# Oliver Stone: "Republican Fundies Made My Film Flop!"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 6, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412 "2005-01-06T17:09:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/1 "2005-01-06T17:09:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> LONDON (AP) – 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. 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.’”
. . . Now, I hate right-wing fundies as much as anyone, Ollie, but it couldn’t be because, umm, just maybe, your film _sucked?_
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### Author:  [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/2 "2005-01-06T17:12:14Z")
You mean the public was tricked away from your obvious greatness, Mr Stone?
Yep it must be a conspiracy. You are no hack sir, so the Fundies must be up to some plot. (Plot would have been a good idea in that monstrosity by the way, Mr Stone)
You know maybe you could wip up a new Conspiracy movie out of it.
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### Author:  [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/3 "2005-01-06T17:15:22Z")
From the movie’s star, Colin Farrell: “ **The film is a draining experience to watch.** It’s loaded with mythology, icons, symbolism and destiny. My friends have watched the film and said: ‘Jesus Christ it’s not exactly Gladiator.’” (bolding mine).
I think Colin summed it up nicely!
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### Author:  [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/4 "2005-01-06T17:30:44Z")
Hmmmm. Methinks even that backhanded coment gives the film too much credit.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/5 "2005-01-06T17:38:35Z")
To be fair, Stone’s statements don’t seem to me to add up to anything like “Right-wing fundies made my film flop.” It sounds to me like he’s blaming the critics for concentrating on Stone himself (and Alexander’s sexuality) instead of just reviewing the movie.
For the record, I saw \*Alexander \* and loved it. It’s not an action film , but rather a character study and a questioning look at the idea of militarty conquest (is it ever justified?). Stone presents Alexander’s strengths and weaknesses, his triumphs and failures, and lets the viewer judge.
It deserved, IMHO, to be a big hit–but then, so did _Sky Captain_.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/6 "2005-01-06T19:41:07Z")
The problem was that the movie didn’t suck. Jared Leto going down on Colin Farrell would have been a relief from all the silly Freudian symbolism.
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### Author:  [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/7 "2005-01-06T19:57:10Z")
I think Alexander is suffering the same fate as [Caligola](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080491/). The movie may seem like its mythical and legendary but it is in fact rather down to earth. Everything bad that can happen eventually does and the director didn’t concern himself too much with protecting viewers from overt sexuality (which i might add is well on par with the violence and doesn’t really stand out that much). The fact is Alexander’s is a looong story with many moments of boredom, tension and fear. So when the film about Alexander contains all those I think it speaks for it rather then against it. After watching Gladiator what do I know about that Maximus dude? That he was a generic action hero. After watching Alexander I know a lot about his reasons, motivations and generally why he did what he did. As far as this one goes - screw the critics it could have been much worse.
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/8 "2005-01-06T20:12:01Z")
I read his interview in Playboy and concluded that he is just plain old nuts.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/9 "2005-01-06T21:23:36Z")
The defeat of **Alexander** in the theaters was inevitable – after all, it was going up against **The Incredibles.** 😃
(Oliver Stone vs. Pixar? Sorry, Ollie…)
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### Author:  [@shadowfax33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shadowfax33)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/10 "2005-01-06T22:04:00Z")
> [@Walloon](#):
>
> The problem was that the movie didn’t suck. Jared Leto going down on Colin Farrell would have been a relief from all the silly Freudian symbolism.
::spew::
Thanks for the Diet Dr. Pepper on my screen. 😃
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### Author:  [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2005, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/11 "2005-01-07T00:56:21Z")
> [@Khadaji](#):
>
> I read his interview in Playboy and concluded that he is just plain old nuts.
I came to that conclusion after watching JFK.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2005, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/12 "2005-01-07T01:04:21Z")
This movie got a truly hilarious bitch-slapping in that noted right-wing fundamentalist journal _The New Yorker_.
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### Author:  [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2005, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/13 "2005-01-07T01:37:17Z")
Who are you going to believe: Stone, or [144 out of 168 film critics?](http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/alexander/)
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### Author:  [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/14 "2005-01-07T02:01:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> For the record, I saw Alexander and loved it. It’s not an action film , but rather a character study and a questioning look at the idea of militarty conquest (is it ever justified?). Stone presents Alexander’s strengths and weaknesses, his triumphs and failures, and lets the viewer judge.
> It deserved, IMHO, to be a big hit–but then, so did Sky Captain.
While I certainly noticed where the film was headed, I didn’t think that’s why it sucked. I say it sucked because it was well-acted but poorly edited/directed. The battles were a total loss, the film lacked any unifying theme, and Alexander, while interesting in himself, had no real relationship to anything or anyone else in the movie. The chronological bumps could have been used well, but, well, weren’t.
Ironically, I don’t exactly favor homosexuality, but the homsexual aspect was arguably the most entertaining part of the movie, simply because the rest was so ill-used. By the end I felt like I didn’t know any character in the movie except his parents.
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/15 "2005-01-07T02:47:32Z")
> [@faldureon](#):
>
> The fact is Alexander’s is a looong story with many moments of boredom, tension and fear.
The alternative would have been to do as Martin Scorsese did with Howard Hughes: portrayed a middle section of the character’s life, with a brief flashback to his childhood and some foreshadowing of his ultimate fate\* (and excised Hughes’ homosexuality entierly).
Even if Stone had done this, we’d still have been subjected to Angelina Jolie sounding like Natasha Fatale from _Bullwinkle_, but lost Brian Blessed’s cameo.
\*Stone kept showing an what looked like an eagle soaring above the deathbed, even though Alexander died from an infected mosquito bite. Man, they must have some big bugs over there!
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### Author:  [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/16 "2005-01-07T03:52:55Z")
How does Stone explain those of us who _do_ “favor homosexuality” but still had no interest in seeing the movie?
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### Author:  [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2005, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/17 "2005-01-07T04:40:40Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#):
>
> How does Stone explain those of us who _do_ “favor homosexuality” but still had no interest in seeing the movie?
Alexander wasn’t gay ENOUGH?
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### Author:  [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2005, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/18 "2005-01-07T05:45:13Z")
> [@Eve](#):
>
> "They didn’t even read the reviews in the South because the media was using the words, `Alex the gay.’
Well, that might have _helped_ (or rather, “not helped”). But I don’t think fundies would go see an Oliver Stone film anyway. It’s not like Stone has a “Disney-like” reputation for quality, family filmmaking.
But no… the main reason “we in the South” didn’t read the reviews (or see the movie) is because Oliver Stone hasn’t directed a good film since 1988 (_Talk Radio_), or possibly 1995 (_Nixon_).
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2005, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/19 "2005-01-07T11:41:35Z")
> [@Eve](#):
>
> . . . Now, I hate right-wing fundies as much as anyone, Ollie, but it couldn’t be because, umm, just maybe, your film _sucked?_
Maybe he secretly hates left-wing homos, and produced a bad film on purpose.
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### Author:  [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oliver-stone-republican-fundies-made-my-film-flop/283412/20 "2005-01-07T14:57:46Z")
I’m a right-wing fundy by SDMB standards & I’m disappointed my local theatre didn’t get ALEXANDER. (I asked the Mgr & he said the company decided the abundance of family films out would do better business so they were held over & thus no room was made for Alexander.)
If I avoided Entertainment Media because of my politics or homophobia, I’d hardly see anything! _L_
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