The 5-Minute Interview: Oliver Stone, Film director

'The Doors was one of my favourite films. It's sensuous'

The screenwriter and director, Oliver Stone, 60, has achieved numerous awards for his work, including 'Scarface', 'Platoon', and 'JFK' . His latest, 'World Trade Center' is released on DVD on 29 January

If I weren't talking to you right now I'd be...

On my way to Bafta to give a masterclass. I'll be talking about the photography and the approach in my movie. It's about the conversation between light and dark. It [World Trade Center] is a poem to the ordinary things of life.

A phrase I use far too often...

"Possibly". It conditions anything you say even if you believe it. It becomes an anomaly.

I wish people would take more notice of...

Some of the films I've made. The Doors was one of my favourite. It's a very sensuous film.

The most surprising thing that happened to me was...

Fuck, that's a lifetime you are talking about. Sometimes boredom is the most surprising. I am just not used to it. When I was younger, I knew it very well.

A common misperception of me is...

That I have a violent mind is just one of them. There is this character called Oliver Stone out there in the internet world. It means different things to different people. It's an enigma that's often misunderstood.

I am not a politician but...

If I was, the first thing I'd do is try to tell the truth. The second thing I'd do is to raise an organisation around the truth.

I'm good at...

Certainly caring in bed. I guess I can be a good conservationist at times.

I'm very bad at...

Carpentry or gardening or anything that requires the precision of my hands.

In moments of weakness...

I feel worthless. My brain shrinks to a pea and I flush.

You know me as a director but in truer life I'd have been a...

Shipowner. I love the concept of moving things across oceans.

In a nutshell, my philosophy is this:

I would agree with Socrates: Know thyself.

Sara Newman