Oliver Stone......?!

Started by moonshiner, March 13, 2003, 12:17:04 AM

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Gold Trumpet

Quote from: polkablues
Quote from: MacGuffinMany were worried that Stone might introduce his own politics into the storyline.

If he doesn't, I can't imagine any reason to actually watch this movie.  Oliver Stone, minus politics, equals "Alexander".  And any 9/11 movie, minus politics, equals pointlessness.

Odd considering his most political films are factually his most off base films. I recently went through the outcry on print following JFK's release. Though I do believe others were involved in the assassination of JFK, it ws probably not as pitch perfect as Stone may want us to believe. Masterpiece the film is, its strength is really in the dramatic recreation of the assassination. A generation's feelings were finally being realized about one of the most significant events in American history.

I'm really an Oliver Stone enthusiast though. The best American filmmaker working now.

matt35mm

Quote from: polkabluesMuch as I admire Stone, I'm actually looking forward to Paul Greengrass' film a little more.  If he can give it the "Bloody Sunday" treatment and not let it get glossed over (the TV version, "The Flight That Fought Back", made me want to throw up, then hit something, then throw up again), he should actually be able to do justice to the story, without making it a) exploitative, b) offensive, or c) jingoistic.
Agreed.  Bloody Sunday is one of the best visceral, in-the-moment retelling of events I've seen.  The politics in that film were also portrayed brilliantly.  If he can bring a similar quality to Flight 93, it would be pretty awesome to see.  I hope he tones down the camera a bit... I think it suits 9/11 less than it did Bloody Sunday.  The fact that, as a Brit, he could do such a great movie on Bloody Sunday means he may be able to give it a perspective that Stone, as an American, might not be able to.

polkablues

Quote from: The Gold TrumpetOdd considering his most political films are factually his most off base films.

Well, "JFK" was really an amalgam of assassination theory, "Natural Born Killers" is essentially a fantasy film, though highly politically charged,  "Nixon" was outright historical fiction (I mean that in the literary sense of the term, not in a demeaning way), and "Salvador" (which I still consider his best film) is both political and very factually accurate.  So really he's all over the place.  I just feel like Stone's voice as a director is so integrated with his opinions as a political person that any attempt to separate the two ends in, if not outright failure, at the very least a film without any real reason to exist.

I'm not saying I want Stone's 9/11 movie to be a conspiracy theory movie like "JFK" was (it's going to be a while before any director will be able to get away with that), I'm just saying that if he's going to be avoiding any political commentary at all (as he suggests in statements regarding the film), it shouldn't even be Oliver Stone making the movie.  There are other directors who can make this story into a personal, character-driven tale of courage and heroism; that's not what Oliver Stone does well, and that's certainly not what I want to see when I go to an Oliver Stone film.
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Gold Trumpet

You're essentially correct. His films are broad opinions. Thing is, I'm not sure if its really a 'political' opinion he is giving. Political filmmakers stick closer to fact than he does. (ex. Costa-Gravas) Stone is a social commentator who shows many ideas of thought in his films. I also wish he never loses that in a film he makes so yea, I definitely agree with you, considering a few points.

Reinhold

demme compared him to michael moore, but it wasn't meant to be an insult.
Quote from: Pas Rap on April 23, 2010, 07:29:06 AM
Obviously what you are doing right now is called (in my upcoming book of psychology at least) validation. I think it's a normal thing to do. People will reply, say anything, and then you're gonna do what you were subconsciently thinking of doing all along.

polkablues

Quote from: The Gold TrumpetYou're essentially correct. His films are broad opinions. Thing is, I'm not sure if its really a 'political' opinion he is giving. Political filmmakers stick closer to fact than he does. (ex. Costa-Gravas) Stone is a social commentator who shows many ideas of thought in his films. I also wish he never loses that in a film he makes so yea, I definitely agree with you, considering a few points.

"Social commentator" is probably the best possible way to describe him (which definitely puts him in a similar field as Michael Moore), though I would argue that his commentary is implicitly political.  I once heard politics described as an individual or group's attempt to dictate history ("dictate" in the sense of a stenographer).  That seems to be Stone's method; he's dictating a draft of history through his films.  

