Stone blames "fundamentalism" for Alexander's failure

[Chip R]

Gee, Oliver, maybe it wasn't because of that but it was because the movie was a stinker.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...e_oliver_stone

Stone Surprised by Poor Response to Epic

LONDON - Director Oliver Stone said he was surprised by the critical reaction to his historical epic "Alexander" — and put the blame on the fundamentalist morality in some parts of the United States.

Critics lambasted the film, which stars Irish actor Colin Farrell, and some conservative groups condemned Stone's depiction of the Macedonian conqueror's sexuality.

"I was quite taken aback by the controversy and fierceness of the reviews about a character we don't really know too much about," Stone told reporters in London Wednesday before the film's British premiere.

"I operate on my passion and sometimes I'm naive, I don't think about the consequences," he said.

Stone said the commercial failure of "Alexander" in the United States could be linked to "a raging fundamentalism in morality."

"From day one audiences didn't show up," he said. "They didn't even read the reviews in the South because the media was using the words, `Alex the gay.' As a result you can bet that they thought, `We're not going to see a film about a military leader that has got something wrong with him.'"

Stone, director of "Platoon," "JFK" and "Natural Born Killers," said "Alexander" was "the epic of my life."

"I'm very happy with the result and I think Colin's work is extraordinary," he said. "He's had some tough reviews but he'll ride it out."

Said Farrell: "If Oliver ever wanted to work with me again I would do it in a heartbeat."

[Redsland]

The fundies hated "Dogma," and it did okay.

[SunDeck]

Who'd he blame for Nixon?

[RedFanAlways1966]

Since when did Oliver Stone know anything about morality?

Yep... we all listen to and do what the papers tell us. Us non-Hollywood types are such simpletons. I wonder if poor-poor Oliver could have made the movie w/out being so graphic in the sexual portayals? Gosh (gotta watch those moral words) forbid that he would have done this. But some of us simpletons have learned that the Hollywood-types like to use shock-value to sell their crap. Guess it doesn't work all the time.

Poor-poor Oliver. Poor-poor Oliver....

[Chip R]

Since when did Oliver Stone know anything about morality?

Yep... we all listen to and do what the papers tell us. Us non-Hollywood types are such simpletons. I wonder if poor-poor Oliver could have made the movie w/out being so graphic in the sexual portayals? Gosh (gotta watch those moral words) forbid that he would have done this. But some of us simpletons have learned that the Hollywood-types like to use shock-value to sell their crap. Guess it doesn't work all the time.

Poor-poor Oliver. Poor-poor Oliver....

From what I've heard about the movie, he could have portrayed Alexander as straight as an arrow and it still would have been a bad movie.

[RedFanAlways1966]

From what I've heard about the movie, he could have portrayed Alexander as straight as an arrow and it still would have been a bad movie.

Oh man... that makes Oliver look like a real crybaby then, Chip. Of course there are a lot of "publications" in England looking to slam those moral Americans. YAWN!

[Johnny Footstool]

I read a review of "Alexander" which mentioned that the only depictions of homosexuality in the movie were some light kissing, a longing glance or two, and some wrestling-type "horseplay." Very tame.

Stone and his studio tried to play up these aspects of the movie to stir up controversy and get people to come see this overblown epic. For him to come out now and blame the fundamentalists is really pathetic.

[Chip R]

Oh man... that makes Oliver look like a real crybaby then, Chip. Of course there are a lot of "publications" in England looking to slam those moral Americans. YAWN!

Yeah he sure looks like a crybaby from my point of view. We'll see how it does in England. If it tanks there, who is he going to blame then?

[LvJ]

:MandJ: Okay, Olver.. Okay.

[Aceking]

I could tell from the trailer that it just looked "off" in some way. I think it's seeing Collin Farrell try to be taken seriously.

I dismissed it simply based on that, and imagine a lot of others did too.

Here's a link to the trailer:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/alexander/

[RosieRed]

I read a review of "Alexander" which mentioned that the only depictions of homosexuality in the movie were some light kissing, a longing glance or two, and some wrestling-type "horseplay." Very tame.

Stone and his studio tried to play up these aspects of the movie to stir up controversy and get people to come see this overblown epic. For him to come out now and blame the fundamentalists is really pathetic.

I haven't seen the movie, but I will when it comes out on DVD. (Hello, Jared Leto is in it!!) Anyway, all the press I read about the movie said there was no kissing between Alexander and Hephaestion.

[Chip R]

I haven't seen the movie, but I will when it comes out on DVD. (Hello, Jared Leto is in it!!) Anyway, all the press I read about the movie said there was no kissing between Alexander and Hephaestion.

I can just see you now using the zoom and single frame advance functions on the DVD when Jared Leto comes on.

[MuEconRedLeg]

I read a review of "Alexander" which mentioned that the only depictions of homosexuality in the movie were some light kissing, a longing glance or two, and some wrestling-type "horseplay." Very tame.

It was worse than that. Alexander and his male "companions" were constantly exchanging "glances", there we some over the top risqué moments, and every few minutes or so you are reminded that Alexander is gay in a variety of different ways.

And, I do not think the problem is that it was explicit or not explicit it was the nature of the relationships. Even Alexander's relationship with his wife was weird. It’s hard to explain, but it was alot like watching 8mm.

I thought was over the top, but I did not think the movie was that bad. I did, however, not like the fact that it was a movie about Alexander the Great and it only had two battle scenes. And, it portrayed his final battle in India as a loss, which it was not.

[Crumbley]

Oliver Stone is the worst. The football scenes in Any Given Sunday gave me roughly 376 seizures.

[Ravenlord]

From what I've heard about the movie, he could have portrayed Alexander as straight as an arrow and it still would have been a bad movie.

yep. Alexander is one of my few heroes and is really urinates me off that Stone screwed up what should have been a spectacular movie.