UAE | Leisure

World Trade Center 'was story of survival'

Hollywood director Oliver Stone received a standing ovation yesterday following the screening of his latest film World Trade Center, as part of the Dubai International Film Festival.

  • By I-Cheng Chan, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 23:36 May 3, 2009
  • Gulf News

Dubai: Hollywood director Oliver Stone received a standing ovation yesterday following the screening of his latest film World Trade Center, as part of the Dubai International Film Festival.

The filmmaker then took to the stage at the Madinat Theatre to speak about his body of work and to answer questions from the audience.

With classics like Platoon, JFK and Born On The Fourth Of July to his name, the hour-long session only managed to touch the surface of what he had to say.

The Vietnam war veteran, who was in the same class at Yale as George W. Bush while Bill Clinton was also a student there, said it felt at the time like a 'driven society', and said: "Those were supposed to be the top, and I realised somewhere along the way that the top of American society was not where I belonged… I didn't feel comfortable with those people."

His experience in Vietnam, which earned him a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart, inspired his work in filmmaking.

Making reference to the war in Iraq he said: "I made three films about Vietnam and what good did it do?

Speaking of his latest film based on the experiences of people who survived the tragic events of September 11, the 60-year-old said: "It was a story of survival.

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