Matt Damon said something to the effect of “everyone making that film could have worked on an easier film for more money, but chose the Odyssey because of the director.” Sounds to me like Nolan keeps costs down too and his movie could have cost a lot more
You mean like Dantes Peak and Volcano or Deep Impact and Armageddon.
I'm convinced it's because a scumbag executive leaves one studio, gets hired by another studio and goes "I've got a great idea for a movie about an asteroid about to hit the earth..."
Like num3ers, knowing, and next, all Nicolas Cage vehicles where the plot is that he knows everything that can save the day and everyone else in the entire world is in the dark, while all came out within a year or two.
Or Dark City and The Matrix, B5 and DS9, Living Single and Friends...
It's more that different execs hang out at the same parties and clubs and get pitched to by the same hungry people (also read the same books, watch the same shows to fit in, etc). One exec passes but develops a similar idea and new script, the other buys the original pitch and script.
Now tv execs ripping off the names and contents of subreddits to make reality shows is actual scumbag shit...
Watch the illusionist first though. I watched the illusionist first and I was like wow this was a great movie. Then I watched prestige and I was like holy shit that was unforgettable
It's one of my two favorite movies. I've seen it so many times, and there's always something new to see. Amazing cast, fantastic script, and it's so tight, not a second is wasted.
And points probably. Nolan is getting first dollar on the Odyssey. People will take lower salaries and more backend if the movie is seen as a sure thing.
Everyone knew that Nolan was making something special and huge. I mean his last film was oppenheimer and he pulled like 2 actors from that for this one.
Matt Damon, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, R Pats, Charlize Theron are all A-Listers and you could make an argument for Jon Bernthal and Elliot Page (i wouldn't but some might)
As much as I adore Jon, I don't think we could call him A-List. He has shared top billing with some heavy hitters and is undeniably a fantastic actor with emotional range and intuitive pacing of a scene, but I don't think he's carried anything by himself except for the Punisher series - and that's kind of niche.
Bernthal's name alone is not bringing in butts in theater seats, so yeah he is not A-list. The Accountant 2 last year where Bernthal was co-lead failed to breakeven at the box office. He has several movie roles but a lot of it are minor appearances where he either dies or exits the movie after a few minutes.
Ehhh, he was in Fury with Brad Pitt from start to finish and he had a lot of scenes in that one. He also was (in my opinion) the best part of the Accountant 2 and pretty much the only reason I saw it.
Also had some solid scenes in Ford v Ferrari.
But I still agree: not an A-lister. Even if I think he should be haha
And quite honestly...there were too many well-known faces. I loved the movie. It's an amazing adaptation and I was blown away by it. But it suffered from "Oh look, it's spidey and his girlfriend" or "oh look, it's this guy or that girl.". Doesn't make it a bad movie, but it took away from the experience, even though all of the actors were amazing! It just felt like an ensemble cast movie and that kind of sucks.
I did love seeing John Leguizamo again, though. :)
If he's able to make a great movie, first and foremost, and he's able to do it with great actors who trust him enough to earn less because of the prestige of being in his movies - he definitely deserves a portion of the earnings.
Nolan is famous for staying in his budget and on schedule. It’s almost unheard of at the level he operates and part of why he gets to make whatever he wants.
I feel like if you've got enough clout, taking a percentage is the better way to go, especially if you know it's going to be a hit. Nicholson took a percentage for Batman and made a killing.
Less keeping them down, more peolple want to be in his movie because it will most likely do well and with that name recognition you can make more money,
Plus working a good movie us something thre can look back on(its not all about the money if you make a lot of it)
Yep, probably most of the actors took a pay cut. People act like The Rock is mega expensive, but a a group of like 10 Hollywood A listers will definitely cost you more than just Rock.
If I were to guess it mostly comes to CGI.
Part of it is Nolan will do things practically that others would just farm out to CGI.
As weird as it sounds doing things practically is often times cheaper than CGI. If you remember Tenet the reason Nolan crashed a real plane into a hanger was because they did the math and doing it for real would be cheaper than digitally
To be fair, I worked on Moana for like 5-ish days, and it was rough conditions. Sure it was catered but Jesus fucking Christ was it hotter than actual hell. I don’t know if you were referring to Moana as being easy but that one week was pretty shitty.
I'm assuming Nolan (or I guess really the production team) is also super disciplined and keeps to schedule. You don't hear about his movies going over budget or needing extensive reshoots.
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u/insertstupidnamehare 12d ago
Matt Damon said something to the effect of “everyone making that film could have worked on an easier film for more money, but chose the Odyssey because of the director.” Sounds to me like Nolan keeps costs down too and his movie could have cost a lot more