Oliver Stone has issued a mea culpa to the team behind Barbie — and star Ryan Gosling in particular — for criticizing the movie before seeing it.
The Oscar-winning director took to X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday to apologize for comments he made last summer about how Gosling was making a mistake by starring in the Greta Gerwig-directed blockbuster, which went on to become the highest grossing film ever from a female filmmaker at the domestic box office, as well as the top-earning worldwide film of 2023.
At the time, Stone criticized Gosling for “wasting his time” on Barbie, claiming that the film was contributing to the “infantilization of Hollywood.”
“Ryan Gosling is wasting his time if he’s doing that sh*t for money,” Stone said in a June 2023 interview with City A.M. “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.”
Now, Stone says he regrets calling out the film weeks before its release.
“At the time, I was promoting my nuclear documentary in Europe and had little to no knowledge of the project beyond its title,” he admitted on Tuesday. “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,” he continued. “I apologize for speaking ignorantly.”
Stone went on to point out his love for Gerwig’s 2017 movie, Lady Bird, calling the Saoirse Ronan-starrer “one of my favorites of that year.”
“Barbie‘s box office greatly boosted the morale of your business, which was welcome,” he concluded. “I wish Greta and the entire Barbie team good fortune at the Oscars.”
Barbie earned eight nods when the nominations for the 96th Academy Awards were announced on Tuesday, including Best Supporting Actor recognition for Gosling and a Best Adapted Screenplay nom for Gerwig and her husband and writing partner, Noah Baumbach.
However, the film also received two of the year’s most notable snubs, with Gerwig being shut out of the Best Director category, and Barbie herself, Margot Robbie, being left out of the Best Actress category.
