Oliver Stone Raged at Robert Downey Jr for ‘Ruining’ Natural Born Killers

Oliver Stone Once exploded Robert Downey Jr. “to sabotage” natural born killers With his childish sense of humor. As a director who has never been shy about expressing his opinion, Stone has made some controversial decisions over the years, but he has also been happy to admit his errors in judgment when necessary. One such moment is recounted in Esquire magazine's oral history of Stone's classic film natural born killers To mark the film's 30th anniversary, Stone recounted how Downey Jr., then 27, tried to add something extra to the film to annoy him.

natural born killersBased on a story by Quentin Tarantino, the film stars Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as they embark on a violent killing spree across the country, with the media hounding the headline-grabbing story. The film was written as a satirical look at how the world deals with media violence, something that is as relevant now as it was in 1994. However, despite the film's darkly funny side, Downey Jr.'s ideas were not well received by Stone when they were first proposed.

Downey Jr. plays TV reporter Wayne Gale, who is pursuing Harrelson and Lewis' Mickey and Mallory Knox, but ends up getting more than he bargained for when he becomes the subject of the news in the bloody final act. In the scene, Downey Jr. suggests that if they dipped his shirttail in fake blood and stuck it to the fly of his pants, it would look like a bloody penis. Stone predictably responds, telling Downey Jr.: “Oh, come on – this is too much! You've gone too far, Robert. You're ruining my movie! Forget the idea of ​​being stupid. This isn't…this isn't comic nonsense.”

Oliver Stone Changes His Mind About Downey Jr.'s Penis Idea

While Downey Jr. has admitted that he filmed a lot of natural born killers In a drug and alcohol-fueled haze, the day they filmed the final scene was one of the rare days he was sober. And the idea seemed to have some merit. As the actor prepared to zip up his pants, Stone stopped him and said: “Wait, wait – wait a second. Let me see that thing again.”

After looking at Downey Jr. for a long time, Stone backtracked on his initial opinion of the idea, telling the surprised actor:

And this is the shot that remains in the movie, where what appears to be a bloody stump emerges from Downey Jr.'s character's fly for just a moment. What makes this even more remarkable is that, as mentioned, LawyerThe film was made at a time when headlines were filled with news of Lorena Bobbitt and the infamous mutilation of her husband John Wayne. At the same time, the film itself underwent several cuts in order to obtain an R rating from the MPAA, which wanted to make the film NC-17. While the film generated much controversy due to its subject matter, it became Stone's highest-grossing film at the time and is still considered a modern classic.