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Doug Liman, the director of the upcoming Road House remake, will not be attending the premiere due to a beef with Amazon, who produced the film.
Liman, who says Road House is “maybe his best” movie yet, will not be attending the SXSW premiere of the Jake Gyllenhaal-starring film because of Amazon’s decision to only release the film on Prime Video.
“When Road House opens the SXSW film festival, I won’t be attending. 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,” Liman begins in a guest column that was published in Deadline.
“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.”
Liman saying that he thinks Road House is his best movie is certainly an eye-opening claim considering he’s previously directed films such as Swingers, The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Jumper, Edge of Tomorrow, American Made, and more.
The 58-year-old is also the director that’s attached to the movie that Tom Cruise plans on shooting, at least partially, in outer space.
Liman’s piece in Deadline is extensive and poignant, as he also points out how the “villain” of the story may be an algorithm.
“The reality is there may not be a human villain in this story – it may simply be an Amazon computer algorithm,” Liman says.
“Amazon will sell more toasters if it has more subscribers; it will have more subscribers if it doesn’t have to compete with movie theaters. A computer could come up with that elegant solution as easily as it could solve global warming by killing all humans.
Set to hit Prime Video on March 21, Road House — which has been described as being darker than the original — also stars Daniela Melchior, Conor McGregor, and Billy Magnussen.