Today's episode of The Big Picture is brought to you by an American Pickle, an American Pickle

star's Seth Rogan as a 1920s factory worker named Herschel Greenbound, and his great-grandson

Ben.

When Herschel falls into a vat of Pickles, he is perfectly preserved for 100 years and

emerges in present-day Brooklyn.

An American Pickle tells the uniquely heartwarming story of Herschel and Ben as they learn the

meaning of family.

Stream the new Max Original in American Pickle August 6th only on HBO Max, rated PG-13.

I'm Sean Fennesee.

And this is The Big Picture, a conversation show about Oliver Stone.

Amanda, I in my mind have been circling a podcast episode about Oliver Stone probably

since about 1991, which is when I first had some consciousness about the work of one

of the most fascinating figures of the last 40 years in American cinema.

There's a reason we're going to be having an episode conversation about Stone today,

which is that he has a new memoir.

That memoir is called Chasing the Light, Writing, Directing, and Surviving Platoon, Midnight

Express, Scarface, Salvador, and the Movie Game.

It's a very interesting book.

You and I have both read it.

I think we're both riveted in some ways and perhaps frustrated, confused, devastated in

other ways.

Before we get into the book, though, and before we get into how we're going to talk about

...