Oliver Stone explains why ‘Natural Born Killers’ was ahead of its time
The passionate American filmmaker Oliver Stone is best known for his political biopics and Vietnam war flicks, but dig deeper into his filmography, and you’ll notice that he’s far more eclectic. Alongside such classics as 1986’s Platoon, 1987’s Wall Street, and 1991’s JFK, Stone has delved into historical thrillers with 2004’s Alexander, grisly horror with 1974’s Seizure and frenetic contemporary drama with 1994’s Natural Born Killers.
Adapted from a script by Quentin Tarantino, Natural Born Killers is a peculiar cinematic gem, telling the story of two fragile psychopathic murderers who fall in love and are subsequently glorified by the mainstream media. As well as a violent action crime flick, Stone’s movie is something of a satire, a rare offering from Tarantino, with the film deconstructing the media’s disturbing interest in violence and acts of immorality.
Look a little closer, however, and Tarantino appears only to have a ‘story’ credit in the movie, despite penning the script on which Natural Born Killers is based. Indeed, the satirical edge of the film may have been added by Stone and co-screenwriters David Veloz and Richard Rutowski. Speaking about the film long after it had been released, Tarantino stated: “I hated that fucking movie. If you like my stuff, don’t watch that movie”.
Still, Tarantino fans went to go and see the film and were pleasantly surprised with what they received, with Natural Born Killers being a bizarre analysis of modern media that still radiates the original screenwriter’s electric personality.
Speaking about the movie in a conversation with New York Post, when asked whether the film was “ahead of its time,” Stone responded: “I think it’s a very fine piece of filmmaking and I think it transcends time. It’s very fine cutting we worked on the cutting for almost a year and we shot it in a highly unorthodox style that you see more and more on TV. It had never quite been done before — a mixture of stocks and styles”.
Sharing similarities with the frenetic media of the time that took elements of music, fashion and culture from the decades that preceded the 1990s, the film is a bright and vibrant stylistic statement from Stone. As the filmmaker states: “I was influenced, I have to say, by MTV and some of the styles I saw in the early 80s and 90s on television. But no one had tried that style over the course of 90, 100 minutes”.
Blow away the surface style of the movie and below it, a rather layered analysis of modern media exists, with Stone providing further insight into the message he wanted to convey later in the interview. “The killers obviously are products of their environment and their environments created by media and the justice system and the police system,” the director stated, adding: “It seems to me that the salvation of moronic violence grew enormously in the early 90s and culminated in the O.J. Simpson trial. The ratings of TV news were dictated by the O.J. Simpson trial and how many billions of dollars TV made off the OJ trial. The news itself was just an entertainment device”.
Take a look at the trailer for the cult favourite 1994 movie below.
