5. Platoon II Morphed Into Born On The Fourth Of July
Platoon was based on Oliver Stones personal experiences of Vietnam, and it followed Charlie Sheens soldier from rookie to battle-scarred veteran. The film was showered with praise upon release, and Stone briefly toyed with the idea of making a sequel that would follow Sheens character struggling to cope with his return to the real world. Stone was pretty busy during this period so he never got around to writing a script, but when he read about the experiences of real life vet Ron Kovic he decided to channel all of his ideas for Platoon II into Born On The Fourth Of July instead. This was a smart choice, with Born being one of Stones strongest movies and giving the world arguably Tom Cruises best performance as Kovic. Besides, Stone would later prove with Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps that sequels arent his forte.
