An Evening with Oliver Stone: A Dialogue on Filmmaking

The College Presents, a free, public series of events hosted by the University of California, Berkeley's College of Letters and Science, brings Academy Award-winning director and filmmaker Oliver Stone to campus to discuss his recent major motion picture "Alexander" in relation to the scholarly pursuit of the classical tradition.

Stone will join Ralph Hexter, UC Berkeley dean of arts and humanities and professor of classics and comparative literature, at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, March 14, in Wheeler Auditorium, to discuss the role of the filmmaker, specifically in relationship to his recent work, "Alexander." The dialogue will center on representing ancient history and society to a broad modern audience. Stone will speak to the lure, the concerns, the challenges, and the responsibilities inherent in such a task. Dean Hexter will engage Oliver Stone as a scholar of the reception of the classics, with opportunities for audience questions and interaction as well.

"Alexander," an epic movie based on the biography of one of history's most luminous and influential leaders – Alexander the Great – whose conquests changed the map of the ancient world and whose character made him a legend for all time. A free screening of the film will be offered on Wednesday, March 9 at 6:30 p.m., also in Wheeler Auditorium.

Stone has been nominated for 11 Academy Awards as a screenwriter, director, and producer, winning the Oscar three times, twice for directing ("Born on the Fourth of July" and "Platoon") and once for writing ("Midnight Express"). He has also received three Golden Globes for directing ("Platoon," "Born On The Fourth Of July," and "JFK"), one for writing ("Midnight Express"), and was nominated for Best Director for "Natural Born Killers" and co-writing for "Nixon."

Oliver Stone was born in New York on September 15, 1946. He has worked as a school teacher in Vietnam, a Merchant Marine sailor (in the Pacific, South East Asia and the Western United States), a taxi driver, a messenger, a production assistant, and a sales representative for a sports film company. He served in the U.S. Army Infantry in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968. He was wounded twice and decorated with the Bronze Star for Valor. After returning from Vietnam, he completed his undergraduate studies at New York University Film School in 1971.

He is a contributor of some 200 pages of essays on movies, culture, politics, and history in the book "Oliver Stone’s USA." His first novel, "A Child’s Night Dream," based on Stone’s experiences as a young man, was published in 1997 by St. Martin’s Press.

His directed films are: "Alexander" ('04), "Looking for Fidel" ('04), "Comandante" ('03), "Persona Non Grata" ('03), "Any Given Sunday" (‘99), "U-Turn" (‘97), "Nixon" (‘95), "Natural Born Killers" (‘94), "Heaven and Earth" (‘93), "JFK" (‘91), "The Doors" (‘91), "Born On The Fourth Of July" (‘89), "Talk Radio" (‘88), "Wall Street" (‘87), "Platoon" (‘86), "Salvador" (‘86), "The Hand" (‘81), and "Seizure" (‘73).

His writing credits, apart from his directed films, are: "Midnight Express," "Scarface," "Conan The Barbarian," "Year Of The Dragon," and "Evita."

His producing credits are: "The People vs. Larry Flynt," "The Joy Luck Club," "Reversal of Fortune," "Savior," "Freeway," "South Central," "Zebrahead," "Blue Steel," and the ABC mini-series "Wild Palms." Apart from his directed films, as a producer Stone has won an Emmy for the HBO film "Indictment: The McMartin Trial" and was nominated for the documentary "The Last Days of Kennedy and King."

The College of Letters & Science is the largest of 14 colleges and professional schools at UC Berkeley. The college accounts for more than half the campus’s faculty, three-quarters of its undergraduate students, and almost half of its Ph.D. students.

The College Presents highlights prominent scholars, scientists, thinkers, artists and leaders in many fields on topics of broad appeal. The first speaker in the series, Martin Goldsmith, discussed his 2002 book, "The Inextinguishable Symphony: A True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany."

"Our goal is for the series to feature influential thinkers addressing issues that are both provocative and relevant to the public," says Hexter, who also serves as the College's executive dean. "The College Presents offers the community an opportunity to sample the intellectual vitality, diversity, and excellence of UC Berkeley's liberal arts college."