work had been the writing of an unproduced screen­ play, BARKOON (1972), based on the Robin Moore novel THE COUNTRY TEAM, and “seven other original screenplays.” I mailed my questions to Stone on June 26th,
expecting his replies to arrive in typed manuscript form. As I recall, his replies took longer to process than he promised, but they were also far richer than I had any right to expect.
or so later was a box from Oliver, containing a half-dozen T-30 audio cassettes. Excitedly, I popped Tape #1 into my player for a quick listen. After a few moments of silence, his voice
A
exploded from the speakers: “You fuckin’ shithead! Fuck you, man! That’s right, asshole, 1 fuckin’ said
fuck you!" It went on like that, more or worse, for a very long minute or two. The anger in his voice sounded real, and I must
admit (as silly as it sounds) that I took it personally. My God, \\ho\XQh\.,didsomething in my questions anger him? Scared silly, I turned the tape off. 1 couldn’t figure out what I had done, and eventually found the courage to approach the cassette again; when I did, I found that Stone’s answers to my questions commenced, brightly and forthrightly, somewhere behind the wall of cursing. When I recounted this story to Oliver, he ex­
pressed surprise and confessed that he had eco­ nomically taped-over some previously used cassettes; he suggested that his tirade may have been a recording of him sound-testing some angry dialogue from one of his works-in-progress. (It was during this period, in 1976, that he completed a new original screenplay, bearing the rather flat title—or so I thought—of PLATOON.) The expla­ nation I prefer is that this baptism of obscenity was my “boot camp,” the now-legendary endurance test that Stone demands of all his collaborators. By enduring this trial-by-fire, I got my interview. Oliver’s testimony of the making of SEIZURE
was, as you’ll see, a revelation. Outrageous. Warm. Poignant. Preposterous. Hilarious. Scan­ dalous. I had never read anything like it. I won­ dered, Was it printable? In addition to the tapes, Oliver supplied the
names and addresses of some of the actors and technicians who worked on the film, whose recol­ lections might add to the overall view of the article. In the middle of the list, he warned me not to expect any assistance from his wife, Najwa Stone—the film’s art director—because they were in the pro­ cess of getting a divorce.
30 r r iv in g on my doorstep about a month
Some other voices did find their way into my
research. Bill Thomas, a California correspondent, turned up with an offerto interview Martine Beswicke and by phone I spoke briefly with actors Joe Sirola and Hervé Villechaize, who also served as the film’s stills photographer. I spoke to Hervé in the summer of 1978, a short time before the debut of his popular ABC-TV series FANTASY ISLAND; when I told him I was calling from Cincinnati, he laughed and said, “Sheet! You’re vay out zare in ze steeks!” He explained that all of his negatives were in storage somewhere in Paris, and he could foresee no easy way of obtaining them, since he was just settling into his first steady American job. Sirola, in town to plug a short-lived NBC-TV
series called THE MONTEFUSCOS, graciously re­ turned my call before boarding a flight to New York at the Greater Cincinnati Airport. He told me that he hadn’t seen SEIZURE, which he described as one of the most strenuous and disorganized shoots he’d ever experienced, but he praised Oliver Stone’s talent as a writer and director and was pleased to hear that I had enjoyed the film. In closing, he reminded me to watch THE MONTEFUSCOS. Sadly, Sirola and Villechaize are no longer with us, and I’m grateful that this long-gestating project gave me an opportunity to touch base with both of these talented men. I shuffled these various pieces together and
completed a lengthy typescript entitled “The Making of SEIZURE,” my first cover story-length article forCFQ. I had been reviewing films for the magazine since 1972, so the piece represented (as Fred Clarke was quick to point out) a “late blooming” for a regular contributor. After read­ ing it, Fred called to express his delight. He told me that he almost fell out of his chair laughing a couple of times while reading it. I asked him, “Is it printable?” “ It’s absolutely printable,” Fred maintained. “As long as we can find some behind -the -scenes
stills to illustrate i t ! ” (Of course, Fred never mentioned this monolithic condition prior to the article’s composition!) With Hervé’s precious stills out-of-reach, the
only other leads Oliver could suggest were his erstwhile producers, Garrard Glenn and Jeffrey Kapelman, who had behind-the-scenes photos in their possession. When supplying their ad­ dresses and phone numbers, Oliver stressed the importance of not mentioning the film’s produc­ tion problems, which might bruise their respec­ tive egos; unfortunately, both producers refused to cooperate with me unless they could read the article first. I did the honorable thing, and let
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