Oliver Stone and Jim DiEugenio interviewed by Eloise

[David Von Pein]

On 1/19/2023 at 7:35 AM, Joe Bauer said:

Jim Di said in the interview above that Stone's JFK should have won so many more Academy Awards than it did. That pressure from sinister outside forces kept it from doing so.

If there had been an Oscar category for "The Most Embellished & Purely Fictional Scenes", then Oliver's film would have been a shoo-in for that award. 😊

Edited December 7, 2023 by David Von Pein

[Mark Ulrik]

11 hours ago, Joe Bauer said:

One question regards a point in "JFK Revisited."

What was the deal with Oswald wearing a ring on his right hand in one of the backyard photos, and that ring is shown on the other hand in another of the photos?

This was the first time I ever heard about the Oswald back yard photos ring hand switch discrepancy.

Wedding ring on right hand and Marine Corps ring on left.

[Joe Bauer]

2 hours ago, Mark Ulrik said:

Wedding ring on right hand and Marine Corps ring on left.

I thought both men and women wore their wedding ring on their left hand?

You are saying Oswald chose to wear his Marine Ring on his left hand instead?

And switched his marriage ring to his right?

It looks like no ring on his right hand in one photo.

Are you stating that there was a ring on his right hand but it was so small in size you could not see it without a blow up like the ones you have posted?

[James DiEugenio]

Mark, I would be embarrassed to present that.

But to each his own.

[James DiEugenio]

7 hours ago, Joe Bauer said:

Stone brought up Jim Garrison and his book "On The Trail Of The Assassins."

Obviously, it had a huge impact on Stone.  

So much so, he frames almost all of his film JFK around Garrison's shared findings in it.

This was my first JFK book reading as well.

It pulled me in totally. A super entertaining and at times even funny tome as well as inspiring in it's righteous indignation regards the JFK truth coverup.

I've watched Stone's film JFK so many times since 1991 ( I also watched it twice when it first came out in theaters ) I can quote almost every line and even decently mimic the characters in their deliveries of them.

My wife long ago tired of being my only audience for my act though. It's a sad thing to accept the reality of such lonely unfulfilled performance urges.

Garrison's book gave the JFK event a life so much more scintillating and expansive than others before it.

Every character in it pulls you in. Their eccentricities only enhance their dramatic attractiveness and story and plot contributions.

I am watching the film in my neurofeedback sessions even today. This involves watching a film while monitoring leads are attached to your scalp.

Something to hopefully aid in long term concussion recovery.

Can't get enough of incredible performances by so many top actors in the film.

John Candy's Dean Andrews is fabulous. Same with Jack Lemmon's Jack Martin, Tommy Lee Jones's Clay Shaw etc. etc.

Jim Di said in the interview above that Stone's JFK should have won so many more Academy Awards than it did. That pressure from sinister outside forces kept it from doing so.

Of course, this is absolutely true.

 

 

Something I learned when we were working on the film.

Zach Sklar wrote the New Orleans aspects of the screenplay for JFK.

Oliver wrote the rest, except for the Vietnam stuff, which Newman wrote.

 

 

[Denny Zartman]

I just finished watching the interview. It was very good. There were a lot of topics addressed succinctly. Well done. Thanks for sharing it here @James DiEugenio . We're fortunate to be on the forum with experts like yourself. I appreciate it.

[Mark Ulrik]

4 hours ago, Joe Bauer said:

I thought both men and women wore their wedding ring on their left hand?

You are saying Oswald chose to wear his Marine Ring on his left hand instead?

And switched his marriage ring to his right?

I wasn't suggesting that anything was "switched". In many countries, including Russia, it's customary to wear your wedding ring on your right hand. I don't think I've seen any photos of Oswald wearing his wedding ring on his left hand (or his MC ring on his right). Have you?

4 hours ago, Joe Bauer said:

It looks like no ring on his right hand in one photo.

Are you stating that there was a ring on his right hand but it was so small in size you could not see it without a blow up like the ones you have posted?

I'm not really sure what you're saying here. If I were suggesting anything, it would be that the wedding ring may be harder to discern in the "A" photo due to lack of shading.

3 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Mark, I would be embarrassed to present that.

But to each his own.

That strikes me as kind of ironic, Jim.

[Joseph McBride]

It's news that Stone is planning another film on JFK,

this one dealing with his last months in office. After

giving a rave review to NIXON in Boxoffice, I wrote

Stone suggesting he complete his trilogy on presidents

of that period by doing one on LBJ. To my surprise,

he replied he wasn't interested in LBJ as a film subject.

