Edward Berger, the filmmaker behind All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave, on Monday talked about making movies for theaters or streaming services in an increasingly disrupted business.
“I think there’s no right or wrong. Each film will find their place. All these outlets are additive,” Berger told the MIA Market in Rome during a fireside chat. The German director and producer also praised major 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. He added 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.
Berger also during his Rome talk argued learning from mistakes did more than anything to inspire his career. “The thing that taught me the most was failure,” he explained. Berger pointed to his second movie, World War Z, a collaboration with Brad Pitt, having had him questioning where his career was headed.
“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. He remembered getting back on track with screenwriter Nele Mueller-Stoefen with Jack, a 2014 low-budget film about two lost and neglected brothers in Berlin.
And Berger, having worked after getting out of university with Good Machine, the maker of Todd Haynes’ and Ang Lee’s films, paid tribute to Hollywood players for having viewed Jack and seen his potential as a filmmaker.
“The people who showed up were the foreigners, not the Germans: Film Four, BBC Films, the Americans. Everyone in America saw the movie, in Hollywood. It’s a small movie, but they’re so interested in seeing the next movie, finding the next voice. They’re hungry for movies,” he remembered. That opened the way to Conclave, his Vatican-set movie mostly shot in Rome at the historic Cinecittà Studios.
“It’s a great place to make a movie. You feel Fellini walking around, It’s very inspiring,” Berger recalled. His English-language debut took in $127 million at the global box office and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including best screenplay and best picture, and nabbed four Oscars.
His latest film, Ballad of a Small Player, was released by Netflix last year and starred Colin Farrell as a 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.
And 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.
Berger said staying fresh as a director is about staying busy.
“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. And 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.
“I’m human. You’re human. We all make mistakes Let’s find the truth together,” Berger added about making movies with a team.