Monday
Jan042010
Monday, January 4, 2010 at 12:06PM 'The Road' Director's Broken 'Promised Land'
John Hillcoat has not had a good 12 months. First, The Road was plucked from the 2008 campaign and moved to 2009. That could have worked out since 2009 is maybe the weaker year of the two at the top of the heap. But since it couldn't compete in November and December, it's possible the film would have been shredded in '08.
"The joke on set and in the edit suite was that we had to get [The Road] out before it became a reality. Ironically, the movie industry itself now faces its own apocalypse. The perfect storm has arrived in Hollywood: a global economic downturn combined with piracy and the increase of downloading on the internet – what happened to the record companies years ago but with much higher stakes. The reactionary first phase has kicked in – few films in development, many films put on hold or shut down.""My own new project – with a much-loved script by Nick Cave and a dream all-star cast – has fallen apart. The finance company that we began The Road with has also fallen apart, having to radically downsize to one remaining staff member. The great divide has begun, with only very low-budget films being made or huge 3-D franchise films – the birth of brand films such as Barbie, Monopoly: The Movie – who knows what’s next, Coca-Cola: The Movie? "I end the year appropriately – gazing into the apocalypse of my own industry." He's laying it on a little thick, and understandably so, but smaller films are surviving at a greater rate now than ever (now being a general term for an overall trend as opposed to the past six or twelve months). The apocalypse of his industry is greatly exaggerated. But where he may have a point is in addressing what happens in the middle. On the one hand, the industry is driven by big, splashy, mainstream movies. You're fooling yourself if you think it can operate otherwise. They're all multi-tiered publicly traded companies that have stockholders to answer to, and the easiest way to do that is give them movies the most people want to see. So, you can't really blame the studios for making money. If they didn't, they'd be spun off to another conglomerate that knew even less about good films and worked the lowest common denominator in a more exaggerated way. On the other hand, the studios have got to find a way to get skyrocketing budgets under control, particularly for movies like Did You Hear About the Morgans?, which somehow cost over $55 million, over three times as much as Slumdog Millionaire and twice what it cost for Up in the Air. That's absurd. It's a $25 million movie, tops. And let's pretend we were born under power lines and we have a third hand. On that third hand is bridging art and commerce, which the studios still attempt to do, even transparently, because Oscar movies now rake in more money on DVD than they did with other avenues even 10 years ago. So there is profitability in quality, too, if it's handled the right way. Hillcoat worked with The Weinstein Company and Dimension on The Road, and when Harvey and Bob ran Miramax, they were very good at building that bridge, the way Searchlight and Focus usually are these days. However, TWC is not cranking out the hits and the company has even fashioned a very strange release pattern for most of its films, making it nearly impossible for them to be substantial cash cows. Hence, The Road. This would be a sad project to lose, but if you look at the history of cinema, it's not like this is the only time something so good has fallen apart. Hillcoat may have trouble finding financing at this stage, and the stars may never align like this again (literally or figuratively), but look how long it took Scorsese to make Last Temptation of Christ, for example. If it's worth doing now, it'll be worth doing later.
Reader Comments (2)
Very good, honest, and informative article there, Colin. Much appreciated!
yeah good article good thoughts & opinions..
I completely do agree w/ Hillcoat, it is true... These studio heads are making "safe" movies that people will see but usually just suck...
I just don't understand why they can't get the money from other avenues to make such films???
-I mean were talking about HOLLYWOOD people!!!! It is a MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR BIZNESS, & they cant find money people can put up to make better films...
YES, I like your point.. They have to figure out how to control their finances for these films...
- I saw a clip of Hugh Grant talking about his film, & he said they filmed in certain areas due to tax credit stuff which is fine but it STILL ended up costing over 55 Million...WOW
Dont they realize people like the audience, US, want to see truth & a reality, & that these films are not attractive at all to people, I just dont get it...