Oliver Stone’s ‘Midnight’ conversations
Kenneth Turan’s review of “Midnight Return” [“Telling the Rest of Billy Hayes’ Story,” July 21] blames the filmmakers for supposed mendacity. As the original writer [of “Midnight Express”], I made it quite clear to Sally Sussman, the director-producer of the documentary, that I based the film on Billy Hayes’ co-written autobiography and interviews with him at the time. Hayes never revealed any prior drug runs from Turkey, and to the contrary, professed his naiveté in these matters. If he had been truthful from the beginning, I would never have taken on the screenplay in the manner that I did. In fact, given the mores of that time, I doubt the film would’ve even been made by Columbia.
Though I would’ve changed some things here and there, I’ve come to terms with my experience, and I’m very proud of the movie we made based on what we knew then. I’ve seen the film screened for different audiences and different generations, and contrary to Mr. Turan’s dismissal of it as a source of mockery, I find it to be as harrowing an experience as it was intended to be. Oliver Stone Los Angeles
Kenneth Turan now writes in his review that “Though ‘Midnight Express’ is nominally a serious film, it was directed in such an over-the-top way … (critic Pauline Kael, not a fan, called it ‘mean-spirited fake-visceral’) that it’s remembered more in the comedy area.” I had to laugh, though in great disappointment, while reading this reaction, which appears to be Turan’s estimation as much as Kael’s, to what is actually a fairly classic movie with a fictionalized but very intriguing story arc full of pathos. Todd Smilovitz Los Angeles