On the day that Southland Tales' dirty bomb misfired, Empire was lucky enough to witness the explosive first act from Oliver Stone's 9/11 movie, World Trade Center. Stone introduced the first 20 minutes of his new movie at the 20th anniversary screening of Platoon, and while he insisted the sound was nowhere near finished, the theatre rumbled as we heard, and felt, the impact of the planes hitting the Twin Towers.
World Trade Center tells the story of Sgt. John McLoughlin (Nic Cage) and Will Jimeno (Michael Pena), two members of a Port Authority Police Department squad who rushed into the building after the first plane had hit. As they bid to help survivors, they get trapped beneath falling masonary, where they remain for 12 hours, before they too are finally rescued. The footage finished as the men woke, pinned under the slabs of concrete and twisted metal.
"I've not only done political movies," said Stone,"I've done lots of different kinds of movie and this is a human story, not a political one."
The same is true of Platoon, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. As part of those celebrations, they key cast members were reunited at Cannes for the first time since they finished filming in the Philippines all those years ago. Along with Stone, Empire nattered to Charlie Sheen, Willem Defoe and Tom Berenger.
"We've not all met up as a collective since," said Berenger, "although we have bumped into each other. Of course, I've worked with Charlie a few times since. In fact, the last time we met he gave me this really nice scarf."
"I wondered where that had gone," laughed Sheen. "I want that back, I've been looking for it for ages."
Berenger noted that the last time he'd seen Stone was in a parking lot. "That sounds dodgy," joked Sheen. "Was there something sexual going on?"
They may not have seen each other together for 20 years, but the friendship the platoon enjoyed on set, bolstered by the time they spent in Capt. Dale Dye's training camp, seems to have lasted as well as the movie itself…