NIXON unfortunately flopped at the boxoffice, unlike

JFK, which is one reason Stone has had trouble

making more features about political figures. His

film projects on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and

the My Lai Massacre and Noriega/Poppy Bush

fell through for other reasons; the subjects were

too controversial.

[W. Niederhut]

50 minutes ago, Joseph McBride said:

It's news that Stone is planning another film on JFK,

this one dealing with his last months in office. After

giving a rave review to NIXON in Boxoffice, I wrote

Stone suggesting he complete his trilogy on presidents

of that period by doing one on LBJ. To my surprise,

he replied he wasn't interested in LBJ as a film subject.

NIXON unfortunately flopped at the boxoffice, unlike

JFK, which is one reason Stone has had trouble

making more features about political figures. His

film projects on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and

the My Lai Massacre and Noriega/Poppy Bush

fell through for other reasons; the subjects were

too controversial.

Oliver Stone's film, W., was also quite interesting, IMO.

Perhaps he could make a Trump film, with Alec Baldwin in the starring role. 🤥

[Paul Brancato]

On 1/19/2023 at 4:01 PM, Joseph McBride said:

It's news that Stone is planning another film on JFK,

this one dealing with his last months in office. After

giving a rave review to NIXON in Boxoffice, I wrote

Stone suggesting he complete his trilogy on presidents

of that period by doing one on LBJ. To my surprise,

he replied he wasn't interested in LBJ as a film subject.

NIXON unfortunately flopped at the boxoffice, unlike

JFK, which is one reason Stone has had trouble

making more features about political figures. His

film projects on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and

the My Lai Massacre and Noriega/Poppy Bush

fell through for other reasons; the subjects were

too controversial.

A future film about the Presidency of JFK would set the historical record straight, and that is so important. I hope Oliver Stone carries through with that idea.

Edited January 22, 2023 by Paul Brancato

[Ron Bulman]

3 hours ago, Joseph McBride said:

It's news that Stone is planning another film on JFK,

this one dealing with his last months in office. After

giving a rave review to NIXON in Boxoffice, I wrote

Stone suggesting he complete his trilogy on presidents

of that period by doing one on LBJ. To my surprise,

he replied he wasn't interested in LBJ as a film subject.

NIXON unfortunately flopped at the boxoffice, unlike

JFK, which is one reason Stone has had trouble

making more features about political figures. His

film projects on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and

the My Lai Massacre and Noriega/Poppy Bush

fell through for other reasons; the subjects were

too controversial.

Well heck, I'm having a brain fart.  Where did I hear in the last few days on here in a documentary, or read, that Rob Rhiner was going to do a feature film (?) on some aspect of the JFKA.  But he couldn't find financing or other support for such in Hollywood.    

Edited January 20, 2023 by Ron Bulman

[Joe Bauer]

Another film about JFK?

Where is the film about Dorothy Kilgallen?

Ten years ago an A list mystery film ( supposedly with some tie-in to the JFK assassination ) was just about green lighted starring Kate Blanchette and written by David Mamet!

The title was "BlackBird."

Always felt bad that this project was abandoned.

Blanchett ("The Aviator," "I'm Not There," "Elizabeth," "Notes on a Scandal") will play Janet, who travels to L.A. for the funeral of her grandfather, a Hollywood visual effects artist whose secrets become a threat to her.

Mamet will also direct the film, which is described as a "Hitchcockian nailbiter." "Blackbird" is produced by SBS Prods. and is scheduled to shoot in Sydney.

 

[Lori Spencer]

On 1/19/2023 at 12:25 AM, James DiEugenio said:

BTW, I just watched that interview for the third time.

Hands down its the best one Oliver has done, better even than Joe Rogan.

I’ve seen hundreds of interviews with both you and Oliver over the years on this topic — I’d have to agree, this is the best yet. Great job! 
 

glad Oliver had you there to ensure his facts were straight! Your computer brain is a marvel… 💻 🧠

At around 18:30, Oliver made an astute comment about why there’s been so much dishonest history written about Kennedy’s life and death. He said “once a historian gets locked into something, they can’t go back.” 
 

That’s my pet peeve with so many mainstream historians who will not reverse course on a pet theory, or admit they were wrong about something, even after new evidence comes to light proving their theory was wrong! 
 

Also happy to see Canada 🇨🇦 has been so enthusiastic about this film. It’s like we talked about in our recent interview — a strange phenomenon— how most of the interest in this case nowadays seems to be from other countries.

Bizarre that the UK, Canada, Australia and yes, Russia — care more about what happened to JFK than Americans do now.  
 

