'Oliver Stoned' is held after police find pills in his car
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Your support makes all the difference.The Oscar-winning film director Oliver Stone is facing drink-driving and drugs charges after being arrested by police on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and held in the cells for more than seven hours.
The Oscar-winning film director Oliver Stone is facing drink-driving and drugs charges after being arrested by police on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and held in the cells for more than seven hours.
Stone, 58, famous for movies such as Platoon, JFK, Natural Born Killers and Alexander, was arrested after he reportedly showed signs of "intoxication" during a police crackdown on drink drivers. When officers searched his Mercedes, they discovered a number of unspecified pills that were taken away for analysis, said Sgt John Edmundson, a Beverly Hills police spokesman.
This is not the first time Stone has had such problems. When he was pulled over in Beverly Hills in 1999, marijuana was found in his car. At the time, he pleaded guilty to possessing drugs and driving under the influence and was ordered to take part in rehabilitation programme in exchange for prosecutors agreeing to drop more serious charges.
He had previously been arrested in Mexico, shortly after leaving college, for possessing marijuana.
"My critics like to call me "Oliver Stoned" but I feel we are all "Oliver Stoned" because we have to be in order to fully understand the madness of modern times," the director told a group of students in 1997. "Don't we all, whether we know it or not, live in the mass delusion of a dream state of recent history?"
Stone, who lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Monica, is famous for films such as Platoon, for which he won the best director Oscar in 1986, and Born on the Fourth of July, for which he received the same honour in 1989.
He has also been the focus of controversy. Natural Born Killers was derided by some for its excessive violence while JFK was criticised by many historians for adding fuel to conspiracy theories about the assassination of president John F Kennedy in November 1963 by twisting the facts and misrepresenting details.
Alexander, which told Stone's version of the story of Alexander the Great with Colin Farrell in the title role, drew fire last year for showing the world conqueror in a gay relationship.
Stone was arrested at 11.30pm on Friday by police who had launched a drugs crackdown on Sunset Boulevard. Police said that Stone appeared to be drunk when he was spoken to by officers and he then failed a breath test. Eight other drivers were arrested at the checkpoint, which was part of a statewide crackdown on Memorial Day drink-driving party goers.
"There were no incidents. He was very co-operative," Sgt Edmundson said.
Stone was held overnight and then released at 7am on Saturday on $15,000 (£8,200) bail. Neither he nor his agent, David Styne, have commented on the incident.
Stone, who has said previously that he kicked a cocaine habit in the 1980s, has been a vocal supporter of legalising drugs. In a 1993 magazine interview, he proposed dismantling the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration and legalising cocaine and heroin.
More recently he said he would like to make a film about Margaret Thatcher, starring Meryl Streep.
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