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Oliver Stone explores dark side of the US

By Zhang Rui: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, April 25, 2014

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Stone also pointed out how China's recent history is also contentious, fascinating nonetheless, and said he hoped one day to work on a film about the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). "My Chinese contemporaries grew up in that period and their lives completely changed. I found it a great drama. History is creative and dramatic. So the more you can treat with real history, the better the co-production can be."

Famous American director Oliver Stone talks with China.org.cn reporter to discuss the dark side of the United States and the problems of undertaking a coproduction in Beijing, April 22, 2014. [Photo: Jiang Yiping / China.org.cn]

As far as co-productions go, Stone believes another major problem is language. "It is difficult to co-produce because the language is difficult, using international actors in China has to make sense. It has to be on a realistic basis, unless you are doing an action or adventure movie. The co-production can sometimes be awkward because it is motivated by money and not by ideas."

He admitted though Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li, Yu Nan and many more Chinese actors are good and have a career in the United States, "in the West, Westerners still prefer to see Westerners. This is bias, we all know this is bias," "But the best way to bring this together is to do a love story, like the old classics 'Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing,' 'The World of Suzie Wong,' and so on. I love love stories, because it brings people quickly together and it's a way to see values of different cultures," he said.

For Stone, making big money blockbusters like "Iron Man" or "Transformers" is not that interesting. "They make money, but they don't teach me anything about Chinese culture. People are attracted by money, but I'm attracted by films that can say something and have quality, sometimes such movies are the hardest ones to make," he continued. "There are some great stories between America and China that have not yet been told, including the ones happening during World War II. China and America were not enemies in World War II, the two were allies fighting against Japan. Within a few years, we were fighting against the Chinese. It's quite a turnaround. People forget these things; we have to bring history back in films, in documentaries and in books. Bring history back to the attention of young people."

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