LONDON: Director Oliver Stone has turned on American critics and audiences, saying they had focused solely on the issue of homosexuality in Alexander, his big-budget epic that portrays the Macedonian hero as bisexual.
He also blamed the United States invasion of Iraq for the movie's poor performance at the box office, arguing that people were distracted by comparisons between Alexander the Great's forays into the Middle East and President George W Bush.
"The homosexuality thing was a buzzword and got all around," Stone told Reuters Television in London at the film's British premiere.
"It was a hot button issue and I think it got overblown. 'Alexander the Gay' - I mean, it's ridiculous."
Greek lawyers had threatened to sue Warner Bros and Stone for depicting Alexander the Great as bisexual but dropped efforts to have the film banned after admitting that it did not contain the explicit scenes they had feared.
US critics also questioned whether a world conqueror with dyed blond hair and waxed legs would be able to attract people to theatres, while one newspaper called it a case of Queer Eye for the Macedonian Guy.
Irishman Colin Farrell, in the title role, has defended as historically accurate his portrayal of Alexander, who carved out an empire stretching from the Mediterranean to Afghanistan in the fourth Century BC
He said the reaction to the film in America as "shocking", but he expected the response in Europe and Asia to be better.
Stone, a three-time Oscar winner and director of acclaimed films including Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July, said his latest venture had fallen victim to events in Iraq.
"Because Alexander at times sounds like George (W) Bush, (people) get the two confused," he said.
"I think it makes people feel queasy about empire and the concepts that Alexander espoused but Alexander was not attacking the east in order to drain it of its resources. He stayed in the east."
Alexander, which cost an estimated $US150 million ($NZ216.7 million) to make, also stars Angelina Jolie and Anthony Hopkins.
Gee, it couldn't have bombed because the word of mouth was that it sucked ass, could it?
Nah, it's got to be Bush's fault somehow.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."- General Sir Charles Napier
I stayed away from it after hearing about it from a friend who was dragged to it by his girlfriend.
Homo or bi doesn't matter to him, like me he's one of those people who simply doesn't give a damn what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their home.
He doesn't watch the news or really show any concern for foreign affairs.
He said it blew and I believe him since we pretty much have identical tastes in movies, games, and music.
SD.net is hardly a hotbed of GWB worshipping fundamentalism, yet it seems the consensus in this thread was that the movie sucked.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."- General Sir Charles Napier
Yeah I'm not buying his horseshit. I'm most definetely not a Dubya fan, but, that was by far, the worst movie I saw all year.
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The movie's problem is it assassinated history and it WAS about Alexander the GAY instead of Alexander the Great. It didn't have to do with his leadership, power, military genius and showing these things. It didn't show him slashing the Gordian Knot. Practically the only special thing it had was an Irishman who couldn't cover his accent eying random men for sex for over two hours.
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Is it to much to ask to see what made Alexander the Great, great? Namely Kicking Persia ass? How about it Oliver? Can I get the truely momentious occasions in his life? The ones where he shaped the course of history? Can I get the moments forever inscribed in legend?
LONDON: Director Oliver Stone has turned on American critics and audiences, saying they had focused solely on the issue of homosexuality in Alexander, his big-budget epic that portrays the Macedonian hero as bisexual.
He also blamed the United States invasion of Iraq for the movie's poor performance at the box office, arguing that people were distracted by comparisons between Alexander the Great's forays into the Middle East and President George W Bush.
"The homosexuality thing was a buzzword and got all around," Stone told Reuters Television in London at the film's British premiere.
"It was a hot button issue and I think it got overblown. 'Alexander the Gay' - I mean, it's ridiculous."
...
Stone, a three-time Oscar winner and director of acclaimed films including Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July, said his latest venture had fallen victim to events in Iraq.
"Because Alexander at times sounds like George (W) Bush, (people) get the two confused," he said.
"I think it makes people feel queasy about empire and the concepts that Alexander espoused but Alexander was not attacking the east in order to drain it of its resources. He stayed in the east."
OK, Ollie, you need to put down the crack-pipe and check-in to Betty Ford for a little lie-down. Do you worlds of good.
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This isn't the first piece of drivel Stone has produced and it isn't likely to be the last. JFK, Natural Born Killers anyone? Not that any good conspiracy nut should take responsibility for his movie sucking.
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Well, he's right on the button about Alexander and Bush getting compared all the time. I'm so sick of people trotting out that line of nonsense. Even worse are the ones who can't even tell the difference between them, like all the people emailing me about how Stone was doing a 'Bush movie'.
I'm glad at least one public figure is taking a stand against it.
Illuminatus Primus wrote:The movie's problem is it assassinated history and it WAS about Alexander the GAY instead of Alexander the Great. It didn't have to do with his leadership, power, military genius and showing these things. It didn't show him slashing the Gordian Knot. Practically the only special thing it had was an Irishman who couldn't cover his accent eying random men for sex for over two hours.
They actually had the other "greeks" doing Colin's accent because he couldn't get there all the way on his own. I mean seriously, show him crossing the Bosporous, or the Gordion knot, or when he handed that Persian guy's ass to him... in a non-gay way;)
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Guess what, you stupid cocksucker, it wasn't just red America that rejected your piece of shit movie, it was the entire fucking country.
