Natural Born Killers

Oliver Stone's commentary is hands-off-the-wheel. He doesn't explain his motivation for making the movie, or the way he filmed it. The wedding scene, for example, was shot in Super 8 and 35 colour. "We never let you relax," he says. He doesn't call it a comic strip, but you know what he means. He liked rattlesnakes and so put them in. "They are creatures of knowledge." What knowledge? He doesn't say.

He's interesting about the jail sequences. He was allowed to shoot with "real prisoners in a real prison, where there was real tension amongst gangs inside." He points out certain characters as mass murderers. They look perfectly friendly.

Juliette Lewis took boxing lessons. She didn't want to, but when you look at what she is asked to do they definitely helped. "Juliette is like a man, dresses like a man, with short hair. She has the freedom of a man." He calls her a natural born smoker. He describes Mallory near the end. "She's getting tired of this trip. She's killed 50 people already. She worries about whether she's sexy."

He considers this a love story, although admits "there was a sense of wackiness and surreality right from the bat."

The documentary, Chaos Rising, gives a far better feel of what it must have been like. "I was the sanest of the whole group," Woody Harrelson says. "That's never happened before in my life." Stone describes Juliette: "Something was weird and off kilter about her." He meant it as a compliment. "She lives off her instincts and doesn't like rehearsals."

There is an honesty about these interviews that is refreshing. They discuss the intensity of working in the prison. "It was a toss up between Juliette and Robert who was the most sexually attractive to them," Stone says.

Tommy Lee Jones is emphatic: "This is not an exploitation film. This is an art film. Chaos is the star of the show." Stone is more thoughtful now. "I'm surprised the young Nineties filmmakers think violence is cool and hip. I was in Vietnam. I know what guns can do." Woody concurs. "I don't think people watch a two hour movie and want to become a serial killer." Stone is unapologetic. "I didn't censor myself at all," he says. That's true.

The alternative ending is bizarre and violent. The Oliver Stone talking about the original soundtrack is incredibly short. He has time to mention Nine Inch Nails and how much Trent Reznor was rivetted by the movie and what a help he had been - and that's it.

The additional scenes are fascinating. They include a courtroom sequence with Ashley Judd and a brilliant monologue in prison from Denis Leary. The most extraordinary is with the Hun brothers, identical body building twins. In the scene Mallory cuts their legs off. Afterwards, they give an interview.