Scenes from TIFF, Day 5: An unprecedented second chance

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During last year's edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, I wrote a column decrying (okay, whining about) the new low in movie-media relations – how access to the artists coming to town had been narrowed from a brief window to a keyhole. Fifteen-minute, one-on-one interviews were shaved down to seven-minute group chats. Blatant lies were issued on a star's availability. And embargoes were instituted on a seemingly arbitrary basis.

The column was partly a call to arms – if Canadian outlets aren't given equal consideration, especially at our own festival, we risk becoming a country relying on cheap wire copy and "hot take" write-arounds – and partly, well, a cranky missive from a man caught in the madness of TIFF.

This year, though, it's a slightly different story. Yes, there are still roadblocks put up by big-footing studios eager to protect their talent, who are all seemingly precious gemstones that might shatter if mishandled by overeager journalists. Shia LaBeouf, for instance, was set to come to TIFF to promote American Honey – until his incendiary interview with Variety was published last week, in which he trashes Steven Spielberg, among other cardinal sins. A sit-down with The Birth of a Nation's Nate Parker was almost a sure thing back in August – until reports surfaced of his 1999 trial for sexual assault. And I was all set to speak with Manchester By the Sea star Casey Affleck, until I wrote a column rehashing the 2010 sexual harassment suit filed against him (he settled with two women who accused him of unwelcome advances during filming of I'm Still Here). About 12 hours after that piece was published, I was suddenly persona non grata with Affleck's U.S.-based PR team, though no reason was given as to exactly why.

But hope – or at least a bizarre, unexpected and likely one-time-only form of hope – has come from the most unlikeliest of people: Oliver Stone. Last week, I conducted a FaceTime interview with the filmmaker, for the purposes of a pre-TIFF feature on his new drama Snowden. It was a perfectly fine 17-minute chat, and the feature I produced was, I believe, mostly harmless. Perhaps it was critical of Stone's reluctance to embrace his status as a "political filmmaker," but it was nothing the eternally provocative filmmaker had not encountered before.

So it was a genuine shock when I got a call from Stone's PR reps this past Friday, informing me that Stone "wanted to further the conversation" while he was at TIFF. Was he upset? Did he think I'd misquoted him? Did he want to punch me in the face? Was I going to find myself locked in a crate headed to Moscow? All possibilities seemed reasonable, and I was more than a little petrified.

But getting a hold of the director for that first interview was no easy feat, so to get another shot at talking with him was unprecedented – I had to take it, even if it meant a punch in the face. Of course, I told Stone's handlers, I'd love to talk with Oliver when he's in town. Please ignore the heart palpitations on the other end of the line.

The next day, I entered Stone's hotel suite warily – but to my surprise, he didn't want to murder me. He wasn't angry, either. Oliver Stone simply … wanted to "further the conversation."

"I just felt like you were short-changed in those 15 minutes, it felt kind of rushed, and some of those rushed conversations aren't fair," the director said, as my heart rate stabilized. And it wasn't just me whom Stone wanted to talk with – he apparently became so passionate during the rest of his in-town interviews that his schedule was ballooning out of control, with the standard 15-minute slots inching into longer, more detailed exchanges. Unlike a host of talent who are kept at a distance – whether by choice or by a studio's hand – Stone embraced the opportunity with a zealousness that's both refreshing and bewildering. The man simply likes to talk.

And so we did just that. For an un-rushed 20 minutes or so, Stone answered the questions I wasn't able to get to in our original discussion: What he thought of Irina Aleksander's in-depth but critical New York Times Magazine feature on Snowden's production ("I didn't read it, but I heard that some people were hurt"); industry reaction to his absence from the big screen ("According to Variety, Snowden is my comeback – but God almighty, it's as if I hadn't done anything since Nixon!"); and his excitement over an upcoming Matt Zoller Seitz book dissecting his filmography ("If I die tomorrow, I'd like to have it close by as a reminder").

After a few brief flicks at the current geopolitical landscape (Stone recommended the latest James Bamford feature in Foreign Policy magazine), it was time to wrap up, once again.

I didn't get punched in the face (which, admittedly, would have made a hell of a story), but I did receive something remarkable: a second chance with an artist who deeply cared about his work. It was a true TIFF miracle.