Oliver Stone laments 'Alexander the gay'

World Net Daily ^ | Jan 1, 2005 | (none)

[BobL]

Oliver Stone laments 'Alexander the gay'

Director admits: 'There was clear resistance to his homosexuality'

© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

Hollywood director Oliver Stone is lamenting the poor box-office performance of his latest film "Alexander," citing the homosexuality of the lead character as one of the detrimental factors.

Colin Farrell, right, stars as Alexander the Great, with Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer as his parents. (Courtesy Warner Bros.)

"I still think it's a beautiful movie, but Alexander deserves better than I gave him," Stone said, according to the London Telegraph. "There was clear resistance to his homosexuality. It became the headline to the movie. They called him Alexander the gay. That's horribly discriminatory, but the film simply didn't open in the Bible Belt."

Stone, who also directed films including "Nixon" and "JFK," said he should have sliced the length of his latest movie from three hours down to 2 and a half, "and taken out the homosexuality for the U.S. market and for countries sensitive to such things, like Korea or Greece."

"Kids weren't comfortable with men who hugged, a king who cries and expresses tenderness," he added.

"Alexander," which recounts the life and times of the famed Macedonian conqueror, has been unable to slay the public despite a $195 million budget and well-known stars including Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer.

The film has raked in $33.9 million in its sixth week, grossing just $41,000 on only 232 screens over the Christmas holiday weekend, translating into $177 per show.

As WorldNetDaily previously reported, reviews for the film have been harsh to say the least.

Reviewer Jeffery Westfoff of the Northwest Herald in Crystal Lake, Ill., wrote "'Alexander' often seems a couple of heartbeats away from turning into a gay porno film."

Philip Wuntch of the Dallas Morning News said, "'Alexander' has aspirations of greatness, hoping to be christened an intellectual super-spectacle for brainy moviegoers. The sad truth is that it will probably numb more brain cells than it will stimulate."

Wuntch notes that in the film, "Alexander prefers the after-hours company of men, considering women to be necessary primarily for reproductive reasons. His true soul mate is boyhood companion Hephaistion [Jared Leto], to whom he says softly, 'I'm nothing without you.' They never exchange an onscreen kiss, but their eyes constantly caress each other."

[BobL]

This has to rank among the dumbest marketing decisions in this Red-State year. I don't go to many movies these days, but I was planning to go to this one, until finding out there there was a political agenda behind it. If you took out the gay scenes, this movie could have easily been a top contender - and, other than a few historians, who would have cared.

I just have to wonder how long the studios are going to put up with this garbage - making a real expensive, top quality film, and then letting the director sabotage it.

[Always Right]

Having Angelina Jolie in the film and making the lead character gay is about as dumb of a film making move you can make.

[Always Right]

[eccentric]

"Kids weren't comfortable with men who hugged,

Wasn't it rated 'R'? I guess they market to 'kids' anyway.

How terrible of us to be more interested in Alexander's conquests than his love life.

[Voltage]

and well-known stars including Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer.

Sorry..I have never heard of any of them. Hollywood doesn't get a dime of mine.

[SkyPilot]

Oliver Stone is one of the worst directors in Hollywood. He soared to fame with his military hating movie "Platoon"--and has been downhill ever since. Anyone see the jumbled, confusing, and horrible "The Doors?"

Awful movie.

Now he wastes $200 million by making a movie even worst than "Christmas with the Kranks."

[darkwing104]

He just can't admit that he makes lousy movies. All he is doing now is making excuses...

[DirtyHarryY2K]

Homosexual Agenda Ping.

Hollywood director Oliver Stone is lamenting the poor box-office performance of his latest film "Alexander," citing the homosexuality of the lead character as one of the detrimental factors.

DUH! People are not going to pay money to see revisionist history mixed with homosexual perversion.

If you want on/off the list let me know.

[evolved_rage]

Hey Oliver Stone, enjoy your dustbin! But make make lots of room for Michael Moore. You Hollywidiots!

[Tom Bombadil]

Oliver Stone laments

He's sad, too bad.

Oliver Stone needs to get another life. Maybe if he went to live among evangelical christians for a while. Then he could make a movie called "Dances with Sheep".

Except that he would probably make the christians in his movie all gay.

[mountaineer]

Yet Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ" was criticized by some liberals as a sort of homoerotic glorification of sadomasochism, go figure.

[Aetius]

This was but just one of the movie's problems, but as far as the sexuality goes, Stone put too much emphasis on it. And yes, the gayish scenes were creepy. Most people, no matter which state they live in, don't want to see that.

Though I don't always agree with him, Victor Davis Hanson does an excellent job of pointing out just how Stone went wrong in both his presentation and focus on Alexander's sexuality, and his lack of emphasis on more interesting aspects to the Macedonian's incredible life.

[Tax Government]

They called him Alexander the gay. That's horribly discriminatory,

Oliver Stone: Speaking the truth is not discriminatory.

[Drango]

Mrs Drango and I saw Aviator yesterday. Almost walked out, but we were to numb with sleep. Worst movie of the decade.

[spodefly]

"Kids weren't comfortable with men who hugged, a king who cries and expresses tenderness," he added.

Because everyone knows that only homosexuals can cry and express tenderness, and the only time men might hug is when they have designs on each others ass. Stone is an idiot.

[BobL]

"Wasn't it rated 'R'? I guess they market to 'kids' anyway."

You're right about the R rating, but I never got far enough to check that.

But think of this. A Walmart worker will spend a couple of years in jail for stealing a $10 DVD, whereas Oliver essentially stole $100M from his production company by portraying Alexander as gay. And Oliver is still considered a "Great Director" by the MSM.

[evenstar_04]

I disagree with the idea that the gay stuff ruined the movie. Remove it all and I still hated the film. I think it was a huge mistake to cast Colin Farrell as Alexander. He's just not a convincing leader. And the way it was sequenced was HORRIBLE! The way they took you from boyhood to battle scene, then threw you back and see his rise to power was completely pointless. And all the accents! Jeez! Jolie was what, Russian? And that was the most black Asian wife I've ever seen!

[xzins]

I still don't buy that the guy was gay.

I've never seen the evidence. Someone always says "there's all kinds of Greek citations showing he was gay."

But then they never provide them. I want to see them.

[RtWngr]

Oliver the Stoned

[BobL]

"This was but just one of the movie's problems, but as far as the sexuality goes, Stone put too much emphasis on it..."

Well stated post. A smarter move may have been to cut out the cuddles (as I understand the movie), and just use some winks and clever camera angles - keep the audience guessing (if they even cared). At least more Red-Staters (and like-minded Blue-staters) could have tolerated that.