-Caveat Lector- (2nd try, I forgot the F word blocks messages somewhere at one end or another.0
http://www.moviep00pshoot.com/write/2.html YOU'LL NEVER WRITE A BOOK IN THIS TOWN AGAIN October 24, 2002 By D.K. Holm Breaking news: Oliver Stone uses drugs! Does it come as any surprise that Oliver Stone, a director of vast ambitions and a man of insatiable appetites, is a drug-snorting philanderer? Apparently this information came as a surprise to Eric Hamburg, the privileged scion of a prominent, influential and honored family. So shocked was he that years later the lawyer-turned-movie producer sat down and wrote a book about Stone's habits, despite the fact that there are at least two other books that already cover much of the same ground. In JFK, NIXON, OLIVER STONE & ME: AN IDEALIST'S JOURNEY FROM CAPITOL HILL TO HOLLYWOOD HELL (Public Affairs, 305 pages, $26, ISBN 1 58648 029 4) Hamburg recounts his Candide-like adventures, going from an effective political operative in Washington to a director's flunky in La La Land. Yet if the "Hollywood hell" of the title is something of an exaggeration, so are many of the sins that Hamburg observes in Stone. In OLIVER STONE & ME, the reader receives two piles of gossipy dirt for the price of one. The book not only tells tales out of school about Stone, the bad-boy director of '90s conspiracy cinema, but it also reveals inside dope about the biggest conspiracy of the 20th century, the Kennedy assassination. The volume begins with a rather straightforward account of how the author traveled from Washington, D.C., to Hollywood, California. It all began in the nation's capital, where the precocious Hamburg was born and raised before moving to the West Coast in the early '60s. There, Hamburg eventually ended up hanging with the hippies, joining them in their bizarre dancing rites in public parks and indulging in drug consumption. Later he gave up drugs and went into "recovery," but more about that later. A political junkie, he worked for McGovern and followed the Watergate hearings. Graduating from law school in 1979, Hamburg first did an internship at HUD, then worked at a mental health law center in San Jose, before finally ending up back in D.C., working first for Senator John Kerry in the mid-'80s, then for Lee Hamilton in the House. A JFK assassination buff, Hamburg did make a significant contribution to American history during his Washington years. "I had long been intrigued by the assassination, and considered it an unsolved mystery," he notes. He mentions a little known fact that I also bring up occasionally in front of JFK skeptics to universal skepticism: that "there are actually two official government findings with regard to the JFK assassination; that of the Warren Commission, which contended that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, and that of the House Select Committee on Assassination, which reinvestigated the case and found that there had been a conspiracy, probably involving members of the Mafia and possibly Cuban exiles." Hamburg would throw in some rogue CIA agents into the mix. When Hamburg ended up in the office of Representative Lee Hamilton of Indiana, he was able to convince the Iran-Contra hearings vet to introduce The JFK Assassination Records Collection Act, a bill asking for the release of all the House Committee papers. The bill barely passed, but was eventually signed into law by former CIA chief George Bush. Hamburg's goal in making this law was significantly aided by the release of Stone's JFK. Hamburg first met Stone at the film's Washington premiere, and Stone then joined Hamilton and Hamburg for a meeting at Hamilton's office, a confab that sets the events of the rest of the book in motion. In the best part of STONE & ME, Hamburg offers up close observations on the usually obscure conspiratologists who keep the flame alive. Jim Lasar, who runs the Assassination Archives and Research Center in D.C. is "delightful, humorous, highly intelligent," while his then-partner Bud Fensterwald is "a little bit nutty." Steve Rivele, who appeared in the BBC documentary THE MEN WHO KILLED KENNEDY and who promoted a theory that certain Marseilles hitmen did the shooting, figures in the book later when he helps write NIXON. We also learn the real name of the man who wrote FAREWELL AMERICA, a hard-to-find book about the assassination that was sponsored tangentially by RAMPARTS magazine. Credited to "James Hepburn," the book was really a product of French intelligence and authored by one Herve Lamarr. John Newman (OSWALD AND THE CIA) is widely considered within the conspiracy community to be a spy. Authors Mary and Ray LaFontaine (OSWALD TALKED) lack the trust of both conspiracy buffs and "lone nutters." But the focus of the book is on Stone and his hangers-on. By 1993, Hamburg had grown bored with the bureaucracy and games of the nation's capital, and having rubbed elbows with Oliver Stone during the aftermath of JFK's release, the placid Hamburg decided that he wanted to go into the movie biz. At some point he put out feelers to Stone's (now defunct) Ixtlan Productions office in Santa Monica. He wrote a letter to Stone, who surprisingly answered and invited him to have dinner and discuss possibilities. In Los Angeles, Hamburg dined at the Stone home with the director's wife and kids, who were watching a horror