What a loser. I hope he never makes a movie again, because his pathetic endgame is a perfect ending to his once-vibrant career. He really has come full circle.
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I'm studying for the CPA exam. Have a nice summer, and if you're down just sit back and realize that Joe is off somewhere, doing much worse than you are.
Come on Oliver. If you want to be a shock jock, come out and say so. One smooch to Hephaestion and we know which way he swings.
"My movie isn't about him being gay!"
Insert nth number scene with Hephaestion here. Insert persian guy lap dance here. Insert nth number crying hug here.
Afterthought! Insert plot devoid sex scene with Afghani princess here. Now zoom in on those titties!
Don't show him crushing the greeks, crossing the Granicus, storming Tyre jumping the wall first in India. And, turn it into a great, moralising crusade in the bargain. Make the implied purpose of his army to spread knowledge and freedom at the point of a sarissa.
Great writing really.
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What worries me is that this "homophobic, Bush-loving America rejected my movie!" meme will spread throughout the foreign media and make other poor souls more likely to go see the movie. Say what you will about America, at least we quickly disposed of Alexander. I hope the rest of the world does the same.
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I'm studying for the CPA exam. Have a nice summer, and if you're down just sit back and realize that Joe is off somewhere, doing much worse than you are.
Ollie is one of those protected directors that I bitched about in my thread. Critics will invariably find SOMETHING to latch onto in his movies to make it sound like he's not the talentless turd he is. Constant little things like 'daring' and 'mesmerizing' are used in reviews for this movie but those words mean NOTHING without something like talent to back it up. I could have called The Village 'gripping' but it means nothing. It just makes a bad movie sound interesting.
And the sad part is that scumbag here in an interview just a few weeks ago predicted his movie would not do well and that he fully expected it to flop because people wouldn't 'get it' but that didn't bother him. Obvioulsy it now did because maybe some of these fucking studios will wake up and relegate him to directing soft drink ads for movie theatres.
This fucker has spent his entire career sitting on the laurels of Platoon and no one had had the balls to call him on his deranged artistic 'vision'. You know what Ollie, just because you dropped some acid back in the day does not mean I want to feel like I'm on an acid trip when I see your films ass.
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Joe wrote:What worries me is that this "homophobic, Bush-loving America rejected my movie!" meme will spread throughout the foreign media and make other poor souls more likely to go see the movie. Say what you will about America, at least we quickly disposed of Alexander. I hope the rest of the world does the same.
I'm more worried about it leading to even more whack-a-loon behaviour out of Hollywood. Already some tend to believe Bush is the font of all that's ill in the world. The last thing we need is more, and worse, crap like that.
A poor attempt to get the far left backing the movie. "But OMG Republican America hates it and it features gays, we are programmed, I uh mean moraly oblidged to defend and promote this movie"
I predict an Oliver stone movie within the next few years on how the Bush administration has a secret agenda to oppress his movies and financially ruin him. The movie, it goes without saying, will suck so bad that no one will want to see it in the first place.
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Can he really blame an overly conservative attitude in America for his movie's bombing, when Fahrenheit 9/11 made $120 million? I mean, Alexander couldn't possibly have bombed because it was three hours long, and had people saying it stank before it even came out.
He can't really blame it in the sense that it is the sole culprit, but he still might argue that it hurt the box-office, and it probably did. The slightest whiff of homosexual undertones in the film's reviews might drive away a substantial portion of the viewing audience who normally flock to opening weekends of big-name movies regardless of critical reviews.
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Joe wrote:What worries me is that this "homophobic, Bush-loving America rejected my movie!" meme will spread throughout the foreign media and make other poor souls more likely to go see the movie. Say what you will about America, at least we quickly disposed of Alexander. I hope the rest of the world does the same.
I second that. Hollywood has just gotten worse since the 60's--Gladiator, the best of the new movies by far, still doesn't hold a candle to The Fall of the Roman Empire, which was based on the exact same subject material, in terms of realism. This movie is just pure crap and any attempt to pin its failure on anything except Stone's incompetency is obfuscation.
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On the one hand, Stone just makes you shake your head on this kind of thing.
On the other hand, you have to suspect that it's purely a publicity stunt on his part ... his cameo in the movie "Dave" where he spoofs his own conspiracy-theory nuttiness was classic.
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Darth Wong wrote:He can't really blame it in the sense that it is the sole culprit, but he still might argue that it hurt the box-office, and it probably did. The slightest whiff of homosexual undertones in the film's reviews might drive away a substantial portion of the viewing audience who normally flock to opening weekends of big-name movies regardless of critical reviews.
It might have, but we'll never really know to what extent.
Tom Hanks's Philadelphia did $12 million on opening weekend (total US gross $77 million) back in 1993. That's not bad at all, so homosexual undertones aren't necessarily the kiss of death.
I originally wanted to go see the movie.
The word of mouth here and on a couple of other boards convinced me to save my money.
I suspect a lot of people who might have gone to see it were like me; warned off by others who had seen it first.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."- General Sir Charles Napier
