The Netflix vs. Cannes situation has been documented quite extensively by us for the last couple months. After having two films, “Okja” and “The Meyerowitz Stories,” premiere at the prestigious film festival last year, Netflix, very publicly, announced they would not show any films at the upcoming Cannes, due to French laws and Cannes rules about showing a film in theaters.
Now, as we are on the eve of the opening of Cannes, news comes that Netflix might be positioning themselves for some sweet, sweet revenge by buying up some of the more high-profile selections, including the opening film of the festival, “Everybody Knows.”
Cannes announced that the Asghar Farhadi film, starring Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, would headline the festival in the coveted opening night slot, and since then, people in the film industry wondered how long it would take before a studio came calling. Apparently, according to Variety, the studio that is giving the film a closer look is none other than Netflix.
If Netflix pulls the trigger on the film, it would be the ultimate middle finger at Cannes from the streaming service, showing that even though they aren’t presenting films, Netflix can still dominate the headlines during the festival. And Variety also says that Netflix is planning on being a major player during Cannes, so we can probably expect them to have their sights set on other projects, as well.
“Everybody Knows” stars Cruz and Bardem as a married couple that goes to visit family, and while on their vacation, secrets begin to come to light. For Cruz, the production of the film was difficult and emotionally draining. In an interview with The Wrap, the actress says, “All of my scenes were very intense. In one scene I have a panic attack in the car, and I ended up in an ambulance myself. It was just from hyperventilation and from my blood sugar going very high from the stress of the scene. I remember getting out of the ambulance, and Asghar made sure I was OK.”
But after the director asked if she was okay, he had one more request from Cruz. “And then he asked me for one more take,” admits the actress.
As mentioned above, “Everybody Knows” has its world premiere tomorrow night. Odds are, if Netflix is interested, we’ll hear about a purchase of the film very soon.
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Cannes chose to define a “film” by it’s exhibition format rather than by its narrative format. This is very shortsighted and a big mistake.
Many of the attributes that we associate with feature films are a product of the limitations of an antiquated theatrical exhibition format. Among other qualities, feature films have an approximate running time of 2 hours not because it is the best length to tell every story, but because it a) accommodates the need for theaters to run a uniform exhibition schedule and b) accommodates a uniform ticket pricing structure.
As more elastic exhibition formats (like streaming or episodic premium cable) grow in prestige and legitimacy, creators will feel less inclined to shoehorn (or expand) their stories into the straightjacket of the traditional theatrical format. THAT is the real threat to the future of the two hour movie we think of as “cinema”.
Cannes should be encouraging any and all players who celebrate that legacy narrative format regardless of where those 2 hour, three act structure stories are exhibited.
Because without a robust creative interest in that challenging, restrictive, antiquated narrative format, there won’t be enough movies to play in all those theaters Cannes seems so worried about.
You guys are embarrassing yourselves with all the clickbaity dramatizing of this netflix/cannes thing, its transparent just saying
One clickbait headline that you could have spared us : http://deadline.com/2018/05/everybody-knows-focus-features-penelope-cruz-javier-barden-1202385985/