Oliver Stone’s Alexander

The film sucks.

End of.

Oh, and the score was dreadful.

[quote] Oh, and the score was dreadful.

As was Angelina Jolie's accent.

That didn’t bother me so much. She was a foreign Queen in Macedonia, so some kind of accent makes sense.

Did this movie have camels?

No, but it had elephants, panthers and lions.

Did it have more exposed testicles?

Angelina is only 11 months older than Colin and she was playing his mother. Is that a record?

which was worse, alexander or troy? both films were by notable directors, both had "hunky" stars, both sucked. but which sucked the most?

Alexander was worse...

I agree R10, and Colin's wig was ridiculous.

I though Colin's wig was quite flattering.

The score was the best thing about that film.

Shirley, there must be some good films on Alexander. No?

No there aren’t. And please stop calling me Shirley

Colin's balls gave the best performance in the film, they should have won Supporting Actor

[quote]Is there any actor, past or present, who could pull it off?

Paul Newman of course!

Same wig. Just as bad

Ok, these balls are the best thing about that film.

Jon Hamm could do it but only if he dressed as Don Draper.

Is this version even more de-gayed than the first version?

It has to be a real blond. No dye-jobs or wigs need apply. Alexander Skarsgaard has the right first name, but is too tall. Heath Ledger could have done it. Colin is a cute guy, but he looks ridiculous in that wig.

I just read several books about Alexander, Mary Renault's and several others. Alexander sure liked men. So did his father, Philip, who got assassinated by a jealous bf. And Hephaestion seems like a top. NOT Jared Leto.

I think it’s gayer.

In this version of the film, Phillip’s assassin is shown as his ass rape victim.

Casting was all wrong. Film almost ruined Farrell's career.

r25 mmmkay

The theatre version was a disaster, however, I actually like the Ultimate Cut.

R27 Why did you like the Ultimate Cut.

Did it make more sense?

Angelina’s face was officially transformed by then and the plastic surgery was stellar . She should have stopped there .

R29 the only thing she stopped was eating.

I thought Jared Leto gave a tender and moving performance that was the best part of the film.

Angie as the mother felt like a farce.

When Colin and Jared act like Rock Hudson and Doris Day I gave up on the film...

Rising talent Ben Hardy could play Alexander. He has naturally blond, wavy hair; a warm baritone voice; and a smooth, inviting anus.

Why did Burton and Farrell wear those awful blind wigs?

Was the Greek Macedonian original blond?

i thought Colin's was a dye job not a wig....

Alexander was NOTORIOUSLY blond.

Young Robert Redford might have been believable.

Burton looked puny.

Farrell had too much hair.

Today’s audiences just can’t accept the ambi-sexuality if ancient men.

I genuinely liked Troy.

Certainly the eye candy was worth the price of admission.

It is also the last film where Pitt looks fuckable.

I had forgotten that Stone directed this.

What happened to him with his Putin / Wikileaks love? Even his son (the Islam-convert) works for RT.

I liked Troy... Eric Bana was great

[quote] Is there any actor, past or present, who could pull it off?

William Shatner set the Alexander bar unapproachably high

What about Charlie Hunnan for Alexander? Coloring's right, and he has charisma. Could he be Alexander the Great, though?

Or the Thor guy. Chris Hemsworth? Or is he too Thor now to be taken seriously as Alexander?

Or maybe it's an impossible role.

Why does Alexander have to be blond?

I agree that Paul Newman is the immediate choice.

Other possibilities: Gaspard Ulliel, Viggo Mortensen, Michael York, Terence Stamp

How about Edris Alba?

Tom Daley would be perfect for the role.

R43 the historical Alexander was blond.

Have seen all 3 versions of Stone's Freudian campfest..All are howlers One cut had the kiss with Bagoas.. I actually prefer the first theatrical release version. Battle scenes are superb. The scene between Farell and Jolie is straight out of Dynasty. Wrecked Farrel's career. No wonder Heath Ledger gave it a pass.

Even Farrell's balls couldn't save Stone's turd.

Nice balls on Colin -- and the ass is nice, too.

[quote]Oh, and the score was dreadful.

The score by Vangelis isn't as memorable as his Oscar-winning rendition for "Chariots of Fire", but I thought it was effective at times.

R50, Look closely and you'll see an appendage that wouldn't normally require a close look to see, clearly.

You mean his uncut cock, R52?

I knew Alexander. Alexander was a friend of mine. Colin Farrell is no Alexander the Great.

