``JFK'' orchestrated bashing, Oliver Stone's challenge to Kennedy assassination Part 1

How to pitch a controversial film to a movie company?

After completing `` Born on the 4th of July, '' Oliver Stone began nonstop preparations for his next film, `` The Doors '' (1991), but at the same time, he officially decided that his next film would be ``JFK,'' and had no funds available. We have also started procurement. If you don't start preparing for the next film and the next film in parallel while you're working on one film, you'll end up with a Intolerance in your filmography for two or three years. During this period, Stone was able to shoot one film a year because he maintained this workaholic attitude.

In December 1989, Stone announced plans for JFK and entered into negotiations with film companies. There were some problems with Universal, which he had worked with on ``Born on the 4th of July,'' such as reshooting the ending, problems with the music budget, and problems with moving up the release date, and he had no intention of continuing to work with him.

The film company they chose as their next partner was Warner Bros. At the same time, Warners was about to offer Stone a movie starring billionaire Howard Hughes as the main character, but Stone suggested they make ``JFK'' instead. Finally, he added that the film rights to the original book and related books have been reserved.

Terry Semel, Warner's CEO at the time, was excited by what Stone had to say. He has also greenlit controversial social films such as `` The All the President's Men '' (1976) and `` The Killing Fields '' (1984). Stone decided to approach Warner in the first place because he knew a major company would be willing to take on such dangerous material. Semel proposed a production cost of $20 million, and Stone agreed. So, we finally started writing the script.

Stone had already assembled an investigative team, collected documents and testimonies, and conducted interviews himself, and had largely completed the research necessary to write the script. But there was a problem. If this were to be a movie about Jim Garrison's life, the script wouldn't have been so complicated since the story would have progressed in a straight line. This movie is a mystery movie that uses Garrison as a medium and is sprinkled with information related to the Kennedy assassination.

Therefore, they sometimes incorporated information that was later revealed, and sometimes composited multiple real people into a single fictional character. Mr. Furthermore, since I was also going to depict the Lee Harvey Oswald episode separately from these, I had to create a structure where I would present disparate fragments from different times and places little by little throughout the story, and then cascade into the courtroom at the climax where everything is revealed. Must be.

The script quickly expanded to over three hours in length. If this were shot as is, it would be a 4 hour movie. The production cost was also estimated at $40 million, rather than just $20 million. So while developing the script, Stone diluted Garrison's personal portrayal. This was the part that received the most criticism after its release, but by cutting out the parts where he was a failure as a person and making him a flawless hero who navigates the assassination incident, we were able to create complex character relationships and a huge amount of information. There is no doubt that the process has been streamlined and the work has become easier for audiences to accept.

Make “JFK” an all-star movie!