This week marked the 30th anniversary of the release of Natural Born Killers, the romantic crime action film directed and co-written by Oliver Stone.
In anticipation of the milestone, Stone spoke to Esquire about the making of the 1994 film that starred Juliette Lewis and Woody Harrelson as a homicidal couple sensationalized by the media.
While Lewis and Harrelson had the most screen time, it was supporting actor who initially caught the ire of director Stone for nearly ‘ruining’ the tone of the movie.
The filmmaker recalled shooting the final scene when Downey Jr. got the idea to dip one of the front tails of his white button-down shirt in fake blood and pull it through the unzipped fly of his pants, like a bloody phallus.
“‘Oh come on that’s too much! You’re going too far, Robert,”‘ Stone told a then-27-year-old Downey, who was admittedly struggling with substance abuse at the time.
Natural Born Killers director Oliver Stone said he initially felt Robert Downey Jr. (pictured in the 1994 film) was ‘ruining’ the film with ‘slapstick bulls**t’
In a new Esquire interview, Stone recalled shooting the 1994 film’s final scene when Downey Jr. got the idea to dip one of the front tails of his white button-down shirt in fake blood and pull it through the unzipped fly of his pants, like a bloody phallus; Stone seen in 2022
Stone, who was 47 at that time of production, scolded the actor even more, which came on the heels of his Oscar nomination for Chaplin the previous year.
‘You’re ruining my movie! Forget the dumb d*ck idea,’ the three-time Academy Award-winner continued, before adding, ‘This isn’t… This isn’t some slapstick bulls**t.’
It turns out, Downey Jr. just happened to be sober for this particular day of the shoot, and he would give in and pull his shirt back through the zipper.
But as he was doing this, Stone got an idea off the top of his head: ‘Wait, wait—wait a second. Let me see the d**k thing again,’ he told the Less Than Zero star.
‘Pull it back a half inch,’ Stone told Downey Jr., who quickly reacted to the direction of the director, who then declared: ‘All right. Let’s go.’
And the rest, as they say, is moviemaking history.
Stone directed the film from a screenplay that he co-wrote with David Veloz and Richard Rutowski, which was based on an original story by Quentin Tarantino.
Downey played salacious TV journalist Wayne Gale, who chases the biggest story of his life while reporting on Lewis and Harrelson’s characters’ murder rampage, only to become the news in the film’s twisted finale.
Downey Jr, whose history with substance abuse as a young actor has been well-chronicled over the years, admitted that ‘the only time I was awake [during the production] was between action and cut.’
But still, after all these years, he has the foresight to see the film ‘has got something that still bears reexamination’ even after three decades since its release.
‘Oliver Stone is a director who, barring [Christopher] Nolan and maybe a few others, is the highest embodiment of social commentary via cinema,’ the Iron Man star said.
Downey Jr. plays TV journalist Wayne Gale, who’s all about the ratings
“‘Oh come on that’s too much! You’re going too far, Robert,”‘ Stone told a then-27-year-old Downey (pictured), who was admittedly struggling with substance abuse at the time
Natural Born Killers, which would appear in theaters in 1994 just as the 24-hour news cycle was becoming part of everyday life in the U.S., went on to become a box office success, grossing $110 million against a production budget of $34 million, despite polarizing reviews
‘Oliver Stone has never made a movie that wasn’t saying something. Never.’
Natural Born Killers served as a satire of the violence-obsessed media of the 1990s.
The main cast of Harrelson, Lewis, and Downey Jr., were joined by Tommy Lee Jones and Tom Sizemore.
It also features the likes of Rodney Dangerfield, Evan Handler, Steven Wright, Edie McClurg, Sean Stone, Russell Means,Lanny Flaherty, Balthazar Getty, Richard Lineback, Kirk Baltz, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Joe Grifasi, Everett Quinton, Marshall Bell, Peter Crombie, Grand L. Bush, Dale Dye, Louis Lombardi, Corey Everson, O-Lan Jones, and Jared Harris.
Natural Born Killers, which would appear in theaters in the summer of 1994 just as the 24-hour news cycle was becoming part of everyday life in the U.S., went on to become a box office success, grossing $110 million against a production budget of $34 million, despite polarizing reviews.
