks. He didn't even know what marks were when we started, coming from the theater. We threw the first few days of rushes away, in fact, because they were so terrible. If you look at the movie we don't introduce him right away, you just see other characters and hear his voice for a while before you see him. (...) It's funny, because you can call it a small movie, but it has a muscularity to it and we really tried to push that as far as it would go. It contributed greatly to "Born..." and everything that came after it, because Bob learned a lot about lenses, and I fell in love with the split diopter. Bob didn't like it for some reason, but I loved it and I used it to death. I didn't care how crude it was, I loved the feeling of it. We built a three-sided set with a translight of the Dallas night skyline outside the window, and Bob used light banks with everything on dimmers so that the lights would come in and out at very precise moments, and he had to figure out how to deal with all of those crazy reflections. Often he would find magic in things that weren't expected or planned for, even though we very carefully designed our shots ahead of time. That was part of the discovery process. [2015]
7 [on President Dwight D. Eisenhower's warning about an expanding military-industrial complex] It's only gotten worse because the money has gotten much bigger. Now we're in an impossible situation where we find ourselves driven into wars, driven into a hundred and some thirty countries where we have military alliances, military bases. We can't seem to get out of it. I'm not sure that any one single man, one president, can do anything about it.
8 Corruption surrounds us. It's in every part of the American organism now, from Wall Street to the military, to legislators and politics. It's endemic.
9 I grew up living in the heart of the American dream in New York City. My father was conservative. I served in the military and it took several years after that of seeing the world from the point-of-view of people who were exploited and abused to change my perception. And my films have also taught me about aspects of life. With 'Untold History' I had the chance to really study and broaden my knowledge of the American past. And it's not the bill of goods they taught us in school.
10 The Hollywood blockbuster is based on the idea of the conquering hero and that we are the exceptional nation, the indispensable nation, the rescuer of nations. But it's a fantasy, and people like Obama haven't really studied their history. They haven't studied cause and effect. Besides, the heroic narrative does not work because everyone thinks they're the hero, and then you end up with crazy heroes around the world trying to be a crusader.
11 [on his film Wall Street (1987) and its leading character, the reptilian Gordon Gekko] When I made the movie I thought greed was NOT good. But I learned people really like money. They like to make money. They will even admire the villain with the money - even when he breaks the law.
12 [on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy] Like everyone, it was sad for the country. He was a handsome young man with a beautiful family, but the consequences of the act did not have meaning for me until later. Within four years I'd be in Vietnam as a ground soldier. And then as I got older, JFK's presidency became more important to me in retrospect than ever before.
13 I grew up conservative, remember. So I had a William Buckley view of the United States in the '40s and '50s - that we were the good guys, and that we were moral, and that we were doing the right thing. And now I think, how did we become this bully - this international terror that dominates the world scene today?
14 I do feel that the Jim Crow laws are very important, coming back, by the Suprene Court gutting the Voting Rights Act. The gerrymandering that's going on in the states. I do believe that we owe this Republican legislature to that gerrymandering. And part of that is that ballot security issue. Every time... you've got have IDs for the poor and so forth. It's cutting out the blacks. They are really hanging on to... they don't want the Hispanic, Asian, black mixture to take over. I think that's what the Supreme Court thing is. I think that's what the gun laws are about too. The states want states rights. They want to keep the rules white. That's how I see this Tea Party.
15 I grew up conservative, remember. So I had a William Buckley view of the United States in the '40s and '50s - that we were good guys, and that we were moral, and that we were doing the right thing. And now I think, how did we become this bully - this international terror that dominates the world scene today?
16 I gave [my children] the best education I thought they could get... but I realize you have to go through some suffering and pain. People don't appreciate education unless they are an immigrant or coming up the hard way. It's a sense of entitlement.
17 You see a coarsening of society through war. If you think not showing the coffins that come back to the United States is a solution, that's not so. We have to be more truthful about the nature of violence.
18 [on Taylor Kitsch] He is very laid back. He's got that Canadian attitude. But he's a great athlete. He's a good boxer and apparently a great hockey player. At the same time he's powerful on camera. He conveys what in the old days you'd call a man's man.
19 It's not a war on drugs. It's a war for money. There's too much money in it to back out now. Even if they taxed it, and they'd love to, there's so much money on the criminal investigation side with the DEA and the prison system. There are so many people in jail for drugs. They spend billions annually keeping non-violent criminals in jail, many of them drug users. How do you go back after forty years of tactics that haven't worked?
20 When I did Platoon (1986) in 1986, I was saying very openly that marijuana helped me survive the war. It helped me keep my humanity in a situation that was dehumanizing.
