As with other industry insiders like director Paul Schrader and actor Brian Cox, Olivier Pierre These are not exactly minced words. The three-time Oscar winner has always spoken clearly and clearly about his political ideals and also, in general, on everything that arises in relation to the current cinematographic scene. For this reason, the political and the artistic coexist in him, being able to openly criticize cinematographic phenomena such as Barbie. However, the target of their polarized opinions is now turning to a renowned artist who almost ruined his unclassifiable film, natural killers.
Based on an original story by Quentin Tarantino, who would later disown Stone’s own work, natural killers is perhaps one of the the most violent satires 20th century cinema. The film was released in 1994, with a Juliette Lewis and one Woody Harrelson which toured the United States as a sort of Bonnie and Clyde update on steroids. The director’s original material pulp Fiction It was adapted into a screenplay by Stone himself with screenwriters David Veloz and Richard Rutowski, creating a plea against media sensationalism represented through the character. Wayne Galewho gave life Robert Downey Jr.At that time, the actor was not living his best moment either personally or professionally, so it was a real headache in a production that was already a real chaos.
This was a problem for Oliver Stone
Rejected by Cannes because it was too violent, natural killers was a controversial feature film at every stage of its development, becoming banned in part of the United States because it was implied that its images would encourage real murderers to commit real crimes. But beyond popular ostracism, the film was then denigrated by key voices in the art world such as the director Pilar Miro or the writer Mario Vargas Llosa.
The shoot was just as crazy, from the final prison riot filmed in a real prison with real inmates acting as extras to actress Juliette Lewis getting pneumonia due to some of the unsanitary conditions on set. In fact, according to producer Jane Hamsher, filming with Oliver Stone was “a real hell” because his attitude made you feel like you had been “stoned for days.” But the director of JFK either Peloton He also has his own culprits and in a last interview, taking advantage the 30th anniversary of the worksexplained how the Oscar winner for Oppenheimer It almost ruins the tone of the film.
The Lorena Bobbit Scandal
As Oliver Stone once said, his own divorce from his wife somehow influenced the final tone of natural killers. A way to tell the story of a former Downey Junior almost ruined in a scene.
To put it in context, during the filming of the movie, the scandal surrounding Lorena Bobbittan Ecuadorian who in 1993 amputated penis against her husband with a knife while he was sleeping. A controversial case and a dark event that Downey Junior did not hesitate to make fun of during the filming of a scene.
“Come on, that’s too much! “You’re going too far, Robert Oliver Stone!” the magazine began by reminding. squire. The actor simulated a bloody phallus and the filmmaker had no problem being frank with him: “You’re ruining my movie! Forget the stupid penis idea. “It’s not… it’s not nonsense.”
After the initial shock, Stone He asked to see the “thing” again of the supporting actor again and finally the bloody shirt that goes under the fly of his pants I reached the final cut of the film. Years later, Downey Jr. said at the time that he suffered from addiction and that the only times he was awake were between “action and cuts.”
Opposing races
As often happens in the Hollywood world, in just over a decade, artists’ careers can take shape in quite atypical ways. So it’s not very strange that even though Oliver Stone has left devalue its impact As a filmmaker, Downey Jr. has received critical acclaim and increased his budget (even more) by returning to Marvel as Doctor Fatalis.
Of course, in 2025, Stone will come out White lies. A drama starring Benicio del Toro with which he could regain public approval.
