Oliver Stone once blasted Robert Downey Jr. for “ruining” Natural Born Killers with his juvenile humor. As a director who has never been shy in voicing his opinion, Stone has made some controversial decisions over the years, but he has also been happy to admit his error of judgment when the need arises. One such moment is recounted in Esquire’s oral history of Stone’s classic Natural Born Killers in honor of its 30th anniversary, relaying how a then-27-year-old Downey Jr. attempted to add a little something extra to the movie to Stone’s annoyance.
Natural Born Killers, based on a story by Quentin Tarantino, stars Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as a couple who set off on a violent killing spree together across the country, with the media hot in pursuit of the headline-grabbing story. The film was written as a satirical look at the way the world approaches violence in the media, something that is as relevant now as it was back in 1994. However, despite the darkly humorous side of the film, Downey Jr.’s ideas didn’t go down well with Stone when they were first suggested.
Downey Jr. plays the TV reporter Wayne Gale, who is hot on the heels of Harrelson and Lewis’ Mickey and Mallory Knox, but ends up getting more than he bargained for when he becomes the news in a bloody final act. For the scene, Downey Jr. suggested that if they dipped the tails of his shirt in fake blood and put them through the fly of his pants, it would look like a bloody phallus. Stone reacted as you would expect, telling Downey Jr., “Oh come on – that’s too much! You’re going too far, Robert. You’re ruining my movie! Forget the dumb d*ck idea. This isn’t… This isn’t some slapstick bullsh*t.”
Oliver Stone Changed His Mind About Downey Jr.’s Phallus Idea
While Downey Jr. has admitted that he filmed much of Natural Born Killers in a haze of drugs and alcohol, the day they shot that final scene was one of his rare sober days. And it seems that the idea did hold some merit. As the actor prepared to zip up his fly, Stone stopped him, saying, “Wait, wait – Wait a second. Let me see the d*ck thing again.”
After looking at Downey Jr. for a long while, Stone retconned his initial opinion on the idea, telling the surprised actor:
Pull it back half an inch. All right, let’s go.
And that is the shot that remained in the movie, where what looks like a bloody stump is seen sticking out of Downey Jr.’s character’s fly for just a moment. What made this even more notable is that, as noted by Esquire, the filming of the movie took place at a time when headlines were filled with news of Lorena Bobbitt and the famous mutilation of her husband, John Wayne. Meanwhile, the movie itself underwent many cuts in order to gain its R-rating from the MPAA, who wanted to make the movie an NC-17. While the film generated plenty of controversy for its subject matter, it became Stone’s highest grossing movie at that time, and continues to be considered a modern cinema classic.
Natural Born Killers
is currently streaming on Apple TV+.