Director Oliver Stone has apologised for blasting Ryan Gosling for starring in Barbie.

The Platoon filmmaker recently hit headlines after a June 2023 interview resurfaced in which he claimed Gosling was “wasting his time” with Barbie when he should be making “more serious films”.

Stone issued a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday night, insisting he had “ignorantly” made the comments before seeing the film.

“At the time, I was busy promoting my nuclear documentary in Europe and had little to no knowledge of the project beyond its title,” he explained. “I was able to see Barbie in a theater back in July and appreciated the film for its originality and its themes. I found the filmmakers’ approach certainly different than what I expected. I apologize for speaking ignorantly.”

He also praised director Greta Gerwig, calling her feature directorial debut Lady Bird one of his favourite films of 2017.

Concluding his statement, the Wall Street filmmaker wrote, “Barbie’s box office greatly boosted the morale of our business, which was welcome. I wish Greta and the entire Barbie team good fortune at the Oscars.”

In his original interview with City A.M. last year, Stone said, “Ryan Gosling is wasting his time if he’s doing that s**t for money. He should be doing more serious films. He shouldn’t be a part of this infantilisation of Hollywood.”

Barbie was the highest-grossing film of 2023, and Gosling has been nominated for a number of supporting actor awards for his role as Ken.

The Oscar nominations will be announced on Tuesday.

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