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  • 2 weeks ago
'Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere' director Scott Cooper chats with THR on the carpet for the Academy Governors Awards and opens up about his feelings on the film hitting theaters and unpacks the issues he sees with the box office.
Transcript
00:00Now that Springsteen is out in the world, how are you kind of feeling about everyone finally getting to see it?
00:05Well, I'm of two minds.
00:07I love the response of people who have been incredibly moved or touched by the film
00:13and who have felt motivated to reconnect with a loved one maybe that they had been estranged from.
00:23I'm happy to hear that people are seeking the therapeutic help
00:28that they've wanted to because they see that Bruce Springsteen was suffering
00:31and he got the kind of help that he most desperately needed.
00:36If I'm being honest, I wish more people were coming to the movies.
00:40I think there are a lot of reasons why they aren't coming.
00:44And I think there are things that we can do to make sure that their viewing experience is more pleasurable.
00:52And it's dispiriting, I have to say.
00:55If a movie isn't a sequel or a prequel or if it isn't raining concrete or glass,
01:00it's hard to get them out.
01:04And I have to think fewer ads bombarding them prior to the screening starting,
01:12longer windows so that they don't say to themselves,
01:15oh, well, this is going to be in my home in two weeks,
01:17lower ticket prices, varying ticket prices during the week.
01:23I think it's expensive to get a sitter for parking and tickets and concessions.
01:30So I understand that.
01:32But for someone who makes a living as a filmmaker,
01:36not even considering what's coming with AI,
01:39you want people to be transported in a room filled with strangers
01:44where they're focused just on the movie
01:47and they aren't, you know, watching, looking at their phone while they're watching,
01:51which is what they do at home.
01:52It's not the same experience.
01:55And it's a problem that many of the movies that are being celebrated this season
01:59and kind of here tonight have had similar box office problems.
02:02So, I mean, how much do you kind of, how much do you take that in versus kind of just...
02:08Oh, well, I certainly take it in.
02:09Yeah.
02:10And it's hard when you think, well, this movie might connect on a wider basis
02:16and then it doesn't.
02:17And I hate to see from my fellow filmmakers who are, you know,
02:23feeling despondent or dispirited because people aren't coming to the movies.
02:28I think you also want to make sure that the people who are financing your movie
02:33want to do it again.
02:35You know, it is show business after all.
02:37And the more and the better movies do, the more independent cinema you'll see,
02:44the more studio films you'll see that are challenging, that are original, that are daring.
02:49Otherwise, I think it's going to be, you know, rather bleak.
02:54I hate to say that.
02:55And you mentioned AI.
02:56I mean, how do you kind of look at that and what's coming
02:59and how do you factor that into your kind of what you have planned?
03:02Oh, well, I think it's inevitable.
03:07My only hope is that audiences will crave a human experience
03:11and not something that's synthetic for cheap entertainment.
03:16I mean, look, I imagine when in the mid-19th century
03:19when people were painting and then photography comes in, you know, later in the century,
03:24you know, they can both exist, right?
03:27And they have for centuries.
03:30That's, I think, the most positive look.
03:32I mean, maybe there are tools that we can use to make filmmaking cheaper,
03:37but also keep it incredibly human.
03:41You know, I'm a pretty analog guy.
03:43If you've seen my movies, you know, they certainly feel like,
03:48I hope that they come from a different era,
03:49but, you know, it's a wave that's creeping in and I see it.
03:54It's starting to come around my ankles,
03:56and I know it's only going to rise.
03:58We'll see you next time,
03:59just look at things.
04:13Bye.
04:16Bye.
04:17Bye.
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