by Oliver Stone
First published 2020
Oliver Stone opens his personal account with his privileged upbringing in New York, then moves through his combat service as a volunteer infantryman in Vietnam. The memoir centers on his difficult years as an unknown writer, driving taxis in New York while studios rejected his scripts. Stone describes his move to Los Angeles and the slow climb toward recognition. He details script meetings with Al Pacino for projects like Scarface and Platoon. Cocaine addiction nearly destroyed him after his first film The Hand flopped. He conducted dangerous research among Miami drug dealers for Scarface and navigated a difficult working relationship with director Michael Cimino. Stone chronicles the frantic efforts to secure funding for Salvador and reveals the behind-the-scenes conflicts during Midnight Express, which earned him his first Academy Award. The book captures his transformation from wounded veteran to celebrated filmmaker during Hollywood's turbulent decades.
Genres: autobiography, non-fiction, biography-memoir, military-history, film
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, overcoming-adversity
Setting: Los Angeles, Miami, New York
Period: 1970s, 1980s
1 pages · Audio CD · HarperCollins and Blackstone Publishing
Content warnings: addiction, drug-use