Here's a predictable plot: A world-famous director buys a mansion in the Hollywood Hills and immediately demands that his underlings bring forth a traditional screening room — an opulent show-place, sealed off from the rest of the house, complete with a hulking projector, Voice of the Theater-type speakers, leather recliners on shag-covered risers, red velvet curtains, and a touchscreen remote the size of most people's TV sets. Although this scenario has undeniably played out innumerable times in the homes of many filmmakers — auteurs and arrivistes alike — the world-famous director in question here is Oliver Stone and, true to form, his home theater proves to be anything but true to form. In fact, it's melded into the most open, socially active (and brightly lit) room of his house. But the driving force behind Stone's iconoclasm here isn't some need to shake up the domestic status quo, but a simple desire to keep things, well, simple. "I didn't want to have a projection room," says Stone. "That seems a little too Hollywood for me. You know, 'Let's all go into the projection room.' I don't want to force people to see a movie. But, if we have a few friends over to watch something, we can put, what, seven, 10 chairs in here and turn it into a little screening room."

Stone still prefers movie theaters for his primary viewing. "When I really want to see a film, I want to see the size and scope, the cinematography, the sense of theater and audience," he says. "I want to be part of a participatory event." But his home system gives him a chance to catch up on movies he doesn't have time to see in theaters. Just as important, it gives him a place to unwind. "It's not a movie theater, but it's very nice. I consider it just a main room, a family room. But it's also a place that makes viewing at home a bit elevated, a bit more sacred. It's relaxing after a hard day to enter another world."

While planning the renovation, Stone immediately realized what others have found out only through bruising experience — that having a separate home theater room can isolate you from the rest of the family and turn movie-watching into a chore. "There's a flow to the house from room to room, and it's important to keep that flow and not have a sequestered space," he says.

While most people would have next called in a custom installer, Stone needed someone who would be involved with every aspect of the home's renovation and design and be flexible enough to work with his demanding schedule. So he turned to "entertainment lifestyle specialist" Janna Robinson, who helps filmmakers, movie stars, and other celebrities figure out ways to make technology complement, rather than complicate, their lives.

Stone told Janna upfront that a dedicated home theater was out. "Oliver's whole thing is that he doesn't want to come off as pretentious," says Janna, "and he felt that it would be a little pretentious." It's fortunate the family room was a good fit for what Stone was looking for, because it turned out to be the only place in the house that would work. "The only other room was what later became the gym," says Janna, "but that was too small to do anything with, and it leads into the garage."

To do the installation, Janna brought in James Budow and his crew at Santa Barbara Performance Audio. Recalls James: "When Oliver first sat down to talk to us and I started explaining the options to him, he said, 'You're absolutely boring me now'." James soon realized that Stone didn't need to know all the minutiae but wanted to be fed just enough information to make an intelligent decision.

Also, it took a while to get Stone engaged in the installation because the job started around the time he began shooting World Trade Center. "But once he was done getting out that production, he was very involved," says James. "I can't say I wasn't intimidated, but when you ultimately nail him down, he's pretty easygoing."

Stone was especially concerned that the home theater be integrated into the room unobtrusively. "One of the first things he told me was, 'I have tons of books, so we need cabinets for them,' " says James. So he and Janna helped the cabinetmaker design a shelving unit where the books are dominant most of the time, but where the LG 60-inch plasma HDTV comes to the fore whenever it's on. "The LG sits seamlessly in that cabinet, with the rest of the gear hidden away," says James.

The one exception to the room's seamless integration is the four NHT Evolution L5 surround speakers. Most contemporary installations — even high-end ones — use in-wall or ceiling speakers for the surrounds, but this was one time where performance trumped invisibility. Since the Evolution M6 speakers for the front left, center, and right are essentially freestanding, resting on shelves in the bookcase, it was decided that in-wall or ceiling models couldn't effectively complement their sound — especially given the room's 14-foot ceilings. So the L5s were mounted on the sides of the soffit, arrayed in an arc behind the primary viewing position.

Not surprisingly, the decorators were aghast at the idea of having four large speakers hovering over the center of the room, but Stone sided with his installer. "The front of the room was so clean that we were able to get away with mounting them like that," says James. "I wouldn't change that for the world, and I don't think Oliver would either."