21 [on taxation] I pay 50% at the end of the day, it's a lot of dough. We work very hard, but we try to create things, we produce things. I think production is the key, I think producers should be encouraged. But when you're a speculator and you don't produce anything, that's where I think you should be taxed differently. I think there should be a bank tax. I think there should be a speculation tax, much higher. There's been proposals to that effect and they get defeated by the Republicans in Congress. I would put a tax on speculation because if you roll over stuff and you're just making money with money, like a casino, that's when you should really be taxed. A "Casino Tax", so to speak. But I don't really think taxing productivity is wise beyond a certain point. I'll pay 50%, but when you get to the 60% mark you're really dying, because you give jobs. My dad, who was a stockbroker, used to say, "No profit without production".
22 [on his script for Scarface (1983)] Al Pacino intimidated me when I watched him in rehearsals, I saw how he turned Tony Montana into something very feral, something immigrant and hungry and decadent.
23 [on Alan Parker] Yes, I did say Alan Parker has no sense of humor, and this comment will haunt me for the rest of my days. But he doesn't, does he? Have I missed something?
24 [on Russia and China] When I was researching dissidents during the 1980s in the Soviet Union, there was a form of denial, which was that these people, who were very courageous people opposing the regime, were going to psychiatric institutes. The Russian people did not understand them and I felt very sorry for these people. I tried to do a movie about it but it could not get it financed. But I remember at that time researching the Brezhnev [former Soviet president Leonid Brezhnev] regime how much of a hero Joseph Stalin was to the average Russian who did not really know about the great purges, and terrors, and famines of that period. Of the 1920s, '30s and '40s. Self-delusion of a population in denial is overwhelming to me still at my age. In China, which I've visited several times, I see a new generation, young people, crippled with amnesia. Unable to gain access to their own history. And then I see a generation my age, older people, men and women, and I'm amazed by what they've been through in their lifetime. Far more than I have, because they have lived a Lewis Carroll life, where it's been a 180-degree turn at the middle of their lives, at the age of 30 or 40 they've moved from collective Communism and worship of one god Mao, to a highly brutal competitive individual consumption and corruption in the name of another god: money.
25 J.P. Morgan merits enormous attention. He was a pharaoh. He controlled American business and governments in a way that's never been seen since.
26 I agree with my father that the foundation of a healthy, prosperous and relatively free society is capitalism. The whole Alexander Hamilton idea of capitalism was to make the country grow, and he was essentially right that banks could be used to make the country grow, because we need capital and we need credit. And that is fundamental, and somehow people when they attack Wall Street so blindly, so ignorantly, they lose sight of that function.
27 You cannot approach history unless you have empathy for the person you may hate. We can't judge people as only "bad" or "good". [Adolf Hitler] is an easy scapegoat throughout history and it's been used cheaply. He's the product of a series of actions. It's cause and effect.
28 I don't feel particularly old, but I feel it in the morning when I wake up. Film is exhausting to make, it's a very tiring process physically.
29 The Pax Americana, to me, is the dollar sign. It works. It may not be attractive. It's not pretty to see American businessmen running all around the world in plaid trousers, drinking whiskey. But what they're doing makes sense. Now it's been picked up more intelligently by the Japanese, the British, the Germans. But it brings education, health, and welfare to the rest of the world.
30 Look, you know something of what I've fought against in the U.S. establishment, but - McDonald's is good for the world, that's my opinion. Because I think war is the most dangerous thing. Nationalism and patriotism are the two most evil forces that I know of in this century or in any century and cause more wars and more death and destruction to the soul and human life than anything else - and can still do it with nuclear war. The prime objective we have in this era is to prevent war, to live in peace. The best way you can do that is to bring prosperity to as many people across the world as you can. And when you spread McDonald's all over the world, food becomes cheaper and more available to more people. Won't it be great when they can have McDonald's throughout Africa?
31 [on the recession] Wall Street has an important role to play, and it can be a very constructive role in financing, in new business, in financing state bonds and pension plans. But the speculation is the mother of all evils. There have to be regulations. And we're not getting these regulations in place.
32 [on Bernie Madoff] Madoff I consider to a be a sociopath; he was a crook running a Ponzi scheme.
33 I thought we [the United States] were going to go to war in Iran. If we had been more successful in Iraq, I have no doubts that we would have been more involved in the Iranian situation now.
34 No man dies in vain. You die because you believe for something. You hope that the cause is worth it. And in Vietnam we have reasons to question it. But you die hopefully with honor and with courage. And you should be remembered for your sacrifice. That is not to say the war was right, but you honor the men who fought in the war.
35 [on Stanley Kubrick] The most interesting aspect of a scene is "controlled uncertainty". That's what Kubrick got. Everybody else would shoot pretty conventionally, but when I saw [Jean-Luc Godard] or Kubrick, in that period when I was studying film with more intensity, there was an unpredictability about Stanley Kubrick. Even as a kid, I didn't know what he would do next. It's the way Kubrick looks at reality. His reality is supercharged.
