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HIS LATEST attempt at ridiculous historical revisionism, “Alexander,” having met defeat at the box office, director Oliver Stone has sought a scapegoat for his failure: Americans. “Americans don’t read about ancient history like the Europeans. And in America there is a raging fundamentalism and morality,” Stone said last week in an attempt to explain his flop. “From day one the Bible Belt people did not show up because there was one phrase throughout the media and that was ‘Alex the gay.’” According to Stone, the “raging fundamentalism and morality” of Americans kept his film from doing well because we didn’t...

Alexander, 15 cert, 173 min Oliver Stone's Alexander limps to these shores as bloodied and bruised as its conquering hero, Alexander the Great, after the battle of Gaugamela in 331BC. Only without the victory. Barbs of gleeful scorn protrude from its back, the names of usually mild-mannered American critics attached. And that groaning you hear on the battlefield is the sound of Warner Bros accountants totting up the box-office takings. We'd heard much about the highlights in Colin Farrell's hair, which are admittedly distracting. And we'd heard that the movie was an outright disaster, which it is: lumpen, pedantic, agonisingly...

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...

LONDON — Director Oliver Stone (search) said he was surprised by the critical reaction to his historical epic "Alexander" (search) — 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 (search), 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...

Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005 8:40 a.m. EST Oliver Stone Blames His Flop on Christians Castro-loving movie director Oliver Stone refuses to take responsibility for the box-office and critical failure of his ludicrous bomb "Alexander." In fact, he "put the blame on the fundamentalist morality in some parts of the United States," the Associated Press reported today. American audiences' rejection of the terrible movie, whose low point is Angelina Jolie as a Freudian mother from hell vamping with snakes while talking in a Natasha Badenov accent, is a sign of "a raging fundamentalism in morality," Stone complained in London. "I was...

Director Oliver Stone turned on American critics and audiences on Wednesday, 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 U.S. invasion of Iraq (news - web sites) 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 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...

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...

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...

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

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...

Colin Farrell and director Oliver Stone have spoken out to defend new movie Alexander, which has been given a thorough kicking in the US. The £80m movie, which shocked America by portraying the Macedonian warrior king as 'Alex the gay', has only taken £18m across the pond. Stone, director of Platoon and Born On The Fourth Of July, said: "There's a raging fundamentalism in morality in the US. "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 the gay'. "I was quite taken aback by...

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...

SHIRAZ -- Some Iranians are up in arms again at the United States -- this time because of Hollywood’s version of Alexander the Great’s conquest of ancient Persia. According to Hassan Moussavi, who teaches history at Shiraz University, Oliver Stone’s latest blockbuster is merely the latest in a long line of affronts to the national esteem of the Persians. “There is not even any proof that this Alexander even existed,” asserted Moussavi, who said he was “fed up” with history’s ongoing fascination with the Macedonian king, who died in 323 BC at the age of 32 after capturing most of...

Alexander the Not So GreatBy Hugh Davies (Filed: 31/12/2004) The Hollywood film director Oliver Stone said yesterday that the flop in America of his £83 million production about Alexander the Great was 'dismaying', confessing that more people watched it on the opening weekend in Croatia 'than in the entire' Deep South. Mr Stone said: "I still think it's a beautiful movie, but Alexander deserves better than I gave him. There was clear resistance to his homosexuality. It became the headline to the movie. Oliver Stone talks to lead actor Colin Farrell on set "They called him Alexander the gay. That's...

Wednesday, December 29, 2004 MEDIA MATTERSHomosexual 'Alexander'on life supportWarner about to pull plug on $200 million 'gigantic fiasco'Posted: December 29, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Warner Brothers is about to give up on its $200 million epic depicting Alexander the Great as a homosexual. Colin Farrell, right, stars as Alexander the Great, with Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer as his parents. (Courtesy Warner Bros.) Fox News Entertainment columnist Roger Friedman says "Alexander," starring Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer, has become a "gigantic fiasco," the company's biggest since Kevin Costner's "The Postman" earned just $17 million. The film grossed just...

'Alexander' on Life Support Warner Brothers is about ready to pull the plug on Oliver Stone's "Alexander." The $200 million movie has become a gigantic fiasco, the company's biggest since Kevin Costner's "The Postman" took in only $17 million. "Alexander," which stars Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie and Val Kilmer, has only grossed $33.9 million. The sad fellow took in a little over $41,000 during the holiday weekend on its remaining (and paltry) 232 screens. That translates into $177 per show. Ouch! The remaining exhibitors who have had this dud are now entering their sixth week and will likely dump it....

Stone: Europe Will Appreciate 'Alexander' KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press PARIS - Director Oliver Stone says he's optimistic that his historical epic "Alexander" will do well in Europe after getting off to a disappointing start at home. "People in America are apathetic to ancient history - they are," Stone told reporters Thursday in Paris. "They don't study the classics like they do in Europe, so there is a significant difference in reaction. I know this because I've been in 12 foreign countries in the last month, to 12 openings." The director noted that his film - based on the life of...

Item: Entertainment Weekly’s lavish cover story for November 19 claims that Oliver Stone’s new movie, Alexander, about Alexander the Great, is “an honest, fairly explicit treatment of Alexander’s famous bisexuality.” “It wasn’t like Stone had taken historical liberties,” the article continues. “His rendering of Alexander’s life is … more or less in the mainstream of scholarly research. By most accounts Alexander did like men, women, and eunuchs — his best friend Hephaistion was his longtime lover.” Item: A New York Times article for November 20 entitled, “Breaking Ground With a Gay Movie Hero,” says of Stone’s film: “Historians of antiquity...

The consensus about Oliver Stone's Alexander is that the film's splashy gay motifs could not overcome the stilted dialogue, ludicrous Irish-brogue and Count Dracula accents, and excruciating minutes of dead screen time devoted to model-like poses, secretive eye contact, and soap-opera double entendres. Stone's apparent hope was that he could garner media hype by overt homosexual scenes of kissing and hugging, and by candor about same-sex relations: The world's first global conqueror was really more a sensitive and feminine creature of the bedroom and banquet hall than a great captain of blood and iron. In reality, the movie proved not...

Democrat chairman resigns after disappointing fall elections By The Associated Press After a series of stinging disappointments in this fall's congressional elections, the head of the Louisiana Democratic Party said Monday that he is stepping down from his leadership post. Party chairman Mike Skinner said his resignation would become effective at the next meeting of the Democratic State Central Committee early next year. Skinner, a former U.S. attorney in Louisiana, was elected chairman in March 2003, and that year the Democrats regained the Governor's Mansion with the election of Kathleen Blanco and held onto nearly every statewide elected position. But...