The system's electronics might be hidden in the bookcase, but they're nothing to be ashamed of, with the DVD player, preamps, and amps for the main system all hailing from Parasound's premier Halo line and with Russound gear handling the multiroom music chores. The cabinet also holds the outboard amps and crossovers for the NHT U2 subwoofers, which sit beneath the LG plasma along with the M6 center speaker.

The InFocus SP777 projector and 106-inch retractable Da-Lite screen were late additions. "Oliver is thrilled with the LG's performance," says Janna, "but he realized that the home theater would be a nice place for him to watch dailies, so we got the InFocus.

The room's wall of windows — leading into a solarium, no less — isn't exactly doing the TV or projector any favors. But Janna had a simple solution — a series of large, thick curtains on rods. Since this is Oliver Stone, though, they're closed not at the push of a button, but the old-fashioned way — by hand, one panel at a time. He also nixed the idea of using a remote to work the lights. "A standard Edison wall switch is the way the guy really operates," says James.

One piece of automation Stone did approve of is the motorized lift for the master bedroom's 32-inch LG LCD high-def set, which lets him watch TV in bed or rotate the set 180° so he can watch it from the sitting area on the other side of the room. Stone was initially skeptical about having a lift, but he was ecstatic when he found out it actually worked as advertised. "He had us come up to his bedroom," says James, "and he was sitting on the edge of the bed with the remote in his hand, saying, 'I'm pretty surprised, but this f—in' thing is working.' And I'm thinking, 'Right on, Oliver'."

Thanks to the bevy of high-end LG TVs, there are plenty of places in the house where Stone can watch movies, but he finds that he gravitates back to the family room because of the sound. "It's a rich sound," he says, "good and even."

Getting that sound to where Stone wanted it, though, took some tweaking. After spending a few days with the system, he found he didn't like the balance, so he called in James.

"He said, 'Go put on The Doors. Let me hear it with The Doors,'" remembers James. "And as we watched it, he said, 'I'm not getting enough volume from the rear surround. I just don't feel like I'm in the movie.' And then he started comparing it to how it sounded when they were editing it. You have Oliver Stone sitting right next to you watching this movie that he knows exactly how it should sound. So, of course he's absolutely correct."

You would think this most exacting of filmmakers would have encountered at least one serious problem with his system, but Stone says he's actually across-the-board thrilled with its performance. "I love the sound," he says. "I love the image on the LG and the InFocus; I love the sense of enclosed space. But at the same time, it's a very friendly room. People can party in here. And, since you can raise the screen, there's no sign of it." Pressed to find a flaw, Stone neatly parries the thrust, instead summing things up with a sly reference to his interrogator's employer: "I moved in not too long ago, so I'm furnishing still and figuring out angles and all that, but I love the sound and vision."

Equipment List

LG 60PY2DR 60-inch plasma HDTV with built-in DVR (family room) 50PC1DRA 50-inch plasma HDTV with built-in DVR (guest room) (4) 42PC1DA 42-inch plasma HDTVs (office, gym, mother's and child’s rooms) 32LC2D 32-inch LCD HDTV (master bedroom — in lift) 15LW1R 15-inch wireless LCD TV (used throughout the house) NHT (3) Evolution M6 speakers (front left, center, and right) (4) Evolution L5 speakers (left, right, and back surrounds) (2) Evolution U2 subwoofers, with outboard amps and crossovers InFocus SP777 three-chip 720p DLP projector Da-Lite Cinema Vision 106-inch retractable screen Parasound Halo D 3 universal disc player Halo C 1 preamp/surround controller Halo A 52 five-channel power amplifier Halo A 21 two-channel power amplifier (6) C 65 ceiling speakers (dining room, kitchen, master bedroom, and office) (2) C 280 in-wall speakers (living room, for multiroom music system) Russound CAV6.6 six-zone/12-channel amp (for master bedroom, living room, and kitchen speakers) R850MC four-zone/eight-channel amp (for the Russound rock speakers) UNO-TS2 Smart Color touchscreen controller (family room) (6) UNO-S2 keypads (master bedroom, living room, kitchen, and outdoors) SRC1 remote control (4) Russound OB-R6W rock speakers (pool/garden area) DirecTV HD 10-250 satellite receiver/HD DVR Onkyo DX-C380 six-disc CD changer Samsung SV-5000W World Wide Video VHS VCR Monster Cable Monster Power Signature Series HTPS 7000 MkII power conditioner M Series interconnect, optical audio, and video cables

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