Oscar Winning Director Oliver Stone Believes Ryan Gosling Is ‘Wasting His Time’ In Films Like Barbie

Ryan Gosling, who portrayed Ken in Greta Gerwig's Barbie, received a ton of praise for his performance and is one of the frontrunners for the Oscars this year. However, not everyone seems to be happy about his decision to star in the blonde doll movie. In a recent interview, director Oliver Stone, who helmed movies like JFK and Platoon, criticized the movie, calling out the “ridiculous” joke that Mattel’s CEO suggested he direct a Barbie sequel. He also stated that Ryan Gosling is wasting his time with this movie. 

Oliver Stone slams Ryan Gosling 

In a conversation with City A.M., Stone took a dig at the La La Land star and accused him of contributing to the "infantilisation of Hollywood". The filmmaker said, “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. Now it’s all fantasy, fantasy, fantasy, including all the war pictures: fantasy, fantasy."

Stone further went on to lambast the Fast and Furious franchise, Marvel movies, and John Wick films. He said, “Even the Fast and Furious movies, which I used to enjoy, have become like Marvel movies. I mean, how many crashes can you see? I watched John Wick on the plane, which is three hours and some. And I fell asleep about 778 times during it. I kept waking up and having to face him killing more people. It’s like the world has degenerated into non-logic.”

Oliver Stone criticises Hollywood 

For a while now, Stone has been a resolute and vocal critic of Hollywood. The New York Times quoted him as saying in 2020 that "everything has become too fragile, too sensitive." The Wall Street director said, “Hollywood now – you can’t make a film without a Covid adviser. You can’t make a film without a sensitivity counselor. It’s ridiculous.” 

Barbie follows the story of Margot Robbie as blonde doll Barbie who has an existential crisis and escapes to the real world with Ken (Ryan Gosling) only to find out that the real world is not for them. They return to the world of plastic and settle down on their own. The movie is a frontrunner at the awards season and is predicted to sweep the Oscars.