DATE: Sunday, October 5, 1997               TAG: 9710030102

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E12  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER 

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                       LENGTH:  108 lines

CONTROVERSIAL FILMMAKER TONES DOWN

OLIVER STONE says he's not out to make trouble this time.

Honest!

But can it really be true?

The three-time Academy Award winner, 51, smiled his gapped-tooth smile as he rushed through the door to begin the interview. What he is offering is a new movie, ``U-Turn,'' which he claims is ``just a movie,'' and his first book, ``A Child's Night Dream,'' about his childhood, which is, in spite of his claims, already stirring controversy.

``U-Turn'' is, indeed, a small subject after the controversial historical epics ``JFK'' and ``Nixon'' and the social satire of ``Natural Born Killers.''

``After `Nixon,' I was burned out,'' Stone admitted. ``I went into a cocoon for six months. My films, lately, seemed to have stirred national debates, based more on me than on the films themselves. I just wanted a rest and, to come back, I wanted to make a low-budget film that would just tell a narrative story. Just a movie.''

Stone says it's a relief to make a movie that is just about sex, lust, murder and greed. ``I always loved film noir movies, but I think the characters needed more motivation. I loved Barbara Stanwyck, for example, but most of her characters were just tough. They weren't particularly motivated. With `U-Turn,' the characters carry it. And it's in this desolate little town. These people are living second-rate lives and they know they're there until death. A lot of people feel that way about where they are.

``We can feel superior to all the characters but instead of them being just scum, we can sympathize a little. The feeling the audience should get is `Boy, they're in a mess. I'm glad I'm not them, but, with just a few wrong turns, I could be.' The audience feels good not to be there.''

The director sees it as ``A Touch of Evil'' meets ``Duel in the Sun,'' the marriage of film noir with the classic Western.

The story takes place in Superior, Ariz., an actual town located 60 miles from Phoenix. Basically, it is the middle of nowhere. Sean Penn plays Bobby Cooper, a smalltime gambler who gets stuck in Superior when, on the way to Las Vegas, his radiator hose busts. He's surrounded by absurd characters. There's a powerful real estate developer (Nick Nolte) and his sluttish Apache wife (Jennifer Lopez of ``Selena''). There's the trampish operator of the local garage (Billy Bob Thornton). There's a blind beggar-man (Jon Voight). There's a shifty-eyed sheriff (Powers Boothe) and a teen tease (Claire Danes).

Every one of them is more than a bit over the top.

It was filmed in just 42 days with a budget of $20 million, about half Stone's budget for ``Nixon'' ($42 million). ``What I learned,'' Stone said, ``is that there is just as much pressure, and tension, in making a lower budgeted film as it is with the big budgets. There was less interference from home offices, but, beyond that, the tension was the same. But I got a great cast, for very little money.''

Bill Paxton (``Twister'') had been set for the lead but, according to Stone, ``we had differences that couldn't be worked out. I thought he could do the role, but he just wanted out of rehearsals. Then, surprisingly, Sean came on. I was worried if he could play this kind of Everyman, ordinary part. He's always played more flamboyant characters. This guy is the smartest guy in town but he's still not smart enough to get out. I learned, right away, that Sean could easily play the victim.''

Sharon Stone had shown an interest in playing the female lead and Oliver Stone, consequently, agreed to rewrite it for a white woman. ``I told her there was no money in it, but she didn't hear me,'' he said. ``She started making big demands. We went to Jennifer Lopez, whom I had seen, and liked, in `Money Train.' We returned the woman to being Apache. Then the others fell into line. Billy Bob had been underappreciated for years. He wanted to do something with Darrell (the garage owner). I signed Claire Danes long before `Romeo and Juliet.' Jon Voight agreed to come in for just a few days to do a cameo as the blind man. It just so happened that most of our cast got bigger since this film was made and we ended up with an all-star cast.''

There are actors, such as Joe Pesci, who say they will never again work for Oliver Stone. Pesci claimed that ``Oliver treats actors as if they are puppets to be moved around. I wouldn't work for him again at any price.''

Voight, to the contrary, said ``Oliver is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and anything he does is worth it. He was ultra polite to me.''

Stone admits that he is ``noisy'' during filming, but he believes in long rehearsal periods with input from the actors. ``I just want to get the very best from them,'' he said. ``Anthony Hopkins, for example, was terrified to play Nixon. He said `I don't even speak American,' but I knew he could do it and I insisted.''

In his hand was a copy of his new, and first, book, ``A Child's Night Dream.'' Written at age 19, and expanded recently, it chronicles his childhood. It netted controversy when a New York newspaper claimed that Stone admits in the book to having sexual yens for his mother. According to the excerpts, there are anecdotes about him watching his mother in the shower.

``It's a novel, not an autobiography,'' Stone said. ``It's been sitting in the attic for years, but I always thought it was worth digging out - and finishing. I'm going to travel around the country with the book and talk, mainly, on college campuses. I think the book will speak primarily to that age. It gives a hint as to why I broke up and went to Asia. I really thought I would be gassed in Vietnam. After I came back, I had this idea that I'd be dead by age 33. I think the book really has something to say to young men.''

But what about the sexual fixation on his mother?

``My mom is having a laugh about it,'' he said. ``She knows I always had a strong imagination. She's French and always was very sophisticated. Think Auntie Mame. Today, she lives in Paris. She's in her 70s but she stays out later than I do. She parties till 4 or 5 a.m. and hangs out with young people.''

Stone has a knack of always seeming surprised when his works spark controversy, or debate.

He can't imagine, though, that ``U-Turn'' is going to spark the debates of his earlier films.

``I hope it, for once, can be judged just for itself and that people will know it's OK to laugh. It's all right if you just leave me out of the review. Just talk about the movie itself.'' ILLUSTRATION: ZADE ROSENTHAL photo

Director Oliver Stone lines up a shot during location filming of

``U-Turn,'' starring Sean Penn and Nick Nolte.

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