Editing Natural Born Killers (section)

=== Concept ===
''Natural Born Killers'' was based on a [[Quentin Tarantino's unrealized projects#The Open Road|screenplay]] written by [[Quentin Tarantino]], in which a married couple suddenly decide to go on a [[killing spree]].{{sfn|Kolker|2000|p=65}} Tarantino had sold an option for his script to producers [[Jane Hamsher]] and [[Don Murphy]] for $10,000 after he had tried, and failed, to direct it himself for $500,000.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamsher |first=Jane |title=Killer Instinct |publisher=Broadway |year=1998 |isbn=0-7679-0075-8 |pages=48–51}}</ref> Hamsher and Murphy subsequently sold the screenplay to [[Warner Bros.]] Around the same time, [[Oliver Stone]] was made aware of the script. He was keen to find something more straightforward than his previous production, ''[[Heaven & Earth (1993 film)|Heaven & Earth]]'' (1993), a difficult shoot which had left him exhausted.

David Veloz, associate producer Richard Rutowski, and Stone rewrote Tarantino's script, keeping much of the dialogue but changing the focus of the film from journalist Wayne Gale to Mickey and Mallory. The script was revised so drastically that Tarantino was credited for the story only.<ref name="spectacle">{{Cite web |last=Gleiberman |first=Owen |date=August 25, 2019 |title=Twenty-Five Years Later, Oliver Stone's 'Natural Born Killers' Is, More than Ever, the Spectacle of Our Time (Column) |url=https://variety.com/2019/film/columns/natural-born-killers-25th-anniversary-oliver-stone-the-spectacle-of-our-time-1203313212/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190826100142/https://variety.com/2019/film/columns/natural-born-killers-25th-anniversary-oliver-stone-the-spectacle-of-our-time-1203313212/ |archive-date=August 26, 2019 |website=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]}}</ref> In a 1993 interview, Tarantino stated that he did not hold any animosity towards Stone, and that he wished the film well.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fuller |first=Graham |title=Quentin Tarantino: Interviews |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |year=1998 |isbn=1-57806-051-6 |editor-last=Peary, Gerald |pages=57–59 |chapter=Graham Fuller/1993}}</ref>

Initially, when producers Hamsher and Murphy had first brought the script to Stone's attention, he had envisioned it as an action film; "something [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]] would be proud of."<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite news |title='Chaos Rising: The Storm Around Natural Born Killers' (DVD Featurette)}}</ref> As the project developed however, incidents such as the [[O. J. Simpson murder case|O. J. Simpson case]], the [[Lyle and Erik Menendez|Menendez brothers]] case, the [[Tonya Harding]]/[[Nancy Kerrigan]] incident, the [[Rodney King]] incident, and the [[Waco siege]] all took place. Stone came to feel that the media was heavily involved in the outcome of all of these cases, and that the media had become an all-pervasive entity which marketed violence and suffering for the good of ratings. As such, he changed the tone of the film from one of purely action to a "vicious, coldhearted [[farce]]" on the media.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Levy |first=Emanuel |url=https://archive.org/details/cinemaofoutsider0000levy |title=Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film |date=1999-09-01 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-5289-0 |language=en |quote=stone natural born killers  farce. |url-access=registration}}</ref> Coloring Stone's approach to the material, and contributing to the violent nature of the film, were the anger and sadness he felt at the breakdown of his second marriage.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Cadwalladr |first=Carole |date=18 July 2010 |title=Oliver Stone and the politics of film-making |work=The Observer |location=paragraph 19 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jul/18/oliver-stone-chavez-wall-street |access-date=22 July 2010 |archive-date=January 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116183712/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/jul/18/oliver-stone-chavez-wall-street |url-status=live }}</ref> He also said in an interview that the film was influenced by the "vitality" of [[Cinema of India|Indian cinema]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 27, 2010 |title=Oliver Stone 'loves' Indian cinema |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11635754 |access-date=June 20, 2018 |archive-date=November 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171128080258/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11635754 |url-status=live }}</ref>