36 I'll welcome any sorts of investors in my films, as long as I can keep my freedom and my content free of interference. If you're asking if I would do a movie with a known drug dealer, no, I wouldn't. You don't want to corrupt a movie, though the nature of the film business lends itself to criminal enterprises.
37 The film business has always been full of strange characters. Who the hell gets into this business but gamblers and buccaneers and pirates? You don't get Henry Paulson as a producer in this business, that's for sure.
38 I'm tired of defending the accuracy of my movies. JFK (1991) was a case to be proven, Nixon (1995) was a penetrating biography of a complex and dark man. But I'm not bound by those strictures any more. [George W. Bush] is not a complex and dark man, so it's different. This movie can be funnier because Bush is funny. He's awkward and goofy and makes faces all the time. He's not your average president. So, let's have some fun with it. What are they going to do? Discredit me again?
39 If [George W. Bush] had spent some time in Vietnam, he would have a very different view on war.
40 [on casting Charlton Heston in Any Given Sunday (1999)] I wanted to show him he was still loved for all he gave to the movies. I remember his strength while in substantial pain from arthritis, during long shooting hours. He was a gentleman on the 14th hour, as he was on the first.
41 [on his childhood] It was a harsh upbringing in the sense that my parents divorced quickly. I was in a boarding school, so it was all boys in those days... And there was no femininity in my life either. My mother was often in Europe, I didn't see her very much.
42 [on his Vietnam War experience] You get to a point where you can smell them [the enemy]... I got to a place where I was using all my senses.
43 [on President John F. Kennedy] He was the first man who stood up as a world leader and said, "We are one people, one planet. We must survive together or we will not survive at all." And it's a shame, because he was almost 30 years ahead of his time because 30 years later they're saying that.
44 The reaction to JFK (1991) was just stunning. I've never spent so much time defending a film after its release.
45 I should be making movies about the Dulles brothers [John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles], I should be making movies about Dwight D. Eisenhower, I should be making movies about the fifties and the forties. We should be free. I'm hamstrung, I mean, they're always... preordaining, proclaiming... They always make a brouhaha, a controversy, out of nothing. It's like they're trying to keep me away from these areas.
46 Josh [Josh Brolin] is actually better looking than George W. Bush] but has the same drive and charisma that Americans identify with Bush, who has some of that old-time movie-star swagger. I want a fair, true portrait of the man [for my film].
47 The film business? I love film, but the film business is shit.
48 [on Platoon (1986)] I wrote the "Platoon" script in 1976 in New York City. Primarily because I'd reached a point in my life that if I didn't write about it, I would forget what had happened in the war.
49 When I go to the movies, and I have to sit through ten previews of films that look [alike] and tell the whole story, you know that we've reached an age of consensus. And consensus is the worst thing for us. We all agree to agree. That's where we lose it as a culture. We have to move away from that.
50 They make prostitutes of us all.
51 I believed in the John Wayne image of America. My father was a Republican, and he taught me that it was a good war because the Communists were the bad guys and we had to fight them. And then there was the romanticism of the Second World War as it appeared in the films we mentioned. Obviously, the reality was very different.
52 [on the September 11 terrorist attack on New York City] This attack was pure chaos, and chaos is energy. All great changes have come from people or events that were initially misunderstood, and seemed frightening, like madmen.
53 The Indians once told me that stones are the most revered and ancient of recording devices. And that perhaps I am here on this Earth to write of these mute histories - just another stone, an 'Oliver' stone.
54 Alexander to me is a perfect blend of male-female, masculine-feminine, yin-yang. He could communicate with both sides of his nature.
55 I wasn't prophetic. It was there all around us. Money was the sex of the 1980s.
56 If I were [George W. Bush], I would shoot myself. I think he lives in fear of drinking again. There's nothing more dangerous for America than an ex-alcoholic President who tells you to believe in Jesus.
57 I love intelligent films that come at you fast. I don't have attention deficit disorder, my mind moves fast. There's a lot to deal with in my films. We had so many facts to go through, so the governing style was flash, cut, flash, repeat.
58 [on JFK (1991)] I thought it was a helluva thriller. JFK's [John F. Kennedy's] murder marked the end of a dream, the end of a concept of idealism that I associate with my youth. Race war, Vietnam, Watergate. If JFK had lived, the combat situation in Vietnam would never have occurred.
59 The Cold War has been the most irritating thing to me personally. Throughout my life we've been in the grip of militarism and military budgets and a mindset that dictates a war on Communism, and that's a drain on the national energy. The real enemy is nationalism and patriotism.
