S2 E158: Oliver Stone Discusses His Book “Chasing the Light”

Dennis has an in-depth conversation with film-maker Oliver Stone about his new memoir “Chasing the Light: Writing, Directing, and Surviving Platoon, Midnight Express, Scarface, Salvador, and the Movie Game" and discusses the films in that title, including recent revelations by Billy Hayes who wrote the book “Midnight Express” was based on, and the impact the film had on Turkish tourism and the drug war. Oliver describes the ten year struggle to make “Platoon”, the Importance of representing the reality of war and specifically Vietnam and he explains why was he drawn to serve in Vietnam, first as a teacher, then in the Merchant Marines, his time in three combat units and the real-life sergeants portrayed by Tom Berringer and Willem DeFoe. Oliver describes getting to Hollywood as someone who loved movies and worshiped them, working with Michael Douglas on “Wall Street”, Costner playing Jim Garrison in “JFK”, the impact of Jim Morrison and The Doors and the actual bridge on the River Kwai. This episode is brought to you by our sponsor: NHTSA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices