- Was taught by Martin Scorsese at New York University Film School.
- Says he kicked a cocaine habit by moving to France while writing Scarface (1983).
- Did a tour of duty in Vietnam.
- Has been friends with Arnold Schwarzenegger since writing the script for Conan the Barbarian (1982). At one point, they both had offices on the same floor of the same building with Stone's on the left and Schwarzenegger's on the right, which they joked represented their respective political viewpoints.
- Is one of 10 directors to win the Golden Globe, Director's Guild, BAFTA, and Oscar for the same movie, winning for Platoon (1986). The other directors to achieve this are Mike Nichols for The Graduate (1967), Milos Forman for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Richard Attenborough for Gandhi (1982), Steven Spielberg for Schindler's List (1993), Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain (2005), Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Alfonso Cuarón for Gravity (2013) and Roma (2018), Alejandro G. Iñárritu for The Revenant (2015), and Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water (2017).
- Following the furor over JFK (1991), 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 declassifying documents.
- Speaks French fluently.
- Was attached to direct American Psycho (2000) with Leonardo DiCaprio in talks to star as Patrick Bateman. After DiCaprio left the project to make The Beach (2000) Stone left it also.
- Parallels with Steven Spielberg: Both directors were born in 1946, to fathers who had served in World War II. Both frequently make historical films, often about U.S. Presidents (JFK (1991), Nixon (1995), Amistad (1997), W. (2008), Lincoln (2012)). They have both directed Tommy Lee Jones in an Oscar-nominated performance (JFK and Lincoln). They have both earned an Oscar nomination for the actor playing the President (Daniel Day-Lewis and Anthony Hopkins once each). They have cast David Paymer and Bruce McGill as members of a President's cabinet. They both frequently use John Williams to score their films. Both also received two Directing Oscars for war films ( Platoon (1986), Schindler's List (1993), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), and Saving Private Ryan (1998)). Interestingly, in both cases, the former two also won Best Picture while the latter two did not.
- In the 1992 Sight & Sound poll, Oliver Stone listed these as his top ten films of all time: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), 1900 (1976), Raging Bull (1980), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), On the Waterfront (1954), Paths of Glory (1957), Citizen Kane (1941), The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather Part II (1974).
- Credits his tour of duty in Vietnam for turning him toward film instead of literature, which was his education. He found that cameras were much more practical to use in the jungle than books and paper, which got soaked.
- His father, a retired Army Colonel, opposed his decision to enlist in the Army to fight in Vietnam, and tried to get him assigned non-combat duty. After being transfered out of Bravo Company, Stone was offered a job with the CIA, which he declined, opting to finish his tour of duty in the 1st Cavalry Division.
- Arrested for drunken driving and possession of hashish. (June 1999)
- Often talks about the experience of his father Louis Stone taking him to lose his virginity to a prostitute in his mid-teens.
- Was flown to Vietnam traveling west from Sacremento, California on the evening of September 14, 1967 and crossed the international date line, arriving in Vietnam September 16, losing his 21st birthday.
- Has directed eight different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: James Woods, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Michael Douglas, Tom Cruise, Tommy Lee Jones, Anthony Hopkins and Joan Allen. Douglas won an Academy Award for Wall Street (1987).
- Midnight Express (1978) and Scarface (1983) were written by him, and in both films, Giorgio Moroder composed the score.
- Has worked with two generations of two different acting families. Worked with Jon Voight and his daughter Angelina Jolie in U Turn (1997) and Alexander (2004) respectively. He has also worked with Martin Sheen and his son Charlie Sheen in Wall Street (1987).
- Began producing his documentary series The Untold History of the United States (2012) in 2008 and continued working on it between other projects it until 2012, making it a four year production, the longest of his career. He also put up $1 million of his own money into the project's budget.
- In Vietnam, Stone won the Bronze Star for Valor and the Purple Heart with First Oak Leaf Cluster.
- Because of his specialty with Vietnam era period pieces, he was one of the first directors to be offered American Gangster (2007) in 2001. After long consideration, he decided to pursue making his passion project, Alexander (2004), instead.
- Born on the exact same day and date as actor and good friend Tommy Lee Jones (Sept. 15, 1946).
- Was a friend and admirer of Cuban Premier Fidel Castro, and shot a documentary about the world's longest reigning Communist leader, titled Comandante (2003). It was to air on HBO in May 2003, but due to fierce protests by anti-Castro Cuban-American activists, it was shelved and has never been aired on HBO or made available on home video in the United States. Stone then made a new, more pointed documentary titled "Looking for Fidel" that aired on HBO in February 2004, in which he asked Castro questions about his human rights record, and included interviews with anti-Castro activists.
- After his Army service, Stone attended NYU Film School on the government's dime, as about 80% of his tuition was funded by the G.I. Bill. His instructors included Martin Scorsese [2016].
