Honour for Oliver Stone, who tells Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama: Film is war

VETERAN director Oliver Stone hit out at the modern film industry yesterday as he received an honorary doctorate in Glasgow.

The JFK director was speaking during a visit to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

He told an audience of more than 100 people after he received the award: "Film is a war. It's a battle from day one. You have insane actors, cruel and demanding logistics, you have money, studio and weather, and animals and children."

The 63-year-old also said there were a lot of "technical film-makers" in the industry.

He said: "There's no messages. There's no values, no moral values. They make great films. I mean they look fabulous, but they are completely perverted, historically. I'm not going to name names. They get nominated for Academy Awards. They are horrible, horrible."

Speaking about being made a Doctor of Drama, he said: "I'm thrilled. I'm honoured. It's great. Scotland is a very educated country with a great tradition and it was done in the high manner with bagpipes and all. I loved it."