Born On The Fourth of July (film) - Production

Production

Oliver Stone, also a Vietnam veteran, read Ron Kovic's best-selling autobiography Born on the Fourth of July and was stunned to learn what Kovic had suffered after the war. He bought the rights to the autobiography, and wanted to make it into a film. After buying the rights, Stone had to find a distributor for the film. Stone offered the project to Universal Pictures and they accepted. Stone then had to find a producer for the film. Eventually, he along with A. Kitman Ho became the producers. Tom Cruise was cast as Ron Kovic while Stone directed. Stone met with Ron Kovic and they discussed their experiences in Vietnam. Kovic wrote the screenplay with Stone, and appears in the film himself during the opening parade sequence as a soldier who flinches at the sound of exploding firecrackers—a reflex Cruise's Kovic will adopt himself later in the film. Kovic and Stone won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay and were nominated for an Academy Award, but lost to Driving Miss Daisy.

Stone wanted to film the movie in Vietnam, but since the relationship between Vietnam and the United States had not been resolved, Stone decided instead to film it in the Philippines (where Stone had previously filmed Platoon). Other scenes which do not include combat, were filmed in the U.S., particularly Dallas, Texas. The film was cinematographer Robert Richardson's first experience shooting in the anamorphic format. The film grossed more than $232,000,000 worldwide, significantly surpassing its $14 million dollar budget. The film received favorable reviews and went on to win two Academy Awards for Editing and Directing. Of the stars he worked with in this film, Stone worked again with both Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe, who originally starred in Platoon. Another star, Frank Whaley, would join Stone for the 1991 films The Doors and JFK.