movie on video when he arrived (characteristically, Hamburg DOESN'T NAME THE VIDEO!). The dinner was really a job interview and a few months later, Hamburg was working for Stone. At Ixtlan, Hamburg worked on two Stone films (NIXON, ANY GIVEN SUNDAY), as well as on numerous unrealized projects. When Hamburg made his debut at the office, Stone was just finishing up NATURAL BORN KILLERS, a movie that also inspired a Stone bio called KILLER INSTINCT, written by co-producer Jane Hamsher. A dip into Hamsher's book reveals a man just a stone's throw away from the guy in Hamburg's book. KILLER INSTINCT overlaps nicely with this one (and has pictures) and many of the same toxic players and office hangers-on figure in both volumes. The picture that Hamburg paints of Stone is similar to Hamsher's portrait, as well as the one in James Riordan's semi-official biography. It is a portrait of a man who seems to live to break all the Commandments, break all the Taboos, and speak Unconventional Truths. Here are some of the Commandments Hamburg charges Stone with breaking: Thou Shalt Honor Thy Mother Stone apparently had a strange relationship with the French matriarch Jacqueline Stone. Hamburg quotes a passage from Stone's belatedly published novel A CHILD'S NIGHT DREAM in which the author seems to be describing a sexual encounter with mom, and notes that Stones mere and fils both acknowledge that something akin to that scene happened in real life (pages 214 -215). Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me Stone is a self-proclaimed Tibetan Buddhist, but in Hamburg's view he is a fake Buddhist. Hamburg charges that Stone's hedonistic behavior is inconsistent with the precepts of Buddhism (which according to Hamburg includes "moderation in all things" although that was actually said by the Roman playwright Terence). Stone "practices" his faith with his mysterious friend Richard Rutowski, the John Carpenter to Stone's Bob Crane. Notes Hamburg: "I'd heard one story from a mutual friend that the two of them went to meet with an important Tibetan lama while high on drugs." (pages 188 - 189). Egad! Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Wife, and so on According to Hamburg Stone (like every other director?) is obsessed with Steven Spielberg. His envy of Spielberg is based on the fact that SS's movies "have made far more money than Stone's ever did" (page 98). This mood of green also led Stone to a disastrous alliance with a temporary partner Hamburg calls Danny the Weasel to form a "hit factory" like DreamWorks (pages 104 - 105). Stone once remarked to Hamburg that the only reason Quentin Tarantino is famous is because "he has a great name" (page 97). Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery, Kill, or Steal Hamburg doesn't claim that Stone has murdered anyone, but he notes that faithfulness to his mates is not a high priority. One of Stone's office assistants "became the keeper of a little black book, labeled 'OS Harem.' This was a list of Oliver's women friends carefully organized by city, from New York to Paris to Hong Kong. It was updated regularly. Needless to say, this was a precious (and top secret) document" (page 160). James Woods is quoted as saying that on the set of ANY GIVEN SUNDAY Stone was "popping Viagra like candy corn." Stone caroused in bars with Cameron Diaz but "had more success 'auditioning' the cheerleaders in his trailer. Another actor told me he saw syringes in Oliver's trailer" (page 232). Stone isn't officially accused of stealing anything, but the fact that Stone has underlings such as Hamburg draft documents for him, documents such as letters to the New York Times and articles for Harper's magazine, raises the interesting question of just how much Stone actually writes of the other things credited to him, including screenplays. This is something that one wonders about Tarantino as well, and like QT, Stone seems to dislike reading and writing. Memos had to be one page or shorter. Years would go by before Stone read some of the screenplays he had commissioned (page 79). Hamburg doesn't go into this fruitful line of inquiry. But is it possible that Stone is the new Philip Yordan? Hamburg also ticks off a list of other character traits that offend his sense of decorum: Excessive drug use Hamburg recounts with glee Stone's arrest for driving under the influence in June of 1999, which led to a plea bargain. Himself a "recovery" person, and therefore something of an alien in Hollywood culture, Hamburg took the opportunity of Stone's misfortune to write him a letter and urge abstinence. Stone wrote back what Hamburg presents as an utterly bizarre note in which Stone claims that he wasn't "involved" in the case. Nevertheless, Stone later admitted that he was in possession of drugs and was put on three years probation (pages 234 forward). At a dinner for George Schulz (page 254) Stone arrived "drunk" and proceeded to drink both red and white wine (!). Hamburg doesn't mention why either he or Stone would be at such an event in the first place. By the way, Hamsher or Riordan talk about a drug overdose that Stone suffered in his Ixtlan offices. Paranoia Stone compartmentalized his life, and tried to keep his aides, whom he called "satellites," both separate from each other and at each other's throats. Hamburg recounts a long episode in which Stone hit