The director says that while he’s open to making a documentary on the country’s controversial president, he has ‘no plans at this time’ to travel to Tehran.
By Robert W. Welkos, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Stone “is open to making a documentary” about Ahmadinejad, Steven Rubenstein, president of Rubenstein Communications, said, but he is considering a number of projects at this time.
Stone had been slated next to direct “Pinkville” for United Artists, but the project, centered on the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, was put on hold due to the writers strike, Rubenstein said.
Last summer, Stone applied for permission to travel to Iran, but his request was rejected by Iranian officials. The Tehran Times reported at the time that Medi Kalhor, the Iranian president’s media advisor, called Stone “a part of the great Satan,” a name first given to the United States by the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
But now the Iranian press is reporting that Ahmadinejad had personally reconsidered and approved Stone’s visit “if certain conditions were met.” These conditions, the Tehran Times reports, stress that “Stone would not be allowed to invent any scenarios. [Instead,”> he should only use incidents from the president’s real life in the film.”
The film project has been variously referred to in the Iranian media as “Ahmadinejad’s Adventures” or “The Truth About Ahmadinejad.”
Stone has developed a reputation in Hollywood for taking on controversial topics, such as “Nixon,” his 1995 film about the late Republican president who was at the heart of the Watergate scandal, and “JFK,” his 1991 film about the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas. His films “Born on the Fourth of July” and “Platoon” were critical of the U.S. war in Vietnam.
