The son of Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone reverted to Islam on Tuesday, February 14, in Iran. “The conversion to Islam is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism, which I was born with,” filmmaker Sean Stone told reporters.
“It means I have accepted Muhammad and other prophets.”
The 27-year-old pronounced the Shahadah (proclamation of faith) in the Iranian city of Isfahan.
Sean, whose famous father is Jewish and mother is Christian, did not say why he reverted to Islam.
Iran’s Fars news agency said he had become a Shiite and taken the Muslim first name Ali.
Sean has acted in minor roles in several of his father’s films, and has directed a handful of documentaries.
Stone, the father, is a famous American film director, producer and screenwriter.
He became well known in the 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War.
Stone has received three Academy Awards.
Iran Supporter
Stone’s son has been a staunch supporter of Iran against the West.
In an interview with TheWrap at the Toronto Film Festival in September, he supported Iran’s right to a nuclear program as a defense against threats from Israel, Reuters reported.
He said criticizing the Iranian government is “like someone coming to your house and saying the father shouldn’t hit the kids,” he said.
“Who are we to tell them how to rule their country?”
“Iran is ruled by law,” said Sean. “People don’t like (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad, but that doesn’t warrant a war or an uprising.”
Sean, who studied history at Princeton, has launched a coproduction company to make movies based on Iranian history and culture.
He said in September that he wants to make films in Iran, “because they’re the biggest filmmakers in the Middle East, I’m very international-minded.”
His father has also happily taken political positions often seen as outside the American mainstream, by defending Cuban leader Fidel Castro and anti-American Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.