Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/798465
68 DGA QUARTERLY PHOTOS: PHOTOFEST; (OPPOSITE TOP) AMPAS "Jim Morrison was a poète maudit of my generation. He was ignored by many people. And the music spoke eloquently to me, moved me." — O L I V E R S T O N E THE DOORS Oliver Stone This 1991 release—centering on the Doors' shambolic, Dionysian front man, Jim Morrison— ratchets up the "sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll" mantra to a fever pitch. Stone was attracted to Morrison's "questing" nature: "He was writing music about sex and life and death and Eros and fear," said Stone. "Life is a game with a closed circle, and death is at the center. He was out there." LA BAMBA Luis Valdez Luis Valdez's roots as a Chicano activist and playwright (Zoot Suit) made him a natural to direct a film about Ritchie Valens, a '50s Mexican American rocker and contemporary of Buddy Holly. Compared to other rock biopic subjects, Valens was innocence personified. "He has these strong family values," said Valdez. "He's not a cutthroat, he's a gentleman."