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Oliver Stone and DVDs

Nov. 12, 2004

By Kyra Kirkwood

 

The new Oliver Stone epic "Alexander," out in theaters Nov. 24, could be a goldmine for the DVD market. Not only does the film star some of today's hottest actors‹Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie, Jared Leto‹but it's filled with rich history and lavish sets, spectacular costumes and monumental battle scenes. The movie, which took 13 years to bring to screen, follows the life of historical leader Alexander the Great, a man who conquered 90 percent of the known world by the time he was 25 years old.

 

The possibilities for disc extras are plentiful, from a reality-vs-Hollywood study of the three-hour film to a look at the luxurious costumes, Greek mythology features to a behind-the-scenes documentary shot by Stone's 19-year-old son, Sean.

 

While excited about the DVD future of "Alexander," Stone isn't entirely enthusiastic about the format itself.

 

In fact, he thinks DVDs will destroy today's cinematic experience.

 

 "It's the end of movie-movies the way we know them," he said during a Los Angeles press event for the film. "It's like mail-order sex, Internet sex. It's an easier way to access the person. It's not good for us."

The DVD format cheapens movies, he said.

 

"If you walk into a room with 5,000 DVDs, how are you going to respect movies? How do you know the good ones," Stone asked. "It's going to the LCD‹the lowest common denominator. It's making movies into supermarket-shelf items, which is probably the best you can get at Wal-MartŠIt's hopeless."

 

Recently, Warner Home Video  released an encyclopedic collection of Stone's work, packed with extra features from 12 of his famous films, like "JFK," "Platoon" and "Wall Street." Also included are three documentaries such as "Persona Non Grata" and "Looking for Fidel." So it's not as if Stone boycotts the format; he knows the popularity of DVDs is impossible to ignore.

 

 "Whatever the new technology is becomes the money maker, not necessarily rightly," he said.

 

But whatever is next on the horizon could rock DVDs' stable foundation.

 

"The fact is, this is digital, it's not going to hold. People say analog is the only thing to make it," Stone said. "This could be a big scam at the end of the day. In five years, all your DVDs are going to be worthlessŠ There's no hope. There's only new technology."