Richard Dreyfuss Slams "W" Movie, Calls Oliver Stone A Fascist (VIDEO)

Richard Dreyfuss appeared on "The View" to publicize "W.," in which he plays Dick Cheney, but ended up criticizing the film and director Oliver Stone instead.

When asked why he made the film, he said he did it for "money." Dreyfuss also said, "I think it's 6/8ths of a great film."

Asked how it was to work with Oliver Stone, he said "imagine working for Sean Hannity... you can be a fascist, even when you're on the left."

He also said he isn't sure the film "will have any historical legs."

That and more pointed criticism in the clip below, with a bonus awkward moment at the end.

WATCH:

Comments

[rabiddog6708]

Years ago, before the release of JAWS, Dreyfuss gave interviews saying negative things about the movie and his character. His tune changed upon release of the movie, which became the highest grossing film ever, at least until STAR WARS came along 2 years later. JAWS is considered a classic, so if he go on TV knocking it, what chance does W really have?

[llee611838]

How many films do have historical importance? The cinema is mostly ephemeral over all. I'm also confused why people on the left wouldn't see Passion of the Christ? (And I don't know what film 9-11 is) The final thing that confuses me is why you would be in a film and then pan it. If his criticism is that it isn't 100% successful, I agree. But a lot of films aren't. So what?

[JNagarya]

Why would one pan a film after having been in it? Because one doesn't have perspective during the filming, doubly so if one doesn't see the final cut until later.

Why would anyone, on "the Left" or the right -- the vast majorty are IN THE MIDDLE -- want to see a film about Christ if they aren't "into" Christ? Especially as such are "mostly ephemeral".

[giraf]

Why not pan it? the movie is bad! Should money buy your soul as well as simple participation? If you applied that theory to everyone then no one ever slammed their boss and Powell would not have come out for Obama...

[sds2008]

I'm Jewish, yet I gave it a chance and went to see Passion of the Christ. I walked out of the film because at least in parts, blame his death on the Pharisees, who are Jewish. I was told that after that, it had a different message. But I couldn't sit through more.

[Artos]

sds2008,

I never went to see Passion of the Christ. I'm not much of a believer anyway. But what I have always thought pretty funny or ironic funny about the whole "Christ" thing is that Jesus was Hebrew or whatever tribe of the Hebrew he came from. He probably never referred to himself or his "Movement" as Christian. The early Christian Church tried to pin his death on "Jews" merely as a way to further "Crucify" them and legitimizing them as targets. Apparently everyone needs someone to hate. Why the Catholic Church tried to set Jesus aside from his own people as though he were a gentile is beyond me. As an aside anyone who is referred to as a Jew by themselves or someone of another persuasion is mislabeling these people. Judaism is a religion it isn't an ethnicity. Unless one is deciding to use a religious label as an ethnicity on purpose.

[nvcat]

People always seem to forget that Jesus was Jewish, as were his disciples and followers. It wasn't Jewish people the film was slamming. It was the whole religious 'system' that Jesus spoke out against--rituals and rules that are more important than matters of the heart. There are still plenty of Pharisees today in both Protestant denominations and other faiths, too. I understand about not being able to handle the violence in the crucifixion scenes, though. If a viewer doesn'tunderstand what Gibson was trying to do there (illustrate the Christian theology of the creator coming to earth to take the punishment for our rebellion in order to reconcile us with Him) then it's tough to watch. It was tough for me, too.

[cheerleaderBush]

I saw "W", although some would say the film made everyone in the Bush administration look weak, incompetent and/or corrupt - i thought the film neglected to use countless factual/documented examples that would have driven home the FACT that GW Bush, Cheney and company are criminally incompeten­t... or just criminal..­. the unprecedented disasters their policies have wrought on this country and the world should have been highlighted more in the film.

