CHASING THE LIGHT

The celebrated and controversial filmmaker chronicles his journey “from the bottom back to the top of the Hollywood mountain.”

Stone knows how to grab a viewing audience—and readers. He begins by describing a complex, dangerous scene he was filming in Mexico for his “epic-scale” Salvador (1986). “It’s everything that made the movies so exciting to me as a child—battles, passionate actions, momentous outcomes,” he writes. This book covers Stone’s first 40 years. Those who read the author’s novel A Child’s Night Dream (1997) will be familiar with his early years: French mother and soldier father who divorced when he was at boarding school; teaching in Saigon; time in the Merchant Marine. After Yale didn’t work out, he enlisted in the Army and went to Vietnam. Stone engagingly describes his harrowing experiences, which included being bombed by friendly fire. At NYU, he learned his first basic lesson in film: “chasing the light.” Teacher Martin Scorsese critiqued Stone’s short about Vietnam: “Well—this is a filmmaker.” After splitting with his wife, Stone worked on a number of screenplays, including one about his fellow soldiers and the “lies and war crimes” he observed: “I had to find meaning in that shitty little war.” His screenplay for Platoon was “good, solid work—maybe some of the best stuff I’d done yet.” Al Pacino was interested, but the time wasn’t right. Stone’s screenplay for Midnight Express won him a Golden Globe and an Oscar, which made him “a commodity in demand.” However, he made errors in judgment with Seizure and The Hand, and he also had a “devil in my closet,” cocaine, which he later kicked. His screenplay for Brian de Palma’s Scarface opened doors and led to his writing and directing Salvador and Platoon. Stone recounts his life of ups and downs well; besides being an accomplished screenwriter, he’s also a fine prose writer. To be continued?

In the often tacky world of movie memoirs, Stone’s will stand out for its hard-earned insights, integrity, and grace.