‘Road House’ remake director boycotts premiere over streaming release
Doug Liman, the director of the upcoming remake of Road House, will be boycotting the film’s premiere after Amazon Prime Video decided on a streaming-only release.
The remake of the 1989 film starring Patrick Swayze will star Jake Gyllenhaal as an ex-UFC fighter who ends up working in a roadhouse in the Florida Keys.
In an open letter published by Deadline, Liman wrote that he will “not be attending” the film’s premiere in Texas at the SXSW film festival in March.
The Edge Of Tomorrow director wrote: “The movie is fantastic, maybe my best, and I’m sure it will bring the house down and possibly have the audience dancing in their seats during the end credits. But I will not be there.”
His letter called out Amazon for the decision saying: “Contrary to their public statements, Amazon has no interest in supporting cinemas. Amazon will exclusively stream Road House on Amazon’s Prime.”
“Amazon asked me and the film community to trust them and their public statements about supporting cinemas, and then they turned around and are using Road House to sell plumbing fixtures,” he added.
When he initially agreed to direct Road House, Liman signed to MGM, before the film studio was acquired by Amazon for $8.5billion (£6.7billion).
The letter continued: “I’m not opposed to streaming movies. I made one of Amazon’s first original movies for streaming, and during the pandemic sold a streaming movie to Warner Bros. I’m currently making Instigators for Apple.”
Liman continued: “But I am opposed to Amazon gutting MGM and its theatrical business, as I would have been had Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post and then gutted its newsroom (he did the opposite).”
The Bourne Identity director revealed that he had initially planned to “silently protest Amazon’s decision to stream a movie so clearly made for the big screen”. But his letter explained: “Amazon is hurting way more than just me and my film. If I don’t speak up about Amazon, who will?”
In other news, The Bourne Identity star Matt Damon was surprised by Ben Affleck in an endearing moment at the Golden Globe Awards.
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Alex Berry
NME
