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Chasing The Light: How I Fought My Way into Hollywood - THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER Paperback – July 1, 2021

by Oliver Stone (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,827 ratings
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***

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

"I loved it. An amazing book." - Louis Theroux

"A rip-roaring read. It left me breathless." - Chris Evans, Virgin Radio

"Raw, savagely honest, as dramatic as any of his movies." - Mail on Sunday

"A tremendous book - readable, funny and harrowing." - The Sunday Times

"Riveting." - The New York Times

 "A fascinating exposure of Stone's inner life and his powerful, all devouring energy and genius that drove him to become one of the world's greatest filmmakers." - Sir Anthony Hopkins

"... a Hollywood movie in itself." - Spike Lee

Chasing the Light is Oliver Stone's intimate and ground-breaking filmmaker's memoir - and a razor-sharp insider's tour of Hollywood during its 70s and 80s upheaval.

With disarming honesty, he takes us from a childhood on New York's Upper East Side through the combat zones of Vietnam, inside the clandestine worlds of Chinatown's gang lords and Miami's cocaine trade - and behind the glittering and often drug-addled Los Angeles movie society scene.

And from Midnight Express through Scarface, and Salvador he discovers his own dogged determination, a marked rebellious streak and a drive to make controversial films that matter. How he strung together the realistic, radical and ultimately box office smash Platoon is in itself a 10-year adventure of financial intrigue, perseverance and near-death experiences that culminates in the depths of the Philippine jungle with Stone pushing himself, the crew and young cast almost beyond breaking point.

Written fearlessly with intense detail and colour, this is what it's like to make films on the edge.
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  1. Language
    English
  2. Publisher
    Monoray
  3. Publication date
    July 1, 2021
  4. Dimensions
    4.96 x 1.06 x 7.68 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    191318319X
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1913183196
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Monoray (July 1, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 191318319X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1913183196
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.6 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.96 x 1.06 x 7.68 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,827 ratings

