Filmmaking in a Streaming Age: “The Movie Industry Needed Netflix to Wake Up”
The German filmmaker told the MIA Market in Rome a “failure” with World War Z opened the way to eventual Oscar-winning ‘Conclave’ collaboration.
“There’s no right or wrong. Each film will find their place. All these outlets are additive,” Berger told the MIA Market in Rome. The German director-producer praised streamers for shaking up a movie business in need of fresh ideas and audiences coming out of the pandemic era.
“The movie industry needed Netflix to wake up. They were a real disruptor,” Berger argued. The tables have turned in part as Netflix gets inspired by the movie industry amid a rebound in box office for major Hollywood studios and streamers
“The thing that taught me the most was failure,” he explained, pointing to his second movie, World War Z, a collaboration with Brad Pitt, having had him questioning where his career was headed.
Only make a movie if it comes from the inside
“It’s all about yourself. Only make a movie when it comes from the inside. When there’s something about you, that you really want to say, then you make it,” Berger said he learned from those doubts.
Jack (2014)
He remembered getting back on track with screenwriter Nele Mueller-Stoefen with Jack, a 2014 low-budget film about two lost, neglected brothers in Berlin.
Having worked after university with Good Machine, on Todd Haynes’ and Ang Lee’s films, Berger paid tribute to Hollywood players for having viewed Jack and seen his potential as filmmaker.
His English-language debut earned $127 million at the global box office and was nominated for 8 Oscars, including best screenplay and best picture, and earned four Oscars.
His latest film, Ballad of a Small Player, was released by Netflix last year and starred Colin Farrell as down-on-his-luck, would-be big-time gambler working the baccarat tables of Macau to pay down a mountains of debt from his present and past.
Berger also wrote and directed Submerged, the first original scripted film shot in Apple Immersive Video and meant to be viewed using the Apple Vision Pro mixed reality device.
Berger is producing Helo, a police helicopter action thriller with Andrés Baiz directing in development at Netflix, via his Nine Hours banner with Luke Rivett.
“I want to have three or four things that are always there. Some will fall away because you can’t raise the family. The script doesn’t get there,” he argued.
Trusting in creative collaborators is also key to success. “So many times I was wrong, and I was just trying to find the truth on the day,” he added.