And the difficulty with fiction based on history, as opposed to documentary, is that you can't really go through it like a fact-checker, saying this is accurate, this is off-base, this is true, this is false... so much of it (and this applies to directors like Costa-Gavras as well, though he's much more subtle in his messages... not counting "Mad City", anyway) is non-verifiable.  It's tough to say any historical movie "sticks with the facts", when none among us can say for certain what the facts are in any case.  It's analysis of available evidence, or speculation based on bits and pieces of available information.  Whether or not the history that appears on the screen aligns with the history that appears in the history books (themselves politically motivated) is always a conscious decision, one which is defined by, and defines, politics.
My house, my rules, my coffee

Gold Trumpet

First, the comparison to Michael Moore. I resent it. Moore, even if he has forgotten it, is still a documentary filmmaker. The availability to use fiction the way Stone can is not in his corner. I think Moore's imprudence to inject commentary at the expense of fact is not a good quality for his profession.

But, sure, both are highly political and want their films to be more than artistic interpretations but legitimate commentary. I do think other filmmakers take historical fact more seriously than Stone even if its still interpretation and sometimes guessing when telling the story.

Gold Trumpet

Anyone hear Oliver Stone's political rants lately? Until recently, I hadn't but I did hear him throw some kind comments G.W. Bush's way. But, hurrah, he's back to what we expect of him. He isn't going to be joining Dennis Miller.
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At an HBO Films panel on "Making Movies That Matter," Oliver Stone opined that huge corporations that make mediocre movies are part of what made Osama bin Laden plan the Sept. 11 attack. "They control culture," he said of the corporations, in comments quoted in the New Yorker. "They control ideas. And I think the revolt of Sept. 11th was about 'F-- you! F-- your order.' "

"Revolt? It was state-sponsored mass murder, using civilians as missiles." Hitchens said later he thought Stone was "a moral idiot as well as an intellectual idiot." Stone said later, "This attack was pure chaos, and chaos is energy."  (Source: Leah Garchik, "The Stars Weigh In," San Francisco Chronicle, October 16, 2001.)

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"Don't believe most of the stuff you see in the movies," Oliver Stone told a Brown audience on December 1. Hollywood, said the director of Platoon and JFK, is controlled by "chickens" and "concentration camp guards." History books are no better, Stone warned, in a speech that was part of the Ivy Film Festival. "Most historians are ass-kissers and tenure seekers," he said.

Drawing comparisons to Vietnam, Stone accused the U.S. government of withholding the truth about the war in Afghanistan: "Bin Laden was completely protected by the oil companies in this country who told [President] Bush not to go after him because it would piss off the Saudis." Then, Stone claimed, there's the cover-up involving ground zero: limbs getting cut off bodies for jewelry, a man walking off with $132 million.

Gold Trumpet

Nicolas Cage Talks "9/11" Project
Posted:   Wednesday October 12th, 2005 5:31pm
Source:   iF Magazine
Author:   Garth Franklin  


 
Currently finishing up work on "The Wicker Man" remake, Nicolas Cage spoke with iF Magazine and discussed his next project - the Oliver Stone directed film about the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"I've met with John McLoughlin. I've spent some time with him and talked through some things. I spent some down at the Port Authority and met all the other surviving members of the tragedy that were there. I'll sort of also talk through it with Oliver. I get the feeling from Oliver that the work they've done on the screenplay that that they want to make it pretty cinema-veritae so it'll feel like real time, unfolding" said the "Ghost Rider" actor.

He continued - "It's going to smack of reality, and they're going to try and make it as real as they can. I'm happy to say that Oliver and I have been trying to work together for many years. It hasn't happened, but I'm happy to say that with this one, because it's so positive about the human condition - the buildings themselves really, it's not about them. It's really more about this sample of men when the buildings came down where they went to survive and how they coped".

MacGuffin

Custer Gets Stoned Again?
Morning Star buzz.

