Oliver Stone thought Robert Downey Jr. was ‘ruining’ Natural Born Killers with ‘slapstick bulls**t’
This week marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Natural Born Killers, the romantic crime film directed and co-written by Oliver Stone.
In preparation for the milestone, Stone spoke with Squire about the making of the 1994 film starring Juliette Lewis and Woody Harrelson as a murderous couple who are sensationalized by the media.
Although Lewis and Harrelson received the most screen time, it was the supporting actor who initially drew the ire of director Stone, as he nearly “ruined” the tone of the film.
The filmmaker recalls the final scene in which Downey Jr. came up with the idea to dip one of the front panels of his white shirt in fake blood and thread it through the open zipper of his pants, resembling a bloody phallus.
“‘Oh come on, that’s too much! You’re going too far, Robert,'” Stone told a then-27-year-old Downey, who admitted to struggling with drug abuse at the time.
Natural Born Killers director Oliver Stone said he initially felt Robert Downey Jr. (pictured in the 1994 film) “ruined” the film with “slapstick nonsense”
In a new Esquire interview, Stone recalled filming the film’s 1994 final scene, when Downey Jr. came up with the idea to dip one of the front panels of his white shirt in fake blood and run it through the open zipper of his pants, resembling a bloody phallus; Stone seen in 2022
Stone, who was 47 at the time of production, criticized the actor even more harshly, shortly after he had received an Oscar nomination for Chaplin the year before.
“You’re ruining my movie! Forget that stupid idea,” the three-time Academy Award winner continued, before adding, “This is not… This is not some slapstick bullshit.”
It turns out that on that particular day of filming, Downey Jr. was sober and gave in and zipped his shirt back up.
But as he did so, Stone had an idea pop into his head: “Wait, wait—wait a minute. Let me see that d**k thing again,” he told the Less Than Zero star.
“Pull it back half an inch,” Stone told Downey Jr., who quickly responded to the director’s cue, then declaring, “Okay. Let’s go.”
And the rest, as they say, is film history.
Stone directed the film from a screenplay he co-wrote with David Veloz and Richard Rutowski, based on an original story by Quentin Tarantino.
Downey played lecherous TV journalist Wayne Gale, who chases the biggest story of his life while covering the murders of Lewis and Harrelson’s characters, only to find himself in the news in the film’s bizarre finale.
Downey Jr., whose history of drug abuse as a young actor over the years is well-documented, admitted that “the only time I was awake [during the production] was between action and cut.’
But still, after all these years, he can see the film as having “something that still needs to be reconsidered,” even thirty years after its release.
‘Oliver Stone is a director who, apart from [Christopher] “Nolan and maybe a few others are the ultimate embodiment of social commentary through cinema,” the Iron Man star said.
Downey Jr. plays TV journalist Wayne Gale, who is all about the ratings
“‘Oh come on, that’s too much! You’re going too far, Robert,'” Stone told a then-27-year-old Downey (pictured), who admitted he was struggling with substance abuse at the time
Natural Born Killers, which was scheduled to hit theaters in 1994 just as 24-hour news was becoming a fixture of daily life in the U.S., was a box office success, grossing $110 million on a production budget of $34 million, despite polarizing reviews
‘Oliver Stone has never made a film that said nothing. Never.’
Natural Born Killers was a satire on the violent media of the 1990s.
The film starred Harrelson, Lewis and Downey Jr., and was joined by Tommy Lee Jones and Tom Sizemore.
Also Rodney Dangerfield, Evan Handler, Steven Wright, Edie McClurg, Sean Stone, Russell Means, Lanny Flaherty, Balthazar Getty, Richard Lineback, Kirk Baltz, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Joe Grifasi, Everett Quinton, Marshall Bell, Peter Crombie, Grand L. Bush, Dale Dye, Louis Lombardi, Corey Everson, O-Lan Jones and Jared Harris are present.
Natural Born Killers, which hit theaters in the summer of 1994, just as 24-hour news was becoming commonplace in the United States, was a box office success, grossing $110 million on a production budget of $34 million, despite mixed reviews.