Oliver Stone's feature film Savages is based on the novel of the same name by American writer Don Winslow. Interestingly, Winslow actually helped contribute to the screenplay for the feature along with his collaborator, Shane Salerno, and Stone himself.
Published in 2010, Winslow's 13th novel tells the tale of two young pot-farmers who grew (pun intended) to become some of the most famous dealers in the country from the sunny shores of Laguna Beach, California. When the two "heroes"—one a brilliant botanist, the other a soulless ex-SEAL—provoke a Mexican drug cartel by refusing to play ball with their notoriously violent organization, the cartel kidnaps Ophelia (a.k.a. "O"), the protagonists' girlfriend, whom they share in a type of communal triangle.
The plot deals heavily with the growing gap between generations—even in the seedy midst of organized crime, which the younger generation makes much less intense—and the ways in which the "new language" of the West Coast clashes against previous archetypes.
Winslow also recently published a prequel to the book: The Kings of Cool.
Born to a librarian and a Navy officer in a beach town in Rhode Island, Winslow grew up listening to his father's stories from service. And with many of his father's fellow servicemen popping in and out and sharing their own tales, it wasn't long before Winslow developed a great love of storytelling. After graduating in African History from the University of Nebraska, he moved back to his birthplace of New York City and began a long string of varying occupations: a manager of a chain of movie theaters, private investigation and, after returning to school to get his Master's in Military History, led safaris in Kenya and led hikes in China.
Shortly after, he began writing full-time and found eventual success with his breakout novel, The Death and Life of Bobby Z, which was adapted to the screen in 2007 by John Herzfeld and starred Paul Walker and Laurence Fishburne.
~Devin Garabedian