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Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
1,827 global ratings
Oliver Stone’s solid honesty about his Vietnam experience and his film making has no equal.
5 Stars
Oliver Stone’s solid honesty about his Vietnam experience and his film making has no equal.
I watched “Platoon” the first week it came out in 1986. The painful reality and rage of the American soldier in Vietnam was shown on the screen for all to witness. Oliver Stone was a grunt in Vietnam in the deadliest fifteen months of the war, it would have been impossible for any other screen writer and director to have given such authenticity of young American soldiers fighting in that wretched war, not only with the enemy, but also among themselves. I was nineteen in 1972 when I was an Army Dust-Off helicopter crew chief in Vietnam. I was with the 57th Medical Detachment, I participated in one hundred Med-Evac missions--landing in water knee deep rice paddies, jungle holes and fire bases to evacuate wounded soldiers, those killed in action or just plain sick, we had no place to hide as we descended, approached and landed on a hot landing zone. Being in Army Aviation, our living condition in Long Binh Vietnam were much more comfortable and civilized than the conditions the infantry grunts had to endure in the jungle. However, as Oliver showed in Platoon, there was tension between the group of soldiers who supported Elias and others who took side with Barnes, we had a similar loathing among us in my Aviation unit in Vietnam. I belonged to the Elias type group. We were divided between “The Heads vs The Juicers.” Marijuana, heroin, alcohol, racism, death and pain--were all in the mix. As a Vietnam Veteran I am deeply grateful that Oliver Stone was able to tell the Vietnam Experience in his movie “Platoon”. The Vietnam war was no Silvester Stallone’s “First Blood Part ll”, Chuck Norris’ “Missing in Action”, or John Wayne’s “The Green Berets”. Oliver Stone’s movie “Platoon” was Vietnam.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Being a Movie Director is a lot more involved than it looks!
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2023
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His Movie shoots took him into the Jungles of Central America and Southeast Asia. A better man than me! Very Talented! A terrific read! A very detailed look into Filmmaking.
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Prosody
5.0 out of 5 stars A rollercoaster of trauma, recovery and naked emotion
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2020
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I confess to being a major Oliver Stone fan; a devotee of his DVD commentaries, interviews and the two excellent biographies which have been released (by James Riordan and Matt Zoller Seitz, respectively). Due to that, I went into this memoir unsure that I would learn anything new about the man. I'm pleased to say that I was wrong, and that this is a true literary work rather than the typical star-kissed Hollywood memoir. To paraphrase one critic, Oliver Stone is the rare director who lived actual adventures rather than just watching adventure movies. It's telling that this book chronicles only his first forty years - if it covered his entire life it would probably run about a thousand pages. 
In many ways, this account of the first half of Stone's life is a roller coaster of trauma and recovery. The first earthquake was his parents' abrupt and traumatic divorce, which caused the figurative and literal loss of his home. It also caused the loss of his mother at age 15: she didn't die, but did abruptly abandon him and leave his life for several years. All of that contributed to Stone wandering a wilderness of depression as a teenager: so severe that, at one point, he became suicidal. Instead, he dropped out of college to become a high school teacher in Vietnam and a merchant marine, wandered Asia, the ocean and Mexico, then wrote a novel. After he dropped out of college for the second time and his novel was rejected, a despondent Oliver Stone felt he had no future and took refuge (as many kids have over the decades) in the military. 
Stone is the only major director who is also a combat veteran and the chapters on what he saw and experienced during the Vietnam War are haunting. He writes cinematically of the sights and sounds and smells of war - as a reader, one can tell that the vividness of the tragedy has never left him. His mental state after the war (what we now know as PTSD) is also harrowing. As a writer, Stone is simultaneously able to recollect his emotional state at the time while also taking pity in what such a young person had to endure. (I didn't even mention the stint in prison or the drug addiction!)
Reading his own words, I did learn new things. For example, while James Riordan's 1995 biography shared that Elizabeth and Oliver Stone suffered several miscarriages and a devastating stillbirth in the years after Platoon, in this memoir Stone reveals his long struggle with infertility actually goes back to his first marriage. Told in his early twenties that he would never have children, he lived for years with the completely valid suspicion that he was robbed of parenthood due to Agent Orange exposure. Later, he writes of the expensive treatments and heartbreaks which occurred while he and his second wife, Elizabeth, struggled to get pregnant. That makes Stone's awe when his first child is born all the more precious. He writes about his son Sean with a tenderness and love reserved for no one else, and he's clearly a more tactile and affectionate father than his own ever was. 
As to the films, Stone spends considerable time not just on the production, but is also startlingly honest about before and after. Pre-production is a slog of location scouting, negotiating contracts and hiring crew. Post-production is a whirling tornado: he explains the intricacies of sound mixing, the headaches of various print quality (back in the pre-digital days), endless screenings with executives, the promotional campaign, waiting for and dissecting the critics' reviews, etc. Above all, the cloud that hangs over everything is money. Every cent in the budgets for films like Salvador was stretched to its breaking point. And if you've ever wanted to know what the personal financials of a major filmmaker were like in the 1980's, this book is for you. Stone not only flat out states his fees for various projects and his relationships with various agents, but even informs the reader at various points of his personal monthly budget and carrying costs. Perhaps the trades at the time covered Stone's purchase of a million dollar mansion after the success of Platoon  - now we know it came with a massive mortgage and he and his wife were living beyond their means. (That's Hollywood, baby!) 
The sheer volume of nitty-gritty detail about the movie-making process here is a contrast to, say, Woody Allen's memoir, where mentions of his films are tossed aside and the worst thing that happens on a film set is that someone got the wrong lunch order. Woody, of course, made different types of movies, but it's more exciting to read about productions plagued with screaming arguments, snake bites, and assassinations (Salvador advisor Ricardo Cienfuegos) than whatever happened on Shadows and Fog. 
Overall, this is a resplendent memoir which will surprise anyone who still believes in the image of Oliver Stone as a hard-partying, macho conspiracy theorist. He reveals himself in this book to be ambitious and talented, of course, but also vulnerable, raw, traumatized and at times self-punishing and emotionally naked. The only negative is that I was left wanting more: why did his marriage to Elizabeth collapse, what was the birth of his second son and his daughter like, what about Talk Radio, JFK, Natural Born Killers, etc.? Now that he's semi-retired from films, I hope he indulges himself as the naturally talented writer he is. 
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Timothy Haugh
4.0 out of 5 stars An Honest Look at Moviemaking
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2020
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Though I loved Platoon when it came out, I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Mr. Stone’s work. I’ve not seen them all, though I watched Natural Born Killers, JFK, The Doors, and Nixon when they hit the theaters. These are movies that I would consider good, not great. I’ve seen bits and pieces of Alexander and Any Given Sunday on TV. In a nutshell, this wouldn’t seem a book in which I’d be interested. However, by chance, I read an excerpt of this in a magazine and was caught up in it, so I decided to read the rest.

