Oliver Stone is a renegade filmmaker and screenwriter. Stone's politics have been informed undoubtedly by his experiences in the Vietnam War and would go on to shape his filmmaking as well. Starting as a writer, Stone helped herald films about the intensity of the drug trade and its effect on Americans with scripts like Midnight Express and the iconic Scarface. Midnight Express, directed by the late Sir Alan Parker, is based somewhat on Stone's own experiences as a drug smuggler and his imprisonment in Mexico—Stone lived a life on the fringes. But, when he eventually got his hold on the film industry as a filmmaker, the breadth of his overture, voice, and talent was undeniable.