Oliver Stone on the Martin Luther King Jr Film He Tried to Make

[zyzzyvacation]

0:10 The "Mai Lai Massacre" Stone mentions happened in Vietnam in March 1968. Over 500 unarmed civilians were slaughtered by U.S. Army soldiers including men, women, children and infants. Twenty six soldiers were charged but only Lt. William Calley Jr, a platoon leader, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Then President Richard Nixon commuted Calley's sentence to three and a half years under house arrest three days after his sentence. Today Mr. Calley (78) is living as a free man in his home state of Florida.

[NPORT]

Stone made it clear without spelling it out. No one is allowed to portray MLK in any light that isn't positive. He was a great man that did great things but he was as Stone put it, human. And if today's woke politics showed us anything, even the great man that is MLK would have gotten "cancelled" by today's standards for his behavior behind closed doors. Only a black film maker could portray him in that light and there is a 0 percent chance one will.

[Kaddywompous]

I’d kill to see an Oliver Stone treatment of My Lai and I didn’t notice the irony of that statement until just now.

[richtygart]

I've got mad respect for Oliver Stone for truths he has spoken in the past about very banned subjects.

[risingbull]

I could listen to Oliver Stone speak all day long!

[southron]

Oliver stone should make his Mai Lai film it would be a nice addition to his vietnam trilogy, plus he's just a damned good director and writer

[Vitalbowhunting]

That voice man. What a master filmmaker with balls.

[Bran-Da-Don]

As a black man growing up I was obviously taught about all the amazing things MLK stood for and sacrificed his life for. America would not be what it is today without his tremendous contributions to society.

Having said all that MLK was also a serial womanizer, adulterer and an egotistical opportunist who made sure he would receive the lions share of credit for the Civil Rights Movement and would step on, over or completely undermine any other activist (white or black) that happened to get more attention than him.

But the great thing is that makes him human and I would've loved to see that being portrayed on film because no one is perfect. It doesn't take away from his heart and his determination to make sure that our society stopped hating each other just because of our skin color. His legacy is still untouchable.

[garrybaldy]

My Lai is the perfect story for Oliver Stone to tell. It shows both sides of the American soldier, from the psychopath with his M16 to the chopper pilot who ordered his gunner to kill his fellow Americans if another villager was murdered. Sadly, it will never be made by him now. If I could finance it, I would.

[bicyclist]

I really would have liked to see the two movies he tried to make. Especially the Martin Luther King one. They sound very interesting. Thank you.

[malikturner]

If there was a MlK today the media would take him down for having relations with female other than his wife. There is no perfect man

[SckoulG]

Well for about half of the community, its Malcolm over Martin so nothing stone is saying is surprising. PS: In the movie Malcolm X by Spike Lee, the CIA agents spying on Malcolm make mention of King's extra marital affairs.

[MC_]

Wasn’t that recent film “selma” about MLK? I heard it was pretty good too. Jamie pull that shit up

[tcorourke]

The hypocrisy of a minister having extra-marital affairs should be mitigated by the fact that the church was the only leadership role allowed to black men at the time.

[evanrutherfordlazyahole]

Humanizing our idols is important so we don't create bias divorced from reality or the truth. The most amazing thing to me is the ability for people to be changed and influenced by the community and people they surround themselves with. I think modern idolized ideas creates worse zealots than religion.

[DeathtoRaiden]

"You've heard of it right?"

"y-yeah..."

[tomallen]

Stone should have hit Rogan up for financing. I would like to have seen that.

[moorebounce]

The FBI (J Edgar Hoover) couldn't bring him down with his fooling around so they had to find another way. I can see the whole angle of his extra marital affairs not sitting well with most black people. Obama did a whole lot of bad behind the scenes but most black people will not believe it even if he said he did it to their faces. MLK went through what only professional athletes and celebrities go through on the road. He traveled a lot and you have people who don't care if you're married or not. Plus they should at least wait for Coretta to pass before making a bio pic

[robbaholic]

Such an interesting guy to listen to, really hopes he puts something out soon, something about the current state of things.

[work_works]

For everyone wanting to see the MLK film made highlighting his extra marital affairs(aka dealings with women) I would ask one question: Would you all also like to see the numerous iconic American historical figures and moments the last 122 years(back to 1899) in the way in which they way they actually behaved/transpired? I only ask to illustrate that most people only want to see/hear the beautiful lie as opposed to the many times ugly truth. Let’s not be to sanctimonious about this situation when there are many things and moments about US history the last 122yrs that would make us ALL uncomfortable.