2024-03-22 02:11:20
In 1989, the American actor Patrick Swayze portrayed a man who would keep order even in the wildest nightclub. In the movie Road House, he protected a sought-after discotheque from a mafia connected to an all-powerful corruptor. It was in honor of Swayze, who died in 2009 at the age of 57, that a remake of the same name was created with Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead role.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays a former UFC fighter in the new movie, which will be available on Amazon Prime Video from Thursday. He starts as a bouncer in a night bar in Florida threatened by a predatory developer. “We wanted to remind Patrick Swayze. He created that character,” explains Gyllenhaal, who worked with the actor in the crime thriller Donnie Darko at the beginning of the millennium. “He was always very nice to me and supported me when I was starting out,” she recalls.
The remake of Road House aroused interest ahead of time for two reasons. First, in addition to Gyllenhaal, the mixed martial arts master, the Irish UFC champion Conor McGregor, got his first big film role here. And secondly, it was directed by Doug Liman, the popular author of the films Agent without a Past, Jumper or On the Edge of Tomorrow.
But it was Liman who caused the uproar when he wrote an article for Deadline.com in January announcing his intention to boycott the film’s premiere at Texas’ South by Southwest festival.
In the end, the director didn’t do that, he changed his mind at the last moment and arrived. However, he did not address the audience or participate in promotional events. “The movie is fantastic, maybe the best I’ve ever made. I have no doubt that it will get a standing ovation. But I won’t be there,” Liman said, who decided to “quietly boycott Amazon’s decision to only release a movie that was so clearly shot for the big screen”.
Amazon did not comment on his statement even after repeated requests. However, the director’s statement is disputed by Variety.com.
Jake Gyllenhaal at the premiere of Road House. | Photo: Reuters
According to his sources, Liman was given the choice of making the film on a budget of $60 million and sending it to theaters, or he would have $85 million available, but in that case Road House would only end up on Amazon Prime Video.
Managers were willing to invest more with the view that the expected innovation would help the platform gain new subscribers. And Liman chose the latter option, according to Variety.com.
The interview of Gyllenhaal for the magazine Total Film sounded similar. “Doug Liman means well, he speaks for all filmmakers and I admire how adamant he is, but Amazon has been clear from the beginning that this is for a streaming platform,” he says actor.
The film was created under the banner of Amazon MGM Studios. In his article for Deadline.com, Liman recalls that in 2021, the online retailer Amazon bought the traditional Hollywood studio MGM, associated with sagas such as that of James Bond, for $8.45 billion. On that occasion, the company declared its intention to invest up to a billion dollars in films, of which it would send about 12 to theaters a year. “But in my case she did the exact opposite,” Liman complains.
According to him, the film shot on IMAX cameras had all the prerequisites to succeed in cinemas. In test screenings, it even scored better than his 2002 James Bourne action film, which was followed by four sequels. The news is connected to the UFC’s mixed martial arts fan community, which has seen the social media trailer hit 1.5 billion views before the ad campaign has even begun. “And Jake Gyllenhaal is giving perhaps the best performance of his career. And how Conor McGregor goes after him, people just want to see on the big screen,” argues Liman.
Road House will be released on Amazon Prime Video this Thursday. | Video: Amazon Prime Video
According to him, however, none of this convinced the Amazon managers, who “wanted me and the film community to believe their words about supporting cinemas, after which they turned their backs on us”, complains the director.
According to him, there is probably no specific culprit. “Maybe it’s just a matter of a computer algorithm. Amazon will sell more toasters if its service gets more subscribers. And its service gets more subscribers if it doesn’t compete with movie theaters. By the same logic, a computer could come up with an elegant solution that would stop global warming, if we slaughtered all of humanity,” compares Liman.
He thinks that if similar films are not shown in cinemas that barely survived the pandemic, “one day there will be no cinemas and without them there will be no movie stars”.