So, is the current ultimate version the gayest one?

Alexander is practically the adaptation of Mary Renault's [italic]The Persian Boy[/italic] if it were to be narrated by Alexander instead of his Persian twink lover.

Gore Vidal said that although Stone's Alexander may not have been the greatest film, it was at least an attempt to show a same-sex relationship in a mainstream film in 2004 at a time when few films were doing so.

[quote] Is there any actor, past or present, who could pull it off?

Nancy McKeon, perhaps.

Colin Farrell is a stunningly beautiful man, and he is also actually a decent actor, but that just doesn't come together to add up to more the way it did for someone like Gary Cooper or Paul Newman. He's just not magnetic on screen. He got more press (and better roles) than he deserved because the media were so fascinated early in his career that he was so upfront and self-deprecating about being a huger fuck-up, but I don't know if he;'s ever headlined a hit film.

R56 Stone was a big fan of Mary Renault whose homo erotic novels were wildly popular in the 70's with closeted gay fratboys. Makes ya wonder what Ollie was reading in his tent in Vietnam.

It's actually kinda sad that Hollywood can't carry off Alexander the Great! What the fuck. What is every overpaid producer, director, casting agent, and actor paid for if an entire industry which seems pretty much designed to bring Alexander the Great to life just can't do it. Kinda pathetic.

Ledger would have been a more charismatic Alexander but Stone's script would be a millstone around the neck of the best actor.

Chris Hemsworth.

[quote]Is there any actor, past or present, who could pull it off?

Timothée Chalamet, of course!

Scarlett Johansson would be perfect for the part.

Timothee was born play the eunuch boi toy.

The script was painful too

Stone is so ham handed. The death scene of Hephastion becomes a comedy sketch. Stone has Alexander leave the bedside of the love off his life's who's gasping his last breath to gaze nobly out the window and make a "great man" speech In the background. Leto is flopping around like a fish spewing pea soup while his BF is droning on about deep water harbours It's as if Leto dies to flee this windbag . The audience is rolling in the aisles.

Yep..they were fucking

they're both method actors of course they were

Facial reconstruction of Alexander the Great..

I think the hair was too distracting. Even if alexander was a famous blond, they should,have darkened it if they were going to use Farrell, who is too swarthy for blond hair.

Macedonians were Northern Greeks. Alexander often wore a felt sun hat because his fair skin burned easily. Hephastion's hair was described as the color of polished copper.

I enjoy the director cut. lots of gay scenes in the movie which was very bold for a large budget movie

The other artistic decision that Stone made that confused some people was to have the cast all speak with Irish accents.

R22 so, Alexander was a blond? In what history book does that come up?

R36, source please? And no, wikipedia or any lame ass website would do.

R47 source please?

@R74 really? When?

[quote] lots of gay scenes in the movie

R79.

R61, that goes to show you it's not about the money, but about the brains.

Stone made two good movies and coasted the rest of his excruciatingly bad career on them. Nearly everything he does is drek.

What were his 2 good movies?

Please don't say that Natural Born Killers shit.

R80, such a 20th or 21st century interpretation of 'gayness'. OLiver could have also added decent 'gay scenes' between Colin and Leto. But he chickened out. Coward.

Does anybody remember that there were 2 rival Alexander projects to be greenlit. The one with Leonardo DiCaprio and Baz Luhrmann who wanted to work together again + Baz wanted to make a Historical trilogy after his Red Curtain trilogy, and then Farrell and Stone.

If I remember correctly, DiCap and Baz had stated their claim first and were actively looking to get the right amount of money from the studios.

There was a sort of media war between the two projects. I don't think it came from the rival teams themselves, but rather from fashionable journaliste who were in full Leo-backlash swing and pro-new-It-boy-Colin-is-in-town frenzy.

When they spoke in favor of Colin, there was often Leo putdowns. Which is stupid. There was enough room for two talented, energic young men. They were not even similar looking !

Stone won. At the time it looked like a huge victory for him, to pull the rug from the other team. People sincères at Leo and Baz not being greenlit. The other two, were taken unaware, wondering what they'd do now, because they had been working for a long time on this project. They cut their losses eventually and did bounce back.

I guess Leo dodged a bullet, because the wide audience is not interested in watching an Alexander the Great biography.

Could you imagine Baz;s Alexander it would have looked like Alice in Wonderland

R86, we'll never know. I'd je curious but I bet it would have failed as well.

Oh, in my 5th paragraph : People snickered. ... Damn auto correct !

