Oliver Stone ‘My COCAINE addiction screwed me up so much that I wrote Scarface’
SCARFACE screenwriter Oliver Stone has revealed he wrote the Al Pacino gangster film because his own cocaine addiction had screwed him up so much.
Say Hello to My Little Friend - Scarface (8-8) Movie CLIP (1983) HD
Since its release in 1983, Scarface has become something of a cult classic and hailed by critics as one of the best mob films ever made.
With Pacino in the lead, the film follows the story of Cuban refugee Tony Montana who arriving in 1980s Miami with nothing, only to eventually become a drug baron.
Now the film’s screenwriter, Hollywood director Oliver Stone, has revealed he wrote the cocaine-fuelled flick to take revenge on his own drug problem.
Oliver Stoned? The director and screenwriter admits he wrote Scarface to kick his drug problem
Speaking with Sabotage Times, he said: “I was a cocaine addict for about two-and-a-half years prior to writing Scarface.
“I knew that world, the drug world of the early 1980s very well.”
However the Snowden director did not take the drug as inspiration, but decided to go cold turkey, moving to Paris to sober up while writing the movie.
While he’s clean of cocaine now, Stone once considered going into the drug business.
Speaking with Empire in 2011, he said: “[I] knew I couldn't break the habit in Florida [where the film is set], LA or New York.
“Cocaine had screwed me so much. It had taken so much of my money that now I needed to take my revenge and so I wrote Scarface.
“In the past, I’ve talked about Scarface as being a farewell love letter to cocaine, but it’s really me taking my revenge on the drug.”
Scarface's Tony Montana with his cocaine mound
Scarface marked Michelle Pfeiffer's big break into Hollywood movies
Scarface featured a famous scene near the film’s conclusion which saw Tony retuning to his mansion and burying his face in a huge mound of cocaine.
The film also starred Michelle Pfeiffer as Elvira Hancock who later marries Tony.
The mob classic was a big break for the actress, who was unknown at the time.
A Scarface remake is currently in development with The Magnificent Seven’s Antoine Fuqua in talks to direct and The Sopranos’ Terence Winter set to write the script.