With box office receipts of just under $1.5 million, Barbie catapulted itself to the top of the 2023 cinema charts. No other film was as successful last year. Especially Ryan Goslings completely exaggerated performance as Ken was able to captivate the hearts of the audience. Legendary: his musical sequence in the film’s finale.
Infantilization of Hollywood: Oliver Stone deals against Barbie and Ken actor Ryan Gosling
Director Oliver Stone, known for films like Wall Street, Platoon and JFK, also took a look at Barbie. As Deadline reports, he could no favors find in the fantasy comedy. In an interview with the London business newspaper City AM, he discusses Barbie and Ryan Gosling’s recent career decisions:
Ryan Gosling is wasting his time doing this shit for money. He should do more serious films. He shouldn’t be part of this Infantilization of Hollywood be. Now it’s all about fantasy, fantasy, fantasy, including all the war movies: fantasy, fantasy.
Warner Bros.
Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie in Barbie
Stone is obviously not a fan of fantasy films. A look at his filmography confirms this. There you will primarily find films that deal with real events and personalities deal with everyone, from Alexander to Nixon to Snowden. There is no room in Stone’s cinema for a place like Barbieland.
Oliver Stone fell asleep about 778 times during John Wick 4 and also can’t stand Fast & Furious
It’s not just Barbie who is a thorn in Stone’s side. He is also frustrated by the status quo of current action cinema. The Fast & Furious films feel that way in his opinion just like Marvel films. But nothing is as bad for him as what John Wick is currently doing in his extensive revenge campaigns in the cinema:
I watched John Wick on the plane [4] watched, which lasts three hours or a little longer. And me fell asleep about 778 times. I kept waking up and watching him kill more people. It is as if the world has descended into illogicality.
Stone himself has increasingly moved away from fictional storytelling in recent years. Released in 2016, Snowden marks his last major motion picture. Since then he has focused on documentary projects. Most recently, he returned to the many open questions surrounding the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy, building on one of his most formative films, JFK.