Movies - TV
Oliver Stone Cut A 'Rare' Deal With Warner Bros. To Keep JFK's Sprawling Runtime
By CHRISTIAN GAINEY
Like most of Oliver Stone's films, "JFK" pushed the envelope far beyond what some believed was appropriate or respectable, but it also challenged the 120-minute rule. With the exception of "Born on the Fourth of July," which has a runtime of 2 hours and 25 minutes, all of Stone's films prior to 1991 clocked in at or just below the industry standard of two hours.
Warner Bros., however, gave Stone more leeway with "JFK." In an interview with Screenrant, Stone revealed that the studio originally agreed to a runtime of three hours for "JFK," but offered him a "rare" deal after the final cut and left the movie's runtime at 3 hours and 10 minutes.
The studio not only approved the three-hour epic but also allowed the final cut to run 10 minutes longer because, according to what Stone told Screenrant, "they saw the film and they felt it really worked." Looking back, however, Stone said that he could have shortened the movie and admits that he “went overboard and told too much information."