Harvey Weinstein defender Oliver Stone may have his own sexist misdeeds to deal with
Earlier tonight, Oliver Stone—who’s currently in South Korea for the Busan International Film Festival—decided to weigh in on the numerous allegations currently circling ousted Weinstein Co. mogul Harvey Weinstein, putting forward an attitude that could be safely described as “Hey, let’s cut the guy a break.” “It’s not easy what he’s going through, either,” Stone told reporters, adding that he intended to “wait for the trial,” and dismissed the words of the dozens of women who’ve talked about their negative interactions with Weinstein as “gossip.”
This attitude understandably pissed some people off, especially since Stone’s proposed “wait and see” approach has proven to be pretty disastrous for women in Harvey Weinstein’s orbit over the last 20 years. Most notably, Billions showrunner Brian Koppelman, whose Showtime series owes several debts to Stone’s work, was inspired by Stone’s comments to speak up about an interaction he and the director once had, dubbing it the “single creepiest meeting I was ever in,” and labeling Stone a “Loathsome. Sexist. Pig.”
Koppelman’s story—which he’s apparently told people before—opened up a dialogue about Stone’s past behavior, including a comment from Natural Born Killers writer David Veloz, who dubbed Stone “charming,” but also “sexist and cruel.” There was also a tweet from former Playboy Playmate Carrie Stevens, who says Stone once grabbed her breast at a party.
Stevens spoke to the New York Daily News earlier tonight, saying, “He was really cocky, had this big grin on his face like he was going to get away with something,” before grabbing and squeezing her body. “That’s what’s going on in Hollywood,” she told The News. “That’s why things have to change. He’s Oliver Stone. Nobody’s going to say anything.”
Looking back through our own archives, meanwhile, we found another instance of Stone’s fuzzy sense of boundaries for the women around him. In a 2010 Random Roles, Jared Harris discussed an instance where Stone invited him to bring his girlfriend onto the set of Natural Born Killers, then proceeded to leer at her and lavish her with unwanted attention.
We get to the set, and the girl is absolutely gorgeous, and they dress her up in this long wig with this tank top where the pits are out and these tiny hot pants and these long boots, and she looks basically like a tart on any boulevard late at night on a Friday, you know, hustling. Which is kind of strange. But Oliver’s tongue falls out of his mouth like the cartoon wolf as soon as he sees her, and he comes up to her, he goes, “Oh my God, oh my God, you are so beautiful.” He goes “You are so beautiful. Don’t you know that all the men here are in love with you?” I’m looking at him, and it’s kind of embarrassing. I’m standing next to her while he’s doing this, and I say, “Are you speaking for yourself there, Oliver?” And he looks at me like I’m an ant. “What the fuck is this peon doing talking to me? Why is he opening his mouth?” He kind of withers me with his stare, and he turns back to her, and he goes “So, tell me, have you got a boyfriend?” And she takes a little bit too long to answer. There’s this long pause, and she sort of sticks up her hand, points her thumb, and jerks it in my direction.
So, that’s two creepy Oliver Stone stories, plus one incident of accused sexual assault, all dug up just in the space of a single evening. We’ll have to wait and see whether more join them as the next few days progress.