OSCAR-WINNING American director Oliver Stone has been temporarily distracted from discussing his new documentary film about South American presidents – by ladies’ underwear.

The day is swelteringly hot and the air conditioning is failing to lower the temperature.

“It’s hot in here,” observes Stone, controversial director of films about the Vietnam war (Platoon, Born On The Fourth Of July, Heaven And Earth), the US financial institutions (Wall Street) and US presidents (JFK, W, Nixon).

What’s contributing to him getting hot under the collar would appear to be a female journalist in his eyeline in the front row of the preview theatre. He stops complaining about the heat and tells her, “I like your red brassiere”.

The undergarment is certainly visible through her white shirt, but Stone really should keep his mind on the politically sensitive film in hand – South of the Border – which is about what he sees as the misrepresentation of South American presidents by the US media.

Unsurprisingly, in the light of the subject matter and Stone’s habitual knack of annoying the powers-that-be, the film has not been well received in his home country.

“Listen, I’m very happy to get it out in the US. I thought it would basically make Venezuelan television and that would be it,” he says.

“It was not done with a lot of hope. You don’t do things that way because the ballgame in the US is a missile shield over the entire country. When it comes to South America, we hear negative things about these people, especially Chavez.”

That would be President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, whose portrayal in the US media as an anti-American force sparked Stone’s documentary. He ended up interviewing seven presidents in the region – in Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Paraquay, Ecuador and Cuba – in an effort to show the social change they’re introducing.

“I was curious. I’d done Salvador the movie and Castro documentaries,” he explains. “Chavez is a wonderful interview.

He said don’t believe what I’m saying to you, go out there into the field and see for yourself – go to these other presidents and see what’s going on. This is a big change, a social transformation in this continent that’s unlike anything that’s been done before.

“Reform is a tricky proposition, not only because of the US corporate interests, but also because of the local oligarchies that control a lot of land and resources.

There are very powerful forces, including the church and the military. So the odds are long against any kind of social reform.”

STONE’S new feature film, Wall Street 2, a follow-up to his Oscarwinning film, again starring Michael Douglas, is out in September. But his current project is a ten-hour series, The Secret History of the United States, for the Showtime TV channel.

He sees it as a legacy for his children.

Three-times married, he has a teenage daughter and two grown-up sons.

“I looked at my children and said you’re getting the wrong history. I don’t have a historian’s degree, but I read history books and can see a lot of flaws in them.

Why can’t an amateur get in there and give it a shot?

“If you can make a film that’s interesting to the eyes of a young person and that is somewhat accurate to the truth. Because the truth is an elusive thing. We don’t all agree on what happened in history.

If I could make some semblance of an historical interpretation that holds the mark, it would be a good thing to leave behind.”

He’s well aware he finds a much larger audience for political subjects if they’re made as dramas. “People look at being entertained and they see documentaries as going to school. I don’t. Documentaries, when they are well made, can be exciting,”

he says.

■ South Of The Border (15) is now showing in cinemas.

■ Oliver Stone can be heard on The Film Programme today, at 4.30pm, on Radio 4.