Director Oliver Stone believes Ryan Gosling should not be ‘spending his time’ on pictures like Barbie.
The Wall Street filmmaker, who has previously worked on JFK and wrote the 1983 masterpiece Scarface, has spoken out against the present condition of the film business, praising Ryan for his outstanding performance in Greta Gerwig’s doll-themed blockbuster.
Despite great appreciation for the ensemble and picture as a whole, as well as Ryan’s recent award triumph, Stone has accused the actor of contributing to Hollywood’s ‘infantilisation’.
He told City AM: ‘Ridiculous. Ryan Gosling is wasting his time if he’s doing that s**t for money. He should be doing more serious films.
‘He shouldn’t be a part of this infantilisation of Hollywood. Now it’s all fantasy, fantasy, fantasy, including all the war pictures: fantasy, fantasy.’
The moviemaker went on to take aim at the Fast and Furious franchise, arguing: ‘Even the Fast and Furious movies, which I used to enjoy, have become like Marvel movies. I mean, how many crashes can you see?’
Even gorgeous Keanu Reeves and his John Wick movie couldn’t avoid Stone’s wrath, as he said the picture put him to sleep.
‘On the plane I watched John Wick, which is three hours and some. And I fell asleep about 778 times during it,’ he claimed. ‘I kept waking up and having to face him killing more people. It’s like the world has degenerated into non-logic.’
Stone’s comments regarding Barbie came after Ryan’s co-star, Margot Robbie, downplayed the possibility of a sequel.
The 33-year-old actress played the main character and produced last summer’s successful film, but she said a sequel isn’t a priority for her or director Greta.
Margot told Variety: ‘It’s funny, that knee-jerk reaction in this day and age for everyone to immediately ask about a sequel. I don’t think it was like that 20 years ago. This wasn’t designed to be a trilogy.
‘Everything went into Barbie – and that’s how Greta works. She finishes every movie on empty, feeling like she could never make another movie because she put everything she had into that one.
‘So I don’t know what it would take to fill that cup up again for her. Or for us.’
