Biography

Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone is an American film director, screenwriter and producer whose work, frequently focusing on contemporary political and cultural issues, has earned him three Academy Awards (Oscars), namely for Platoon, filmed in the Philippines and starring Willem Dafoe, (1986) and Born on the Fourth of July starring Tom Cruise (1989), which were both centered on the Vietnam War, and for Midnight Express starring John Hurt (1978). A Hollywood legend, his films have been nominated for a total of 31 Oscars. Born on the Fourth of July alone earned eight Oscar nominations and was one of Oliver Stone’s most successful films.

Oliver Stone was born in New York City. His father was a Jewish stockbroker and his mother a Roman Catholic of French birth. He was raised an Episcopalian as a compromise, but has since converted to Buddhism.

After dropping out from Yale University and teaching English at the Free Pacific Institute in South Vietnam, Oliver Stone, by then a Vietnam War veteran, graduated from Film School at New York University in 1971 where he was mentored by director Martin Scorsese.

Oliver Stone directed Seizure in 1974, The Hand starring Michael Caine in 1981, Salvador starring Jim Belushi in 1986, Wall Street, a film focusing on the greedy business world of tycoons and stockbrokers which earned Michael Douglas an Oscar for Best Actor in 1987, Talk Radio starring Alec Baldwin in 1988, The Doors starring Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison in 1991, Heaven & Earth starring Tommy Lee Jones, a film made in Thailand about the true story of Le Ly Hayslip, a Vietnamese girl whose life has been drastically affected by the Vietnam war, in 1993, Natural Born Killers starring Juliette Lewis in 1994, Nixon starring Anthony Hopkins in 1995 and U-Turn starring Sean Penn and Jennifer Lopez in 1997.

JFK, arguably Oliver Stone’s best film, was released in 1991. It centers on the assassination of John F. Kennedy with Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones in leading roles. The film represented a change in Oliver Stone’s work as he began to explore different camera styles combining them together to create a multi-dimensional way of experiencing a movie. Following JFK’s release Oliver 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 to declassify documents.

Other films which were screen-written by Oliver Stone are Conan the Barbarian, the movie that made Arnold Schwarzenegger a star, (1982), Scarface starring Al Pacino (1983), Year of the Dragon starring Mickey Rourke (1985), 8 Million Ways to Die starring Andy Garcia (1986) and Evita starring Madonna and Antonio Banderas (1996).

He also produced the films Reversal of Fortune, which earned Jeremy Irons an Oscar in 1990, The Joy Luck Club in 1993, Milos Forman’s Oscar nominated classic The People vs. Larry Flynt, Indictment: The McMartin Trial, Killer: A Journal of Murder and Freeway in 1996, Savior and Assassinated: The Last Days of King and Kennedy in 1998, The Corruptor in 1999, The Art of War in 2000 and The Day Reagan Was Shot in 2001.

In 1993 Oliver Stone produced a series for ABC Television called Wild Palms which has developed a cult following and has recently been released on DVD. In 1997 he published A Child's Night Dream, a 1,400 pages strong and largely autobiographical novel based on his experiences in Southeast Asia. In 2003 he made two documentary films: Persona Non Grata about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Comandante about Cuban President Fidel Castro, followed, in 2004, by a second documentary on Castro titled Looking for Fidel.

In the past decade Oliver Stone has directed Any Given Sunday starring Al Pacino, Charlton Heston and Cameron Diaz (1999), Alexander starring Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie (2004), a biopic about Alexander the Great which was partly filmed in Thailand, and World Trade Center starring Nicolas Cage (2006), which centered on two Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) officers during the September 11, 2001, attacks. Stone's latest film is a biopic about George W. Bush, named W., starring Christian Bale and Richard Dreyfuss (2008). He is currently filming Wall Street 2, again starring Michael Douglas.

In 2008 Oliver Stone accompanied Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's President and self-appointed negotiator with the Colombian guerilla group known as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), on a mission to secure the release of three hostages held for over six years. This was part of his research for an upcoming film he will be directing about Columbia’s war on drugs.

Topic: Film-making and peace-building 

Schedule:

WEDNESDAY: January 27, 2010

12:00  Luncheon hosted at the University of Cambodia

14:00  Keynote speech and dialogue at the University of Cambodia followed by a reception

19:00  Dinner hosted by the University of Cambodia at Cambodiana Hotel