Natural Born Killers is a 1994 American satirical black comedy crime film directed by Oliver Stone and starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Sizemore, and Tommy Lee Jones. The film tells the story of two victims of traumatic childhoods who became lovers and mass murderers, and are irresponsibly glorified by the mass media. The film is based on an original screenplay by Quentin Tarantino that was heavily revised by Stone, writer David Veloz, and associate producer Richard Rutowski. Tarantino received a story credit. The film was released in August, 1994 in the United States, and also screened at the Venice Film Festival on the same year. It was a box office success, grossing over $50 million against a production budget of $34 million. Critics praised the cast’s performances, the humor, plot and combination of action and romance; some found the film too violent and graphic. Notorious for its violent content and inspiring “copycat” crimes, the film was named the eighth most controversial film in history by Entertainment Weekly in 2006.