the roof because Hamburg had discussed a script in passing with one of Stone's cronies, Clayton Townsend (pages 126 forward, among many). Stone accused Hamburg of "spying on him for the IRS, or maybe the Justice Department, or the FBI, or the CIA." Later at a party in honor of George Schultz he tells Hamburg's wife, "He's a spy, you know." Travels with a Weird Crew Besides Stone's buddy Richard Rutowski, whom Hamburg suggests is his principal pimp and connection, Stone always travels with an entourage, including at one point, Kristina Hare, "his young, blonde assistant" who wore "a black English riding hat and matching outfit" to a meeting with Rep Lee Hamilton. Superstitious Stone thinks that August is his luckiest month and doesn't like having strangers on the set on the first day of shooting (pages 163 and 199). Obsessed with money "Money came first, second, and third with Oliver" (page 50). Hamburg goes on to recount Stone's complaints about taxation and his jealousy of others who make more money. Prone to Diatribes "Stone talks in a soft, quiet voice which gives you the impression the he must be saying something thoughtful and profound. Usually, the opposite is true. Oliver would also get a demented look when he was about to explode ... His eyes would glaze over ... " (page 171). "He couldn't relax and have a good time. He had to create some crisis and make everyone else miserable." Hamburg recounts at length a fit Stone threw while trying to catch a plane from DC to LA. (page 200). JFK, NIXON, OLIVER STONE & ME: AN IDEALIST'S JOURNEY FROM CAPITOL HILL TO HOLLYWOOD HELL is entertaining in its first half. But then, on page 89, Hamburg announces that he kept a diary of his experiences with Stone on NIXON and suddenly the book falls apart. It becomes repetitious, irritating, self-satisfied, and inaccurate at least in some small details. Page 149 offers one example of odd repetition among many found throughout the second half of the book. Hamburg writes," Oliver and I were originally going to go [on a fact-finding trip] with Anthony Hopkins, but at the last minute James Woods invited himself along as well." Then, in the VERY NEXT PARAGRAPH, Hamburg writes, "Oliver had planned to go with only Hopkins and me [sic], but 'Jimmy' had invited himself along." There are several other examples of this weird lack of editing. Hamburg comes across like a prudish square. That may explain why, for all his burrowing into the very center of show business, at the end of the day he didn't really see all that much; he may not have wanted to. And some of what he does report often lacks credibility ("A mutual friend told me ... " and so on). He gets minor things wrong, such as stating that the film FREEWAY "starred" Brooke Shields, which in fact she had a minor role, and the lead was Reese Witherspoon. He's also a little humorless. "FREEWAY turned out to be one of the worst films I've ever seen. If you haven't seen it, don't!" A friend who visited the set of NIXON told me that Stone drinks a lot of bottled water but never likes to leave the set to take a pee, so he voids himself into a bottle, which he then hands to a PA to remove. Everyone's dream gift: a moist and warm plastic bubble bursting with an Oscar-winner's urine. Somehow this nugget of vial gossip eluded Hamburg. Not only do you get some dope on Stone and the JFK assassination in this book, you also get a portrait of its author. Surely unintentionally, Hamburg comes across like a pampered prig, a scold, a censor and a snob. Hamburg calls former Stone crony Clayton Townsend a "dropout with limited skills." Hamburg critiques PULP FICTION by writing that "Personally, I did not like PULP FICTION, which seemed to me to be an attempt at sensationalism, shock value, cleverness, and coolness for is own sake, with no redeeming social value." Stone's arrest for drunk driving brings out the worst level of censoriousness in Hamburg. As mentioned above, he wrote Stone a letter urging him to join AA and get off drugs and booze, with the predictable results. In fact, the book seems designed more as an attack on another producer than on Stone. The person Hamburg goes after is a man he dubs Danny the Weasel. But it is not a pseudonym. It's a nickname he came up with and goes on to offer us Danny's real name or names. He goes by Danny Halsted, but his real name is Dan Cohen. Halsted produced the cult favorite FREEWAY, and Hamburg, in his rage at the man, charts a litany of abuse and Sammy Glickish behavior that includes aggressiveness, office politicking, project undermining and project stealing, self-promotion, lying, and awful decision making skills. He even cheats at golf. A friend of Hamburg's met Danny's sister at a party and indicated that even she didn't like him all that much. Halsted is still around and of course can be found in the IMDB. The one person who evades Hamburg's criticism is Azita Zendel, Stone's assistant until he fired her just before embarking of NIXON. By putting together remarks on pages 212 and 253 you figure out that Hamburg dated and then married Zendel's cousin. Hamburg speaks well of Zendel either because he legitimately likes her or because it would be death to be critical of his cousin-in-law. Hey, you can f**k with almost anyone in Hollywood, but don't mess with the in-laws! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