60 If I could talk to Alexander, I'd ask him why he married Roxane. But the Greeks did have a regard for women: Six of the 12 gods are women, after all. Marrying her pissed off all of his men, but he didn't care, he was making a point.
61 If we had to do things the American PG way, then we were screwed. Alexander (2004) had to be an R picture. If you work in Hollywood, you have to get past the studio development committees. The thousands of demands. The previews where they dumb it down for the audience. The system wears you down. It's a monster - demanding, uncompromising. [Martin Scorsese] and [Spike Lee] have been through hell...
62 I don't believe in this business of chopping up a film and then releasing a "director's cut" on DVD. What you see should be the director's cut. This is the director's cut. If you can spend four hours killing Bill, Alexander (2004) deserves some space.
63 He went for the head. Kill the king, and your enemy folds. Alexander would have gone after Osama bin Laden. I'm sorry, but [John Kerry] was right.
64 [on Alexander the Great] This was the golden boy of all history. I've been trying to make Alexander (2004) for a long time. In 1991 with Val Kilmer, in 1996 with Tom Cruise. Then Colin Farrell came along, and he was perfect. He was a tough, Tyrone Power, barstool-looking boy from Dublin. We made him a blond, which was perfect for him, and he became Alexander.
65 [on Alexander (2004)] But I always liked the Greek outfits. They were sexier than the Romans', you've got to admit. And they didn't wear sandals. They wore boots. So don't call it a sword-and-sandal [movie], for Christ's sake! It's sword-and-boot, okay?
66 [on legacies] Alexander's lasted 2,300 years. Why? He's remembered because of his vision, because of his compassion, because of his generosity, because of his spirit, because he was different. He was a general, a man who was able to weep over his [dead] soldiers on the battlefield. Never before had that happened. So this is a special man who has been remembered. There is a reason this film [Alexander (2004)] was made. It is bigger than us, bigger than me, bigger than Colin [Colin Farrell] and all our team.
67 Nationalism and patriotism are the two most evil forces that I know of in this century or in any century and cause more wars and more death and more destruction to the soul and to human life than anything else.
68 I consider my films first and foremost to be dramas about individuals in personal struggles and I consider myself to be a dramatist before I am a political filmmaker. I'm interested in alternative points of view. I think ultimately the problems of the planet are universal and that nationalism is a very destructive force. I also like anarchy in films. My heroes were Luis Buñuel and Jean-Luc Godard. Breathless (1960) was one of the first pictures I really remember being marked by, because of the speed and energy. They say I'm unsubtle. But we need above all, a theatre that wakes us up: nerves and heart.

#Trademark
1 Usually has multiple camera setups rolling in a single take, and encourages a noisy set with a lot of racket. Both are done in order to encourage frenetic and uninhibited performances.
2 Frequently references classic mythology and literature. For example, William Shakespeare's "Richard III" in his Scarface (1983) screenplay.
3 Shoots the majority of his films on location, often using practical settings.
4 Has cameos in most of his films. When he does not appear, his son Sean Stone does.
5 During a dialogue scene, there will be frequent cutaways to details in the background that have symbolic resonance.
6 The issues of family and fatherhood are frequently featured in his films. In JFK (1991), D.A. Jim Garrison must juggle fatherhood with his job. In Alexander (2004), Alexander is torn between his parents. In Natural Born Killers (1994), both the main characters were abused by their fathers. In Platoon (1986) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989), the two main characters cite that they went to Vietnam to live up to their fathers fighting in the Second World War.
7 Typically ends his films with a closeup of a face or a couple walking away from the camera.
8 Native Americans are frequently featured in his films.
9 Has worked 11-times with cinematographer Robert Richardson on his feature films. He often works with military consultant Dale Dye, and producers A. Kitman Ho, Richard Rutowski, Edward R. Pressman and Moritz Borman.
10 His films mostly center on male protagonists. The biggest exceptions are Heaven & Earth (1993) and Natural Born Killers (1994).
11 His films feature large casts, featuring many well-known actors in both major and minor roles.
12 Often gives the lead actors in his films a special footage-enhanced credit appearance at the ending of his films (Ex. Platoon (1986), The Doors (1991) and Nixon (1995)).
13 Frequently casts John C. McGinley, Tommy Lee Jones, Mark Moses, Tom Sizemore, James Woods, James Karen, Charlie Sheen, Marley Shelton, Michael Wincott, Josh Brolin, Frank Whaley, and his son Sean Stone
14 Opens films with a quotation in white text against a black background.
15 Often directs and writes historical films on controversial subjects, such as Salvador (1986), Platoon (1986), The Doors (1991), JFK (1991), Nixon (1995), Alexander (2004), World Trade Center (2006), W. (2008) and Snowden (2016).
16 Staccato change of camera types, lenses and film stocks used.

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