Chasing The Light, Oliver Stone
Chasing The Light, Oliver Stone
11 Rating(s)
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Chasing The Light
Writing, Directing, and Surviving Platoon, Midnight Express, Scarface, Salvador, and the Movie Game

Author: Oliver Stone

Narrator: Oliver Stone

Unabridged: 14 hr 26 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 07/21/2020


Synopsis

An intimate memoir by the controversial and outspoken, Oscar-winning director and screenwriter about his complicated New York childhood, volunteering for combat, and his struggles and triumphs making such films as Platoon, Midnight Express, and Scarface.

Before the international success of Platoon in 1986, Oliver Stone had been wounded as an infantryman in Vietnam, and spent years writing unproduced scripts while driving taxis in New York, finally venturing westward to Los Angeles and a new life. Stone, now 73, recounts those formative years with in-the-moment details of the high and low moments: We see meetings with Al Pacino over Stone’s scripts for Scarface, Platoon, and Born on the Fourth of July; the harrowing demon of cocaine addiction following the failure of his first feature, The Hand (starring Michael Caine); his risky on-the-ground research of Miami drug cartels for Scarface; his stormy relationship with The Deer Hunter director Michael Cimino; the breathless hustles to finance the acclaimed and divisive Salvador; and tensions behind the scenes of his first Academy Award–winning film, Midnight Express.

Chasing the Light is a true insider’s look at Hollywood’s years of upheaval in the 1970s and ’80s. Narrated by the author.

About Oliver Stone

OLIVER STONE is the multiple Oscar-winning writer and director of Platoon, JFK, Born on the Fourth of July, Natural Born Killer, Midnight Express, and many other films.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Andrew

Although I’m not a big watcher of films these days, I’ve often enjoyed books penned by film people: Bryan Cranston, Frank Langella, David Lynch, David Niven and Ethan Hawke have all written books that are amongst the most enjoyable I’ve ever read or listened too. I think it’s because (to me at least......more

Goodreads review by Theresa

“This is a story about making a dream at all costs, even without money. It’s about cutting corners, improvising, hustling, cobbling together workarounds to get movies made and into theaters, not knowing where the next payday is coming from—or the next monsoon or scorpion bite.” This memoir covers th......more

Goodreads review by Robert

I’ll have to admit, I was slightly disappointed when I learned that Oliver Stone’s autobiographical ‘Chasing the Light’ only covered his life up to his breakthrough success with Platoon. He made several great films after that, including some of the most fascinating and controversial of that generati......more

Goodreads review by Jon

The 1986-1987 academic year forever changed me. I went to college on a full Army scholarship, believing my adult life would begin as an officer, then segue into a career in local government. I’d only seriously started watching films and studying directors the year before, but hitting college screeni......more