A few days ago, before the Oscar nominations were released, the trade papers dug up an Oliver Stone interview from June 2023. I have no idea why Stone’s interview didn’t make bigger waves at the time, but maybe it did and I wasn’t paying attention? In any case, back in June, Stone said that Ryan Gosling should focus on “more serious films” than Barbie and Gosling is “wasting his time if he’s doing that sh-t for money… He shouldn’t be a part of this infantilization of Hollywood. Now it’s all fantasy, fantasy, fantasy, including all the war pictures: fantasy, fantasy.” Once Deadline republished those comments, Stone quickly backtracked and gave Barbie a rave review:
After quotes from a 2023 interview with City AM recirculated and seemed to show Oliver Stone antagonizing Greta Gerwig’s movie, Stone wrote a post on social media to set the record straight.
Stone clarified he made the comments “before the film even came out” adding, “[a]t the time, I was busy promoting my nuclear documentary in Europe and had little to no knowledge of the project beyond its title.”
“I was able to see Barbie in a theater back in July and appreciated the film for its originality and its themes,” Stone said later in his statement. “I found the filmmakers’ approach certainly different than what I expected. I apologize for speaking ignorantly.”
Stone went on to praise Barbie’s director. “Greta Gerwig’s 2017 film Lady Bird was one of my favorites of that year,” he wrote. “Barbie’s box office greatly boosted the morale of our business, which was welcome. I wish Greta and the entire Barbie team good fortune at the Oscars.”
Stone had previously appeared to criticize the movie by saying that star Ryan Gosling should seek out different kinds of projects. “Ryan Gosling is wasting his time if he’s doing that s— for money,” the Wall Street filmmaker said last year. “He should be doing more serious films. He shouldn’t be a part of this infantilization of Hollywood. Now it’s all fantasy, fantasy, fantasy, including all the war pictures: fantasy, fantasy.”
I mean, fair enough – he admitted he was wrong and he spoke out of ignorance. While Stone backtracked before the Oscar nominations came out, it’s worth noting that Stone is an Oscar-winner who is part of the directors guild. Meaning, he’s part of the directors branch of AMPAS, the same branch which didn’t think Greta Gerwig deserved an Oscar nomination for her fantastic work in Barbie. It feels like there were probably lots of old white dudes who just saw Barbie as something silly, unserious and undeserving of Oscar nominations simply because it was made by and for women and girls.
My statement on #Barbie — @DEADLINE #GretaGerwig #BarbieMovie pic.twitter.com/ek0vquIu2f
— Oliver Stone (@TheOliverStone) January 23, 2024
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, poster courtesy of Warner Bros/Barbie.
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- Oliver Stone on the red carpet of the film Nuclear Now at the modern cinema. Rome (Italy), 4 December 2023. Credit photo,Image: 826739731, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Credit photo AllShotLive / Avalon
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- Oliver Stone attends ‘Nuclear Now’ documentary film screening, Rome, Italy – 04 Dec 2023,Image: 827244018, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Maria Laura Antonelli / AGF Foto / Avalon
I get his impulse in general- most of these toy movies have been awful (see: Transformers).
*But* if he is sooooo fond of Lady Bird, why didn’t he give her the benefit of the doubt? Greta Gerwig is not Michael Bay.
At least he publicly corrected his comments, I guess.
Ex-tech exec here, just wanted to say a common way for otherwise good people* to exhibit sexist behavior is exactly this – women never, ever get the benefit of the doubt.
*At 50+ years old, I have come to believe most people occasionally exhibit sexist behavior, even if it doesn’t fit their avowed beliefs, because sexism is so deeply baked into our culture.
Oh totally! Us women know exactly why he didn’t give her the benefit of the doubt. But yes I tend to agree, it so baked in its unconscious sometimes, sadly.
He stated he saw Barbie in July – so he’s full of $hit.
Yeah, glad he apologized, but he couldn’t just apologize, he had to criticize Deadline for their “sensationalist, out-of-context statement.”
Sir, they republished YOUR statement, so if it’s sensationalist, that’s your quote, thus your bad. And if the context it’s missing is “I hadn’t even seen the movie yet,” then maybe don’t trash talk movies or actors before you see the film/their work?!
Honestly, I was shocked that the movie, Greta or Margot are not nominated. I really expected them to get their deserved recognition. I don’t know why I was shocked- old white dudes will never fail to do what they do best which is suck.
Edit: I do know the movie is nominated…. typing too fast.
It really is shocking because Barbie was highest grossing movie of the year and it honored all the nuances of great film making (rather than just blowing up sh*t every three minutes) that people like Stone demand.
LaineyGossip had a weird take on the Gerwig-shut-out-of-Best-Director: Sarah at LaneyGossip claims this is because they opened Academy membership to more international directors and non-US directors just don’t understand how hard it is to get a movie like Barbie made, and misfires like this are a result of broader membership we need to learn to live with.
It was super weird because while that may be true – though I’d argue foreign directors probably have a good idea of how hard it is for outsiders to get Hollywood projects made! – as this CB article points out, it’s probably mostly because old white men like Oliver Stone are still biased in favor of movies by other old white men. Hence only one female director being nominated.
#OscarsStillSoOutOfTouch
His apology seems sincere. Also, Bumblebee is the exception to awful Transformer movies. I have nephews so saw it twice in the theater and loved it.
I have loved the newest Transformers (not so much the older ones). They are fun and light-hearted. What I am sick of is old white males like Stone making comments like this. He backtracked because of the backlash – he meant what he said. Considering that he saw the film in July it makes zero sense WHY he would say any of this if he didn’t actually mean it. No he said it because even though Greta created an amazing film it’s still not enough for the old white farts in the Academy. Stone should go back to making conspiracy his little films. Man hasn’t made a decent film in DECADES.
I also would like to add that a LOT of this feels like these old white men are JEALOUS of Barbie’s success. And I think this entire awards season has been about teaching the “girls a lesson” by shutting them out. Oppenheimer was a standard biopic sausage fest. Nothing extraordinary about it. Even by Nolan standards. And it didn’t do anywhere near as well as Barbie did at the box office. These male Academy members are using the Oscars as a “course correct” to make sure that “one of them” gets the final say. Nolan will waltz away with the Best Director and Best Film awards and they will all pat each other on the back.
The hollywood trade papers are sinking into tabloid nonsense.
While of course you’d love for him not to be a judgmental idiot in the first place, this is really what you want to see in the world. People are ignorant and biased and make mistakes all the freaking time, but how often does someone actually come out and say “Yup, my bad”? Not very often at all, usually you get people doubling down because they don’t want to accept a reality in which they were the bad guy.
Not everyone has to like Barbie 🤷🏻♀️ it’s not a personal attack on you and your tastes
@Kat the problem isn’t that he didn’t ‘like’ Barbie. The problem is that he didn’t ‘see’ Barbie but somehow felt that he had the authority to completely rubbish it, but felt zero compulsion to correct the record after seeing it (apparently) changed his mind.