According to a posting at The Studio System, Oscar winner Oliver Stone appears to be attached to direct and to executive produce Son of the Morning Star for the Mount Film Company. The project follows George Armstrong Custer, the legendary U.S. Army officer who led the 7th Cavalry in its vainglorious last stand against an alliance of Plains Indians at the Little Big Horn in 1876.

Based on Evan Connell's book, Son of the Morning Star was previously produced as a TV miniseries starring Gary Cole and Rosanna Arquette. The current script by Mark Wheaton has previously been described by Variety as being more of a "political thriller" than a Western. Therein could lie the hook for Stone.

Morning Star producer Thom Mount also produced Stone's Natural Born Killers.

Stone had once been attached to helm Marching to Valhalla, based on Michael Blake's novel about Custer, and was reportedly eyeing Brad Pitt for the lead but that project was never produced.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


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Gold Trumpet

Its too easy of a fit to believe right now. Stone has been tied to so many political projects in the last 5 years that I'll await better sources.

Ravi

Quote from: MacGuffinStone had once been attached to helm Marching to Valhalla, based on Michael Blake's novel about Custer, and was reportedly eyeing Brad Pitt for the lead but that project was never produced.

"I never noticed how hot Custer was."

polkablues

The only guy around who should be playing Custer is John Hawkes.  I mean, come on.

My house, my rules, my coffee

MacGuffin

More on that Wall Street sequel
Source: Moviehole

And yes, it is a sequel.

When IESB first got word from Michael Douglas, himself, that another "Wall Street" movie was in the works, some wondered whether the Oscar Winner was actually referring to a straight-up hell-yeah bring-that-shit-on sequel, or a - boo! hiss! - remake, with Douglas's involvement probably limited to executive producing.

Had a chat to someone at FOX this past weekend about the film, who confirmed that it's indeed in the works and that it's a sequel. Thank god.

It's Douglas. It's Oliver Stone. It's Ed Pressman, producing.

"It's a continuation of the Gordon Gecko story....set twenty-odd years later", I'm told. "Basically, it'd start with Gecko coming out of jail - everything caught up with him, as it did most people like him at the end of the 80s - and then having to apply his ways to the very changed world."

Apparently, both Douglas and "Wall Street" director Oliver Stone are in the "early stages" of writing the film.

As for whether Chuck Sheen will return, to reprise his role from the first film, doesn't sound like it. "No idea, but doubtful. Heard nothing on Sheen. I assume, maybe, the only other person that might return is Sean Young - amusingly enough - as Douglas's wife. Have to wait to see the script, though".
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

MacGuffin

Oliver Stone to make Venezula coup film: Chavez

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone was planning to film a movie about the 2002 coup in Venezuela that briefly ousted the former army officer.

Chavez, a harsh critic of the United States, says U.S. authorities were behind the botched coup that toppled his government for less than two days. U.S. officials dismiss his accusations.

Stone, who won best-directing Oscars for Vietnam War movies "Platoon" and "Born on the Fourth of July," and directed a 2003 documentary, "Comandante," about his meeting with Cuban President Fidel Castro, a Chavez ally, would team up with British producer John Daly, who worked on "The Last Emperor" Chavez said.

"Top news -- two filmmakers join forces to make movie about the coup in Venezuela," Chavez said during his weekly Sunday broadcast. He said his government had given them permission to announce plans for the movie at the Cannes film festival.

An alliance of politicians and dissident military officers assumed power in Venezuela on April 12, 2002, following reports Chavez had resigned after more than a dozen people were killed when gunmen opened fire during a huge opposition march.

Chavez insisted he never resigned and he was returned to power by supporters and loyal troops on April 14. The coup has been a recurring theme in Chavez's war of words with Washington, which portrays the Venezuelan leader as a menace to democracy.

Relations between the United States and oil supplier Venezuela remain tense, particularly as Chavez cultivates alliances with U.S. foes like Iran and Cuba and blasts U.S. foreign policies as "imperialist domination."

The State Department announced last week the United States would no longer sell arms to Venezuela, insisting the South American nation had failed to cooperate in global efforts to fight terrorism.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks