While the much discussed “Breaking Bad” finale had plenty of supporters, director Oliver Stone was not one of them. He told Forbes that he “happened to tune in and saw the most ridiculous 15 minutes of a movie — it would be laughed off the screen.”
While Stone isn’t exactly in the best position to criticize screen violence (“Natural Born Killers,” anyone?), he stressed that when the bloody stuff is shown, it should be shown “with authenticity.” He took issue with Walter White’s machine gun maneuvers: “Nobody could park his car right then and there and could
have a machine gun that could go off perfectly and kill all of the bad guys! It
would be a joke.”
He admits to not following the series closely, so that could be part of his disgruntlement — seeing those “laughable” 15 minutes out of context. How could anyone come upon the finale after not seeing the rest of the series and know what the hell was going on? But more than that, this may be a case of a director seeing something in his wheelhouse and feeling threatened. In a way, Stone represents a film industry that is watching the cultural conversation move to another medium.
Check out our roundup of critical reactions to the finale here. Meanwhile, Bryan Cranston is set to play Blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo on the big screen. Aaron Paul is in Ridley Scott’s “Exodus.” And a Colombian remake of “Breaking Bad,” titled “Metastasis,” is soon to debut (trailer here).
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