Posted on 01/05/2005 6:57:39 PM PST by deaconjim
LONDON (AFP) - Oscar-winning writer-director Oliver Stone blamed "raging fundamentalism in morality" for the frosty reception that his new film "Alexander" is getting in his native United States.
In London for its British premiere, Stone, 58, said that after a career full of cage-rattling work, he thought a biopic of Alexander the Great, the 4th century Macedonian-born conquerer, would be "a safe subject".
But he said he was "quite taken aback by the controversy and fierceness of the reviews" which greeted its US release, including outrage at the film's suggestion that Alexander was bisexual.
"Sexuality is a large issue in America right now, but it isn't so much in other countries," he said.
"There's a raging fundamentalism in morality in the United States. From day one audiences didn't show up. They didn't even read the reviews in the south because the media was using the words: 'Alex is Gay'."
"Alexander" stars Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie, both seen at the London premiere, but its US box office take so far has been less than a quarter of the 150 million dollars that it cost to make.
Of course he does.
He can't possibly grasp the fact that his films are crap.
Must be those evil, zombie-eyed fundies.
Maybe it's not about morality.
Maybe people just don't want to be reminded of asslove.
>lets see will and grace is a big hit
That's because Will and Grace is just freaking funny.
Gay or not gay.
That's a big step...but you need to take it...
FYI, the Richard Burton film "Alexander the Great" (1956) is available on DVD at Hollywood Video. (HV always comes up with the originals, whenever there's a remake.)
Poor Oliver.
He doesn't realize that it is him I don't like.
There for I won't be see any of this movies.
No morals to it!
But it's a good strategy to go to Europe and claim the film was too sophisticated for American prudes; that's sure to sell a few more tickets.
Poor Oliver. If he'd played his victim card skillfully he might have won an award at Cannes.
Looks like they are breaking down doors to see it overseas, wouldn't you say?
I suspect he was counting on protests and the lawsuit for free PR. DAMN those protesters for ignoring Oliver Stoned...
A Stone film that doesn't bad mouth and put down America, is just not a Stone film. Alexander's prefrences in sexual perversion didn't make the film a flop, everyone was just able to tell by the title, that it was not an America bashing film and if you're not going to have your country and your intelligence insulted, what's the point of viewing a Stone movie?
actually it seems just the opposite.
Based on the story it seems to have made about as much as the USA. Not good for Stoned.
Europeans men must not want to be seen going into a "gay" movie as much as american men.
Actually the end of "alexander the 'gay' " does contain a bush war attack. In addition the homosexual content and frauding history IS an attack on Americans. Especially with the 12 states that outlawed homosexual marriage via Marriage amendments.
This homosexual movie was pure stoned.
Have you seen it?
Sorry I was being sarcastic and not talented enough to show it in my writing.
I apologize.
My bad for not realizing it.
It only shows how poorly made the movie is when such mistakes can happen about this fiasco of a movie.
(It really seems like stone is panicking over the remaining 100 million this movie must make to break even.)
Maybe enough of these costly major flops will force some of these activist movie producers off their agenda trips.
This movie will be used to defray the costs of their money makers. My understanding is that they movies are released in groups and the distribution and "costs" are spread out accross all the movies. (this is how comming to america made no money)
The joke goes that the real creativity in hollywood is in the book keeping.
Stone is such a deceitful dickwad. This film was DESIGNED to be provocative in its marketing and the kind of buzz it WELCOMED, precisely because it would bring out not an anti-gay backlash but a kind of obligatory discussion of the rather confusing sexuality of Alexander. Thus, the parameters of discourse would be predicatably picked up by talking heads and guests of cable discussion shows, with the usual gay or lesbian spokesman of the week pontificating along the lines of
"Get over it, straight America, Alexander was GAY!!! Or at least BISEXUAL!!!" Now Stone can join the ranks of the lip-quivering Tim Robbins and The Dixie Chicks and Linda ROnstadt and other committed "artists" and luxuriate in being victimized by the Bush-directed "Chill". None of these people have any sense of irony or self-knowledge.
Stone is no better than the white version of Spike Lee.
Oliver, if you wanna make an epic, study the work of a real master, like
David Lean's LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Your film didn't find its audience, likely because it just wasn't very inspired, compelling,interesting, or well-made. In fact, without the Alexander/Sexuality angle, it might not even have done as well as it did.
That's right; the people of Greece hated it, too. But he's got to be true to the "blame America first" sentiment.
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