#Oliver Stone's “Alexander”

[jeannereames]

Is it truly possible to ever make a psychological character study movie of Alexander?

The Problem with Alexander the Great in Media

Oliver Stone tried. His "Alexander" was intended to be just that: a psychological biopic. Unfortunately, it was, narratively, a mess. Why, I tackled in a review elsewhere.

As for making a new one, the biggest hurdle would be that nothing anyone did would please a large enough group of people.

Why? There's a huge amount of disagreement about what Alexander was actually like.

That is, ironically, what made me want to write about him. 🤣 The first two biographies I read painted vastly different pictures. I thought, Who was this guy?

So whatever tack one took, people would be angry over the result. That's just the nature of Alexander.

I've experienced a bit of that with my own novel (which is more psychological than adventure), and it's only a little boutique-press publication without anywhere near the 👀 a movie or TV show would get.

Then we have the problem of scale. Stone's flick took a ton of money. I mean a ton. $155 million...in early 2000. It made only $165 million, which makes it a financial failure even though the costuming and sets were better than most documentaries. So how does one get funding to make something that sprawling, when one knows it'll probably piss off around half the audience simply by the necessary choices one would have to make?

For instance: Was he a mama's boy with a bad dye-job (as Stone's Alexander was characterized by one film reviewer)? Or was he a macho-man soldier with No Fear? Or a genocidal megalomaniac? Or an early proponent of One World ideals? Or a queer icon with a chivalrous streak towards women?

Pick one, and you'll annoy at least one sizable contingent of potential viewers.

That doesn't count the history purists who expect a film or documentary to include Every Little Detail (which really would flop!).

You just can't win.

I think if one were to try to do (another) biopic about ATG, it would be smart to lean into whatever storyline one chose, and know it's going to upset some viewers.

(Like Netflix's choice to have Alexander and Hephaistion kiss in the first scene of the miniseries, or to make Statiera his lover [as she probably actually was] ... as opposed to the fairly milquetoast History Channel's "Ancient Empires: Alexander." Oh, I betcha already forgot that came out only about 4 months before the Netflix one. It made no real statement, so won no real attention.)

Own it...or don't do it.

[vizual-demon]

Alexander

(2004) dir. Oliver Stone

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[blueeyeddarkknight]

Val getting along with directors on set 🎬🎥 (take that Hollywood scum).

[kassylin]

Will I ever shut up? No XD

I know why Macedonians followed Alexander to the end of the world. Have you seen those legs? And that skirt? Later on, the Great King started wearing robes and god forbid, trousers. Little by little, Macedonians started to realise something, as the blood finally returned to their brains lol

Please forgive me lol

[wulfhalls]

i’m going to bitch abt napoleon here bc oh my god it was such a slog and i was like ridley what happened here… the second i heard guillotine being pronounced with an audible L i let out the biggest sigh

it's was just. horses dying. shots of canons. 3 year time skip. military personnel in the bg i cannot name. vanessa kirby emoting. shots of canons. battle. time skip. battle. joaquin phoenix adjusting his hat. battle. horses dying. guys I don't know standing around. joaquin phoenix mumbling. shots of canons. time skip. battle. vanessa kirby. mumbling. HAT. it made me suicidal

[brokehorrorfan]

Conan the Barbarian is joining Super 7's ReAction Figures line. The first wave features Pit Fighter Conan (with two hand blades), Thulsa Doom (with helmet and dagger), and Subotai (with bow and arrow).

Each 3.75" retro-style toy has five points of articulation and features backer card art by Astor Alexander. Priced at $20, they're expected to ship in April.

