Oliver Stone has blamed the poor reception of his historical biopic Alexander in the United States upon the population's narrow-minded prejudiced stance on homosexuality.

Alexander, which portrays the Macedonian leader Alexander the Great as bisexual, has done very poorly at the US box office despite being directed by the acclaimed Stone and starring the likes of Colin Farrell, Angelina Jolie and Anthony Hopkins.

He expects Europe to take to the film more openly as Europeans have a greater appreciation for history and are more open-minded concerning morality and sexuality.

He says: "Americans don't read about ancient history like the Europeans. And in America there is a raging fundamentalism and morality.

"From day one the Bible Belt people did not show up because there was one phrase throughout the media and that was 'Alex the gay'.

"So you can bet you’re a*s the Americans aren't going to see a war hero who in their heads has something wrong with him.

"But I don't regret what I have made here for a minute. It's the epic of my life."