Depicting a vulnerable, introspective, stubbornly tenacious and frequently heartbroken Oliver Stone, the book has been translated into Persian by Kourosh Jahed. Tehran-based Aban Publishing has released 'Chasing the Light' in 528 pages.

An intimate memoir by the controversial and outspoken Oscar-winning director and screenwriter about his complicated New York childhood, volunteering for combat, and his struggles and triumphs making such films as 'Platoon', 'Midnight Express', and 'Scarface'.

Before the international success of 'Platoon' in 1986, Oliver Stone had been wounded as an infantryman in Vietnam, and spent years writing unproduced scripts while driving taxis in New York, finally venturing westward to Los Angeles and a new life.

Stone, now 78, recounts those formative years with in-the-moment details of the high and low moments: We see meetings with Al Pacino over Stone’s scripts for 'Scarface', 'Platoon', and 'Born on the Fourth of July'; the harrowing demon of cocaine addiction following the failure of his first feature, 'The Hand' (starring Michael Caine); his risky on-the-ground research of Miami drug cartels for 'Scarface'; his stormy relationship with 'The Deer Hunter' director Michael Cimino; the breathless hustles to finance the acclaimed and divisive Salvador; and tensions behind the scenes of his first Academy Award-winning film, 'Midnight Express'.

We also learn of the breathless hustles to finance the acclaimed and divisive 'Salvador'; and witness tensions behind the scenes of his first Academy Award-winning film, 'Midnight Express'.

The culmination of the book is the extraordinarily vivid recreation of filming 'Platoon' in the depths of the Philippine jungle with Kevin Dillon, Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Johnny Depp et al, pushing himself, the crew and the young cast almost beyond breaking point.

Written fearlessly, with intense detail and color, 'Chasing the Light' is a true insider's story of Hollywood's years of upheaval in the 1970s and '80s, and Stone brings this period alive as only someone at the center of the action truly can.