Vladimir Putin apologist Oliver Stone is bemoaning the state of the world, and as evidence he cited the filmmaking choices of actors like Ryan Gosling and Keanu Reeves.
In a non-sequitur-filled interview with City AM, the longtime movie director and medium-time crank alleged that by agreeing to play Ken in Barbie, Gosling contributed to the “infantilization of Hollywood.”
“Ryan Gosling is wasting his time if he’s doing that shit for money. He should be doing more serious films. He shouldn’t be a part of this infantilization of Hollywood,” Stone said. The man whose film JFK to advanced conspiracy theories about the assassination of a US president then complained that because of people like Gosling, cinema today is “all fantasy, fantasy, fantasy, including all the war pictures: fantasy, fantasy.”
Stone later issued an apology for “speaking ignorantly” in his comments about Barbie in a social media statement posted on January 22nd. “At the time, I was busy promoting my nuclear documentary in Europe and had little to no knowledge of the project beyond its title,” he wrote, giving context to the June 2023 interview.
Stone continued by saying, “I was able to see Barbie in a theater back in July and appreciated the film for its originality and its themes. I found the filmmakers’ approach certainly different than what I expected. I apologize for speaking ignorantly.”
He also praised director Greta Gerwig’s breakout 2017 film Ladybird as “one of my favorites of that year” and acknowledged the box office impact of Barbie before wishing the entire team “good fortune at the Oscars.”
