William Oliver Stone (born September 15, 1946) is an American film director and screenwriter. Stone came to prominence as a director with a series of films about the Vietnam War, in which he had participated as an American infantry soldier, and his work continues to focus frequently on contemporary political and cultural issues, often controversially. His work has earned him three Academy Awards. His first Oscar was for Best Adapted Screenplay for Midnight Express (1978). He won Academy Awards for Directing Platoon (1986) and Born on the Fourth of July (1989), both of which were centered on the Vietnam War.

A notable feature of his directing style is the use of many different cameras and film formats, from VHS to 8 mm film to 70 mm film. He sometimes uses several formats in a single scene, as in JFK (1991) and Natural Born Killers (1994). Some of Stone's films often have been criticized for promoting conspiracy theories and historical inaccuracies. JFK was criticized in the media as being a mixture of truth and fiction. One of the musicians portrayed in his film about the rock band The Doors called the biographical film inaccurate. As well, Stone's film Natural Born Killers was criticized by for its apparent glorification of violence; Stone argued that the film was meant to satirize the media's preoccupation with depicting violence. (via Wikipedia)