The Alexander story is so compelling that I wish there were a less campy version of it on screen.

I recently read an amazing book about the years after Alexander’s death and how his generals all fought to take over his empire—Ghost on the Throne. It’s very Game of Thrones. THAT would make a stunning film— just don’t get Stone to direct it

R82 I've often wondered what Stone's EVITA would've been like. I love the musical, but I'm not a fan of Alan Parker's final version.

Estelle Getty was younger than Bea Arthur who played her daughter, R8.

Re Alexander's hair: Callisthenes, who accompanied Alexander during the Asiatic expedition, said it was 'light-colored'; Aelian described his hair as 'yellow'; Plutarch wrote that he was of a 'fair color.'

I've never seen this or Troy. Of course Oliver Stone blamed the gay theme for its failure, because he couldn't have made a bad movie or anything like that.

But racially speaking the Macedonians especially the elites were a 'mediterranean' mixture of greeks, 'serbians', persians, etc...the slavs within that society were not part of the elite.

Love the gay dance scene! I could see him lean over to his friend, "Thouest have any singles?"

Alexander was blond. Deal with it. Stop trying to claim him like you did with Cleopatra, who, incidentally, was descended from Alexander's successor, Ptolemy I Soter, the founder of the Ptolemaic Dynasty in Egypt of which Cleo was the last ruler.

Just look at this mess. The hair was ridiculous

[quote] Callisthenes, who accompanied Alexander during the Asiatic expedition, said it was 'light-colored'; Aelian described his hair as 'yellow'; Plutarch wrote that he was of a 'fair color.'

Just wait. We'll fix that

Fuck off, not another thread ruined with the discussion of the ethnicity and the right color of the skin of dead people. Only you care if they were "white-white"

The guy who plays The Hound on Game of Thrones played Crateros. And yes, Colin F. was woefully miscast. Ben Wishaw would be a good Alexander. He could dye his hair or wear a wig. But he'd be quite good, I think.

Apart from the casting choices, I think it is more difficult in the 21st century to sell the idea of endless conquests as manly and trimphant to the mainstream audience.

Besides, ambitious and prone to anger Alexander may be interesting for actors, but he is annoying and irritating to watch for most people.

Do we really think Leo's Alexander would have been blessed with a kinder reception ? Well, the hair color would have worked, but he would have been eviscerated no matter what, especially since he was Leo. They would have laughed at his accent for one.

I don't know what could be the right angle to tell this story in a compelling way. No cinematic version has worked so far.

Sam Heughen would make a good Alexander. He's a bit tall for the role. Al was only about 5'4"

R101, I never thought of that, but I agree.

I still don't know what kind of script would make it work for the audience though.

r4 She was from Epirus. It's not so great a distance from Macedonia they'd sound like she did. It's not as if Stone didn't put any thought into accents either. The Macedonians generally speak with Irish accents to emphasise how the Southern ancient Greeks thought they were borderline Barbarians (they also thought that about the Epirotes). A Scottish accent would have worked, hell a Cockney accent would have made more sense than Jolies stock Vampire one.

Instead of making a lifelong biography, maybe they should focus on one particular, limited event in his life, like they did with Helen Mirren and The Queen, or The Kings Speech, or other historical pictures

[quote]Estelle Getty was younger than Bea Arthur who played her daughter

And there are lots of other examples over the years.

Angela Lansbury was only 3 years older than Laurence Harvey who played her son in "The Manchurian Candidate".

Prestige drama cable show- really draw it out over many seasons and delve into the intricacies of conquests. You need a masculine blonde... all of these pretty men might fit, but American viewers need a butch, top conqueror to root for... I’m talking young Nick Nolte territory. Historical accuracy be damned!

So what is the verdict, should I watch the 3hr 27min ultimate cut when it again becomes available?

I agree R106 Alexander's life was packed with drama it really requires a multi episode I Claudius style treatment.

Agreed.

The problem with the Stone film, and the 1950's version that also received mediocre reviews, is that it tried to squash his whole life into one film.

It needs to be structured as a mini-series which can be developed in several installments.

Has there been a porn version yet?

Stone really is a Freudian. The two scenes between Farrell and Jolie are the heart of his Oedipal film.

I only watched it to jerk off to it

"You birthed me in a sack of hate!" I always use that line at my family Thanksgiving dinner. Show stopper.

R112, which scene?

The part that shows Colin's balls and ass?

Yes. R114. Plus it was hot with him crawling into bed with another guy.