Oliver Stone apologized for his ignorant comments about Barbie & Ryan Gosling

A few days ago, before the Oscar nominations were released, the trade papers dug up an Oliver Stone interview from June 2023. I have no idea why Stone’s interview didn’t make bigger waves at the time, but maybe it did and I wasn’t paying attention? In any case, back in June, Stone said that Ryan Gosling should focus on “more serious films” than Barbie and Gosling is “wasting his time if he’s doing that sh-t for money… He shouldn’t be a part of this infantilization of Hollywood. Now it’s all fantasy, fantasy, fantasy, including all the war pictures: fantasy, fantasy.” Once Deadline republished those comments, Stone quickly backtracked and gave Barbie a rave review:

After quotes from a 2023 interview with City AM recirculated and seemed to show Oliver Stone antagonizing Greta Gerwig’s movie, Stone wrote a post on social media to set the record straight.

Stone clarified he made the comments “before the film even came out” adding, “[a]t the time, I was busy promoting my nuclear documentary in Europe and had little to no knowledge of the project beyond its title.”

“I was able to see Barbie in a theater back in July and appreciated the film for its originality and its themes,” Stone said later in his statement. “I found the filmmakers’ approach certainly different than what I expected. I apologize for speaking ignorantly.”

Stone went on to praise Barbie’s director. “Greta Gerwig’s 2017 film Lady Bird was one of my favorites of that year,” he wrote. “Barbie’s box office greatly boosted the morale of our business, which was welcome. I wish Greta and the entire Barbie team good fortune at the Oscars.”

Stone had previously appeared to criticize the movie by saying that star Ryan Gosling should seek out different kinds of projects. “Ryan Gosling is wasting his time if he’s doing that s— for money,” the Wall Street filmmaker said last year. “He should be doing more serious films. He shouldn’t be a part of this infantilization of Hollywood. Now it’s all fantasy, fantasy, fantasy, including all the war pictures: fantasy, fantasy.”

[From EW]

I mean, fair enough – he admitted he was wrong and he spoke out of ignorance. While Stone backtracked before the Oscar nominations came out, it’s worth noting that Stone is an Oscar-winner who is part of the directors guild. Meaning, he’s part of the directors branch of AMPAS, the same branch which didn’t think Greta Gerwig deserved an Oscar nomination for her fantastic work in Barbie. It feels like there were probably lots of old white dudes who just saw Barbie as something silly, unserious and undeserving of Oscar nominations simply because it was made by and for women and girls.

My statement on #Barbie — @DEADLINE #GretaGerwig #BarbieMovie pic.twitter.com/ek0vquIu2f

— Oliver Stone (@TheOliverStone) January 23, 2024

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, poster courtesy of Warner Bros/Barbie.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmcW1kaX95e86loK%2BdopTAtbvNnpaaqJ%2BhvKi12Z6bmJ6fp6yptdKYoKCmn6eur8C%2BnKampZWjwbSrwJumrqyPl66zrsielquxkaOsqLvSpaCnn18%3D