[thebeerdoctor]

Oliver Stone as a director is about as subtle as a sledgehammer. For all the "truthyness" attributed to his movies, they are actually sometimes entertaining movies, forget about facts. Of course some are just unctuous (Natural Born Killers comes to mind), while others (Wall Street) are highly charged melodramas full of righteous indignation. When it comes to the epic-mythology approach (JFK) he just makes stuff up when it is convenient to move the script forward. But that is the point is it not? He is in the popcorn selling business. His later efforts I have ignored, as critic Rex Reed said about the late works of Hitchcock: "his films have lost their sense of style."

[likeicare]

Dreyfus was on some show, about a year and a half ago, and he was rambling on and on about how civics classes in the US should be emphasized more -- which was a good point -- but, he went into overkill about it and ultimately lost most of the audience and his host, too.

He takes himself too seriously, it would seem, and thinks that making one's point the hard way is the best strategy . . . which is why he makes no sense at all.

[dawlishgal]

Of all of the academy awards ever given, I think Dreyfuss's for "Goodbye Girl" is the most undeserved.

[vigilantwarrior]

For some reason Stone missed his "JFK" moment with "W". How could he have left out Bush's stirring performance at Booker Elementary on 9/11?

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/the-protection-racket/

[bioluminescence]

Of course actors have a right to a political voice. They can express it directly through their actions and statements and they can express it indirectly through the films projects they choose to do and those they choose not to do.

Richard Dreyfuss has done a lot of good work on the screen. But if he had a problem with a not tough enough treatment of George Bush in "W" sufficiently compelling to air on national television, then he had a choice. He could have walked from the project. Or he could have aired his grievances in his memoirs. Not to his credit, he did neither.

[wanked]

6/8 ths of a good film? (or 12/16ths or 18/24ths) Hollywood movie stars sure know how to express themselves intelligently! How bout "I liked about 75% of the film"

[reeves6]

How about 3/4?

[dawlishgal]

Well, he never claimed to be good at math (as far as I know).

[sueno]

Thanks- I to wondered what the hell he was talking about-

[billwetzel]

I think what he means about Stone is he's difficult on set to deal with. He pushes his actors to extremes. He can be a jerk. If you listen to the commentaries and the "Making of" documentaries on his dvds the actors all talk about him like he's a madman, a genius, but a madman. He does run a set and a movie like a fascist, in a sense, so maybe Dreyfuss is talking about that.

[dawlishgal]

Dreyfuss's bio says that he is bipolar. It is abundantly clear that bipolars, while they tend to be good at creative stuff, are not usually easy to work with, so it was probably no picnic for Oliver Stone, either.

[Michale32086]

Now THAT was funny.. :D

Michale...­..

[Bettysdad]

Anyone who things that someone on the "left" can be a fascist should go back to sculpting mashed potatoes.

[Michale32086]

You obviously don't read much HuffPo, Taylor Marsh or Daily Kos...

There have been threats against McCain and Bush and all sorts of other hysterical Right style attacks.

I don't use the word "fascist" because that is an insult to those who were victims of TRUE fascism..

But the simple fact of the matter is, when it comes to perverse, hateful and hurtful attacks the hysterical Left is simply NO different from the hysterical Right..

That's a fact, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not.

Michale...­..

[billwetzel]

The difference is the hysterical left is few, the hysterical right is a at least half the party.

[Michale32086]

By the bi, I loved the CE3K reference.­. :D

I wonder how many got it...

Michale...­..

[ccpostman]

Such anger.

The lawsuit against his dad must be going bad?

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b23056_dreyfuss_sues_dad_uncle_fraud.html

[bocoe]

Mr. Drefuss don't bite the hand that feeds you!

[bocoe]

I must confess to being disappointed about this film W. I was expecting much more Bush bashing. God knows the Right has done enough bashing on its own over the past eight years. It should have been the movie of the week on one of the Fox channels, rather than a first run theatrical release. Oliver Stone must have been drinking the Koolaid.

[TurgidCaterwauling]

We all do it for the money.