- Dedicated Wall Street (1987) to his father, and Heaven & Earth (1993) to his mother.
- His family's name was originally Silverstein. It was his father Louis Stone who made the decision to change his name to Stone.
- Supported Barack Obama in the 2008 and 2012 Presidential elections and Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein in 2016.
- Shares the exact same birthday as good friend and star of some his films, Tommy Lee Jones. Both were born on September 15, 1946.
- Known for the political content of his films, Stone was a member of the Class of 1968 at Yale University along with US President Bill Clinton administration adviser Strobe Talbot and future President George W. Bush (John Kerry was also there at the same time as Stone, though he was several classes ahead of '68). Stone left Yale after only one year (he failed all his second-semester freshman classes) and ended up joining the army and fighting in Vietnam. He never returned to graduate from Yale.
- As of 2016, has directed six films where people he based the main characters on were still alive and participated in the making of the film. These are Born on the Fourth of July (1989), World Trade Center (2006), JFK (1991), Snowden (2016), Salvador (1986) and Heaven & Earth (1993). He also worked on W. (2008), a film about George W. Bush while he was still in office.
- Was planning to make a film about Eva Perón, but after several disagreements with Argentinian President Carlos Saúl Menem he abandoned the project. He later received a token credit as a writer for Evita (1996), despite having made no input to the script.
- His films have occasionally been criticized by those on the political right as, among other things, disrespectful to veterans of the U.S. Military, despite Stone's own service in the Vietnam War.
- He stated in an interview that Heaven & Earth (1993) is his favorite of his own films.
- His father Louis Stone was a successful stockbroker on Wall Street, then he suffered some financial setbacks due to bad investments and a bitter divorce from Oliver's mother Jacqueline. The movie Wall Street (1987) is supposed to be modeled after Louis.
- Oliver's father met his mother while he was President Dwight D. Eisenhower aide in World War II in France. As a child, he was raised by a nanny because his mother frequently took vacations to France. He grew up as a child of privilege.
- Has sought Warren Beatty for three of his movies (Wall Street (1987), Nixon (1995) and W. (2008)). Beatty declined them all, and the roles went to Anthony Hopkins, Michael Douglas and James Cromwell respectively. Hopkins and Douglas received Oscar nominations for their roles.
- In 2001 there were plans for he and Sid Luft, Judy Garland's ex husband to executive produce Rainbow's End focusing on the behind the scenes story of Judy's disastrous weekly television variety series in the early 1960's. Annette Benning was considered for the role of Judy but it didn't get beyond the planning stage.
- In 2016, Oliver Stone gave the graduate school commencement address at University of Connecticut's main campus in Storrs. He told the graduates of his academic failures that led him to drop out of Yale University before starting fresh at a different university and ultimately launching a successful film career. Stone told graduates he flunked out of Yale, where former President George W. Bush was a classmate. After joining the Army and serving in the Vietnam War, he said a filmmaker friend suggested he go to film school. He did, earning a degree from New York University. Stone encouraged graduates to not be too down on themselves if things don't go their way early on [Hollywood Reporter, 2016].
- On September 14, 1967, he left for Vietnam and was assigned to the 2nd Platoon of Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Infantry Division, stationed near the Cambodian border, as "Private Bill Stone" (fearing that "Oliver" was too effeminate).
- Endorsed Green Party candidate Jill Stein in the 2016 US Presidential election.
- Stone was jailed for marijuana possession in Mexico at age 21.
- Returned to America from his teaching job in Vietnam by serving on board a Merchant Marine vessel that came to port in Oregon.
- Took a year's absence from Yale University in 1965 to teach at a Catholic private school in Vietnam.
- Currently writes the first drafts of his scripts in longhand [2016].
- Attended Yale University and New York University.
- Has directed four actors into Best Actor Oscar nominations, and three actors to Best Supporting Actor nominations. Lead roles were James Woods (Salvador (1986)), Michael Douglas (Wall Street (1987)), Tom Cruise (Born on the Fourth of July (1989)) and Anthony Hopkins (Nixon (1995)). Supporting roles were Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger (Platoon (1986)) and Tommy Lee Jones (JFK (1991)).
- Aside from directing James Woods in three of his films, Stone has also produced Indictment: The McMartin Trial (1995) and Killer: A Journal of Murder (1995), both starring James Woods.
- Has worked with all of the Baldwin brothers. He cast Alec in Talk Radio (1988) and the other brothers made appearances in Born on the Fourth of July (1989).
- Rang the NASDAQ opening bell on September 20, 2010 to celebrate the N.Y.C. premiere of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010).
- Wrote the novel "A Child's Night Dream" when he was 19 years old. The novel was not published until 1998.
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