Smallscreen News

Oliver Stone clarifies remarks, history nuanced by perspective

By April MacIntyre Jul 27, 2010, 17:38 GMT

US film director Oliver Stone speaks during a press conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia, on 01 June 2010, in the context of the presentation of his documentary \'South of the border\'. Stone said that he is interested on making a movie about the reforms made by Bolivian President, Evo Morales. EPA/JORGE ABREGO

Director Oliver Stone apologized for comments he made to the Sunday Times of London regarding the "Jewish domination of the media."

He was immediately excoriated by The American Jewish Committee which condemned Stone's remarks. "By invoking this grotesque, toxic stereotype, Oliver Stone has outed himself as an anti-Semite," the group's executive director, David Harris, said in a statement. "For all of Stone's progressive pretensions, his remark is no different from one of the drunken, Jew-hating rants of his fellow Hollywood celebrity, Mel Gibson."

"In trying to make a broader historical point about the range of atrocities the Germans committed against many people, I made a clumsy association about the Holocaust, for which I am sorry and I regret," Stone said in a statement released by his publicist. "Jews obviously do not control media or any other industry. The fact that the Holocaust is still a very important, vivid and current matter today is, in fact, a great credit to the very hard work of a broad coalition of people committed to the remembrance of this atrocity -- and it was an atrocity."

The Times interview was part of a junket to promote the documentary "South of the Border," Stone veered into discussion of the Holocaust, saying, "Hitler was a Frankenstein, but there was also a Dr. Frankenstein. German Industrialists, the Americans and the British. He had a lot of support. ... Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people."

Stone remarked that Israel's lobbies and watchdogs in the USA "(expletive) up United States foreign policy for years."

CNN reported that the New York-based American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants released their own statement: "His apology was necessary and we accept it. But whether he acted out of sincerity or as a desperate response to the moral outcry at his comments is an open question. He must be judged by his future words and deeds."

But for those of us present at the TCA's last January, Oliver Stone broached the Hitler subject and told assembled TV Critics, Monsters and Critics included, that Hitler was painted as "an easy scapegoat throughout history" while he was on panel to discuss "Oliver Stone's Secret History of America."

Stone's upcoming Showtime documentary 10 part miniseries "Secret History of America" which has not yet aired, is set to present notorious leaders Stalin and Hitler "in context."

"Stalin, Hitler, Mao, McCarthy — these people have been vilified pretty thoroughly by history," Stone told reporters at the TCA's winter press tour in Pasadena.

From the transcript:

"Stalin has a complete other story," Stone said. "Not to paint him as a hero, but to tell a more factual representation. He fought the German war machine more than any single person. We can't judge people as only 'bad' or 'good.' Hitler is an easy scapegoat throughout history and its been used cheaply. He's the product of a series of actions. It's cause and effect … People in America don't know the connection between WWI and WWII … I've been able to walk in Stalin's shoes and Hitler's shoes to understand their point of view. We're going to educate our minds and liberalize them and broaden them. We want to move beyond opinions … Go into the funding of the Nazi party. How many American corporations were involved, from GM through IBM. Hitler is just a man who could have easily been assassinated."

Subjects in Stone's "History" include examining the Cold War and atomic bomb drop on Japan.

Stone said, "I don't want to put out conventional History Channel product where it's easy to like it."

Stone also ceded that the right, conservative talking heads like Rush Limbaugh will dislike his efforts.

"Obviously, Rush Limbaugh is not going to like this history and, as usual,we're going to get those kind of ignorant attacks," said Stone, who also said he hoped to send "Secret History" to schools as curriculum materials for teachers.