Despite having only one of his films receive a theatrical release in the country (1995’s “Nixon”), US filmmaker Oliver Stone traveled to Tehran for the 36th Fair International Film Festival this week, where he made a media appearance as the festival’s guest of honor.
During the interview, the always articulate Stone answered questions about whether he’d consider making a film about ISIS, as well as inquiries about his feelings toward President Trump, French leader Emmanuel Macron (who officially proposed a four-part second Iran deal during a meeting with Trump at the White House this week) US-Iran relations, national security in his home country, and – of course – the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Stone, who famously compared George W Bush to John Wayne, told a reporter that he would compare Trump to Beelzebub, i.e. satan. He also had a few harsh words for Trump’s new best friend, Macron.
Demonstrating a solid knowledge of regional politics as well as Persian history at a press conference Wednesday in Tehran, the director drew parallels to his films like Alexander and W and lambasted the recent meeting of presidents Trump and France’s Emmanuel Macron, in which they called for a revision of the Iran nuclear deal. He called Macron a “young man without much sense of history or memory of the great traditions of France” who sought a return to colonialism and imperialism, and compared him to French president Chirac, “who stood up to Bush” on the invasion of Iraq.
Regardless of who is in office, Stone rejected the idea that the US entertainment industry is somehow more “free” than show business in the Middle East. At the end of the day, releasing a film that’s critical of US foreign policy or pursuit of its national interest will always be supremely difficult. To demonstrate this, Stone shared a story about the difficulties he encountered while raising money for “Snowden”, saying he “couldn’t get a dime” from any of the major studios.
“National security trumps artistic freedom in every country, the U.S. as well as in the Middle East” he said. “You can’t make a film critical of U.S. foreign policy,” he said. “W was very difficult to finance. There was no interest in making Snowden, which was turned down by all the studios. I couldn’t get a dime from them.” He felt the film was ill-promoted and when it was finally released in the U.S., it came out too late.
The conversation quickly morphed into a critique of the US invasion of Iraq, a subject he satirized in “W”.
Time and again he referred to W as his dramatization of the role of the U.S. and its allies in the Middle East, along with their goals of attaining oil, money and resources at any cost. “I love the movie, it’s a satire,” he said. He referred the war in Iraq as a proxy war and to U.S. foreign policy since 2001 as aimed at regime change, “no matter how disastrous the invasion of Iraq was.”
“We made a mess out of Iraq, Syria, Libya, but it doesn’t matter to the American public. It’s okay to wreck the Middle East,” he said, criticizing the neo-conservative policy of “creative destruction.” He added: “It doesn’t matter who is president – Bush, Obama or Trump, the U.S. will break any treaty” in its interests.”
Unsurprisingly given his surroundings, Stone heaped scorn on Iran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia, criticizing the kingdom as a “creatively destructive” “major destabilizer” in the region.
Then he affirmed his support for an Iranian filmmaker who is unable to travel to Cannes because of a travel ban, despite having a film in contention.
Carefully treading around the subject of Iranian cinema, he affirmed his support for filmmaker Jafar Panahi, currently under a travel ban that may not permit him to attend the Cannes Film Festival, even with a film in competition. “As a filmmaker, I would let him go to Cannes, but I’m for artistic freedom. The biggest victory is to make movies in the first place.”
Asked about whether he’d ever consider making a film about ISIS, Stone said that while it’s an interesting idea, the influence of Saudi Arabia and Israel – two powers that have joined forces to combat Iranian influence in Syria – would make it difficult to tell the story honestly.
Stone also rebutted a rumor that he had planned to make a film about former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Ahmadinejad reportedly rejected Stone’s offer to make a film about him, calling Stone “part of the Great Satan”.
Stone acknowledged he had come under heavy fire from the conservative, hard-line Israeli press for his trip to Iran. He also debunked as totally false a “ridiculous story” that he had planned to make a film in 2007 about then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, only to be rebuffed. Curiously, one of the most popular titles in this year’s Iranian film market has been Sly, Kamal Tabrizi’s searing spoof on the rise and fall of a populist politico who is obviously based on Ahmadinejad. Stone was scheduled to screen it at the festival.
His trip included a visit to the old Persian capital of Isfahan with his wife Sun-jung Jung, and a workshop with Iranian film students in Tehran.
The Fair festival is the longest-running film festival in the Middle East, and includes films from around the Middle East. Stone’s attendance is hardly surprising: In 2012, his son visited Iran and converted to Shiite Islam. Though it’s unclear exactly why he was invited. The filmmaker also famously made headlines last year after releasing a four-part interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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