I can’t explain why 🤷🏼‍♀️. It is what it is… 

Edited January 22, 2023 by Lori Spencer
Added time stamp

[Kirk Gallaway]

I thought it was a very good interview. I thought Eloise did a very good job! She had a good instinct  for when to pin things down a little. I'm familiar with nearly all the material, though over time my memory lapses so it's good  to hear it.  '

l notice on a few occasions during Oliver's responses Jim put his fingers to his lips notably when Stone mentions Charles Crenshaw,and then when he mockingly talks of crazy Cubans killing Kennedy. Then when  Oliver scoffs at the idea of a "rogue operation" and insists that Dulles obviously got support from Helms! Then when Oliver mentions getting the support of the "people with money". I'm not putting down Jim, I was pleasantly surprised. These questions don't involve embracing Stone's politics and Jim is the true source here. But to Eloises's credit, she sensed that and asked Jim "What do you think?"    This is just fun! I don't mean to say this is definitive proof of anything, as Oliver covers his mouth a lot, and i don't think that means anything.

Honestly I think Paul O Connor's account of LeMay blowing smoke from his cigar in the operating room is real low hanging fruit, great conspiracy folklore but probably BS! IMO

As far as Stone covering Trump in a movie, I'd think the artist in him would think that's trite, and way over exposed  at least now. But of course in 5 years maybe not, but he's Trump's age and not getting any younger. I don't think he needs the money, but it could be big box office. Since he's the "Presidential" movie maker.

Lori:Bizarre that the UK, Canada, Australia and yes, Russia — care more about what happened to JFK than Americans do now. I can’t explain why 🤷🏼‍♀️. It is what it is…

Interesting topic Lori! I don't find that unusual as the concept of "American exceptionalism" has always existed in the post WW2 period, and now they've formally coined a phrase for it! It's a smoke screen to sweep away all the sins of the past and to concentrate on dominating the future. That's our nature!

Canada- what country would more quickly fall to the concept of the all knowing , all powerful, pulverizing American deep state than Canadians with their perpetual inferiority complex!

Russia- why would that be any surprise at all? They were one of the 2 major players who eventually lost the ideological battle that for a long time were spending much of their resources on missile defense just trying to catch up with us, while talking of parity and not disabusing us of the notion that they were a first class threat much like Sadamm with his WMD! ( except of course, they didn't have anything) The narrative of the aggressive nature of their foe, that ended up in the death of their President does historically give some justification for their eventual economic failure and their paranoiac disregard for human rights. Why wouldn't they embrace the JFKAC?

UK-probably the most sane, but they have got that tabloid thing. I'm not aware of what the Australians think.

But the French don't have a lot of illusions about the JFKAC, because they just love this!! Don't they?

Anyway, would be curious to hear other's thoughts!

Edited January 22, 2023 by Kirk Gallaway

[Joe Bauer]

I assume the huge majority of Americans since 1963 are like me.

80% of my time, energy, focus commitment 5 to 7 days a week 52 weeks a year was centered around one main real life goal...making enough income to pay the basic needs of housing, food, transportation, health, clothing, insurance, utilities, etc. etc.

And when I chose to marry and have children, the cost of those needs tripled, and required even more commitment centered around...a job.

Your entire day is structured around this priority reality.

In my case, I always seemed to be just barely making it, to a degree that when I did have some free thought time, I was quite tired usually.

I think the vast majority of American adults have lived this typical structure life.

In my case, it was only when I stopped working full time that I was able to find the time and energy to pursue my passion for the JFK truth ( and to a lesser degree the RFK and MLK ones ) which I felt was the greatest American unsolved crime of the twentieth century and which changed our society in bad ways beyond anything most Americans could fully realize.

Millions of work centered Americans still find time to read and contemplate larger realms of national and world affairs of course. And even develop opinions about them and express concern over ones that involve actions that they may conclude are universally wrong, immoral and hurtful to innocent people everywhere.

Where am I going with this contemplation?

I guess partly to express my take that even our limited efforts by thousands of Americans versus millions who could be labeled apathetic ( wrongly ) should be given the greatest appreciation.  This effort "has" kept this ultimate unsolved crime ( crimes ) alive in our societal consciousness at least to a degree that the perpetrators behind it can never totally escape their fear of exposure?

Most Americans like me have lived to work our entire lives to keep from being homeless and to protect and nurture and provide for our families. This life structure reality often doesn't allow for much extra free thought time to meaningfully study, contemplate and engage in matters outside our immediate family needs world.

Guess it will always be this way regards JFK, RFK and MLK.

Keep up the good fight my fellow truth seeking brethren and sisteren.

 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by Joe Bauer