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Monday, Jul 07, 2025

Oliver Stone says you need a 'sensitivity counselor' to make films now

Oliver Stone told the New York Times in an inerview that 'everything has become too fragile, too sensitive' in Hollywood and the new ways of working are 'ridiculous' amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Oliver Stone slams politically correct Hollywood and says you need a 'sensitivity counselor' or 'Covid adviser' to make a movie now and compares Academy to an 'Alice in Wonderland tea party

* Oliver Stone said 'everything has become too fragile and sensitive,' in Hollywood

* 'You can't make a film without a Covid adviser. You can't make a film without a sensitivity counselor. It's ridiculous,' he said in a new interview

* The director, 73, said he has never seen the Academy of Motion Pictures 'quite mad like this' and compared it to an 'Alice in Wonderland tea party'

* He complained about longer shoots due to social distancing for actors amid the coronavirus pandemic, resulting in increased costs

* Stone said his forthcoming film will show that J.F.K. was murdered by powerful government forces and he may release it on 'YouTube or in Transylvania'

* He admitted that his 20 or so Hollywood films have worn him out and he doesn't feel like doing another one right now

* Stone's novel Chasing the Light, which depicts his life from the Vietnam war zone to the Oscar stage, comes out July 21

Movie director Oliver Stone has criticized modern Hollywood for being 'politically correct' and and feels the industry has gone 'mad'.

Stone, 73, who won Academy Awards for his 1986 movie Platoon, feels 'worn out' after making 20 motion pictures with major studios, and the current industry standards amid the coronavirus pandemic have put him off projects that are not on his terms.

'The problem is in Hollywood. It's just so expensive — the marketing. Everything has become too fragile, too sensitive,' Stone told the New York Times Magazine in an interview. '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.

'The Academy changes its mind every five, 10, two months about what it's trying to keep up with. It's politically correct [expletive], and it's not a world I'm anxious to run out into. I've never seen it quite mad like this. It's like an "Alice in Wonderland" tea party.'

Stone also pointed to increased costs that are expected to come with production due to the coronavirus pandemic as he clarified the complications he was referring to.

'I just read something about how films are going to be very expensive to make now, because you need to take all these precautions, and a 50-day shoot becomes a 60-day shoot, and social distancing for actors,' he explained. 'That's what I'm talking about.'

In recent years Stone has released 2016's Snowden starring Joseph Gordon Levitt and 2012's Savages starring Blake Lively.

In his memoir Chasing the Light, out July 21, he details his life from the Vietnam war zone to the Oscar stage.

Stone - whose 1991 movie, JFK, starred Kevin Costner - said in the new interview that he's not afraid to make films that aren't necessarily going to be popular.

That includes the upcoming working title J.F.K.: Destiny Betrayed, which he says he is making because 'there's been quite a bit of new material revealed that people have basically ignored' in the last three decades since his film where he was accused of fear-mongering.

'I'm not scared of that,' Stone continued about a possible repeat of accusations. 'I'm past that age. I don't need to make a Hollywood movie. I don't need to get the approval of the bosses.'

Stone's documentary will explore how there's 'no chain of custody' to the single bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald that caused multiple wounds to Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally who was riding in the same car. It also delves into how the autopsy from Bethesda, Maryland 'was completely fraudulent'.

'And there's Vietnam. No historian can now honestly say that the Vietnam War was Kennedy's child. That's crucial,' Stone continued. 'The last thing is the C.I.A. connection to Oswald. We have a stronger case, not only for post-Russia but also for pre-Russia. In other words, he was working with the C.I.A. before he went and when he came back. Those are the main points.

'Those who are interested will find it's pretty clear that J.F.K. was murdered by forces that were powerful in our government.'

Stone added that while he 'would have no problem doing another' Hollywood film, he doesn't 'feel it right now'.

'Frankly, I did 20, and I got worn out,' he admitted.

He says the J.F.K film points the finger at a 'couple of individuals' and whether or not the mainstream accepts it 'it will be out'.

'Even if it's on YouTube,' Stone added. 'Or in Transylvania.'
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