[tyrianwanderings]

[eyes-of-laura-mars]

[datcloudboi]

List of Films Turning 20 Years Old in 2024

The Alamo (the one with Dennis Quaid)

Alexander ((the Alexander the Great biopic directed by Oliver Stone and starring Colin Farrell)

Alien vs. Predator

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

The Aviator (the Howard Hughes biopic directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leo DiCaprio)

Barbershop 2: Back in Business

Before Sunset

Blade: Trinity

The Bourne Supremacy

The Butterfly Effect

Catwoman

Cellular (an action-thriller starring Kim Basinger and Chris Evans)

The Chronicles of Riddick

Closer

Collateral

Dawn of the Dead (the remake directed by Zack Snyder and written by James Gunn)

The Day After Tomorrow

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

Downfall

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Fahrenheit 9/11 (the Michael Moore documentary about how the Bush administration handled the aftermath of September 11, as well as their handling of the Invasion of Iraq)

50 First Dates

Finding Neverland (a biopic about J. M. Barrie, the guy who wrote “Peter Pan”. Barrie was played by Johnny Depp)

Friday Night Lights

Garden State

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Hellboy

Hidalgo

Home on the Range (one of Disney's most often forgotten animated movies)

House of Flying Daggers

Howl's Moving Castle

I Heart Huckabees

I, Robot

The Incredibles

Kill Bill Volume 2

King Arthur (the one with Clive Owen)

The Ladykillers (the remake of the 1955 movie of the same name directed by the Coen Brothers)

Layer Cake (the first movie directed by Matthew Vaughn, who would go on to direct “Kick-Ass” and “Kingsman”)

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

The Lion King 1 1/2

The Machinist (the movie where Christian Bale lost like 60 pounds)

The Manchurian Candidate (the remake of the movie of the same name starring Denzel Washington)

Mean Girls

Million Dollar Baby

Miracle

Napoleon Dynamite

National Treasure

The Notebook

Ocean's Twelve

The Passion of the Christ

The Phantom of the Opera

The Place Promised in Our Early Days (the first film directed by Makoto Shinkai)

The Polar Express

Primer ((the time travel movie where you sit in a box for 12 hours and be back in time 12 hours. I think.)

The Punisher (the Thomas Jane one)

Ray (the Ray Charles biopic)

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Saw (the 1st one)

Scooby-Doo 2: Monster Unleashed

Seed of Chucky

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

Shaun of the Dead

Shrek 2

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

Spanglish

Spider-Man 2

The Spongebob Squarepants Movie

Team America: World Police

The Terminal

13 Going on 30

Troy

Van Helsing

The Village

[satan-conduit-le-bal]

tasteless hater: you must be sick if you think alexander 2004 is a good film

me:

[jeannereames]

POLL about Hephaistion

Redoing the Hephaistion poll after several answers reminded me you all are children of the internet. 😊 There wasn’t an internet until I was in my 20s, and even online bulletin boards weren’t much of a thing until I could legally drink. So, I removed a bunch of novels that were getting no votes to add several new options. (Edit to add: the only reason I left my own is that it got 2 votes in the prior poll; I'm not that egotistical.) I’d forgotten about Horrible Histories, which has a big following.

If you’ve already voted, please vote again. I deleted the prior poll. If you choose an option that asks you to specify, I’d love it if you’d do so in tags or comments (I'm honestly very curious about public history). These are in chronological order. Kinda. Left off fanfic as most people go to it after developing a fascination, and the old Pothos site + forum, once huge, has seriously dwindled. If either fits you, put it in tags.

PLEASE REPOST for wider responses.

[showtiming]

Alexander (2004) Dir. Oliver Stone.

[blueeyeddarkknight]

Val as king philip II of Macedonia ( Alexander 2004) 👑⚔️ Part 1

From the extra weight to the eye prosthetics and the limp. Val was incredible in this movie.

He's so sweet with the kids 🥺

With Oliver 😊

Resting on set 😆

These cool shots

I love the cave scene

With Eurydice (the actress said he was her best teacher 🥹)

Alexander interview

With Angelina

This iconic moment 😂🐍

Is he on time out? 😂

Sources : kamp Kilmer, planet kilmer, vkn, rosemariemeyer on ig

[kassylin]

I'm at it again.