For the most part, I was fascinated. I knew nothing about Stone’s life before reading this and the stories he told of his parents’ meeting and marriage, his growing up and schooling, and his decision to go to Vietnam, seemed atypical of the time. Then, the way he works his way into movies, first by screenwriting (Midnight Express, Scarface), and then directing, offers real insight into how movies are made and what drives him as a director.

Considering his work in screenwriting, it’s not surprising that he knows how to tell a story that keeps the reader engaged. He also deserves credit for not sugar-coating his own failings. I certainly didn’t come away from this liking Mr. Stone any better—his preference for his Scarface script, a movie I don’t really like, and his denigration of Conan the Barbarian, a movie I love, is only a single example—but I do feel I better understand his motivations and passions.

This is a book mainly about struggling to make movies. As such, it is an excellent read. It ends with Mr. Stone’s triumph with Platoon. It’s not a bad place to stop; however, I found myself wondering about his motivations on JFK and Natural Born Killers. I wouldn’t mind seeing a follow-up volume somewhere down the line.
4 people found this helpful
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Justin
5.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading
Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2024
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I've found Stone a fascinating figure since seeing his Putin Interviews and Ukraine on Fire. I plowed through the opening chapters and concluded I'd not finish the book, turned off by his weird choices of which memories he'd share, and how he characterized them. However, I kept coming back just to read a few more pages and grew to increasingly enjoy the story. The core of the book is Stone's long struggle to find success, unwilling to totally sell out. That's the value of story, Stone's years of floundering, getting just enough industry response to keep up the quest. I recommend this book for young people, I believe it teaches valuable lessons on how much work it really takes to find success, and how risky it is to pursue an artistic career.

I do want to note that the F-16 did not exist during the Vietnam War. His editors should have picked that up, tho I don't blame him for that trivial error.
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Mary Senatori
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, riveting read from start to finish.
Reviewed in the United States on August 31, 2020
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I prefer non-fiction and loved this book! I'm not even a huge Oliver Stone fan (I *do* enjoy his films). His writing style is engaging and his personal story is so interesting and unexpected. I really enjoyed the real-life stories of how grueling it is to get a film made, let alone get your screenplay optioned and not eternally shelved, and how much drama and ego and financial tightrope-walking there is in-between. As a movie-goer (viewer), you just see the final polished result and it's fascinating to get a look under the hood at all the interlocking moving parts. I am definitely more of an Oliver Stone fan now and have a renewed interest in viewing his films. I only wish the book didn't end at the Academy Award win for Platoon.
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lopez
5.0 out of 5 stars humanistic
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2020
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this book is so real , seamless reading , work of art Oliver stone is so real down to the ground ,down to earth you know the guy is real he's been there , was a scene in scarface that struck us many latinos and was when the mother of Toni Montana refuse his money , very poor the mother but with dignity to refuse his drug money, reality and honesty this book is the same , I recommend totaly can't put it down fascinating work from a real honest guy
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Top reviews from other countries

Shoe Person
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully insightful
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 25, 2024
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I knew Oliver Stone as a film director didn’t know that he actually started his career as a writer (script). This experience shows in his writing. The writing and storytelling are both very engaging and insightful. I learnt a lot about the man and the movie industry. I really hope he will write another book about the second part of his life since this book is about the first 40 years of his life.
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Andrei
5.0 out of 5 stars Visionary
Reviewed in Italy on July 31, 2023
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Oliver Stone has a fantastic vision. Enjoyed reading his autobiography. His documentaries and movies are top-notch and very actual.
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Stephen Shaw
5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting Tale of Artistic Perseverance
Reviewed in Canada on October 21, 2020
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Who knew the film business was so tough! A painfully raw and honest account of Stone's formative years, from his early struggle to find himself to his meteoric rise through the screenwriting ranks to his directing breakthrough with Salvador and Platoon (which took ten years to make!). Populated with scurrilous producers, ornery filmmakers, difficult actors, and a cast of other dubious characters. Money rules in the film world, as his book makes abundantly clear. Yet in the face of countless obstacles, financial and otherwise, which Stone chronicles in detail, he manages to make some pretty meaningful films that won critical acclaim (and box office success!). I can't wait for the 2nd Volume when he becomes the bete noire of the film world for his iconoclasm!
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Sampsa
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating bio.
Reviewed in Germany on May 28, 2021
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Very interesting biography. Oliver Stone has good stories and way to put them in words.
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Daniel
5.0 out of 5 stars Unputtdownable
Reviewed in Spain on September 26, 2020
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One of the best books I've ever read about filmmaking. Passionate, intense, thrilling, hilarious. Stone reveals his heart and his soul. You won't regret it.
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