‘Overfunded and rotten with money and cocaine’: This filmmaker who made a Netflix series slams streaming giants

During a tribute to Ruggero Deodato at the Venice Film Festival, Nicolas Winding Refn, director of Drive and The Neon Demon, took part in a masterclass in which he criticized platforms, which he described as:Overfunded and rotten with money and cocaine“, he revealed IndieWire.

The director, who had earlier irked some film actors by saying that “Cinema is dead“, explained that he had somewhat changed his mind and that now he was fighting for the existence of cinema because it has platforms”For some reason, everyone is saturated“and”Depreciated the content by reducing it only at a glance.“

He stated that “It’s incredibly sad and terrifying, because art is essentially the only thing—besides sex, water, and happiness—that allows us to exist.“.

An interesting release from Refn, who made the series Copenhagen Cowboy for Netflix earlier this year. And before Copenhagen Cowboy, the director teamed up with Amazon for the series Too Old to Die Young. This 2019 series, starring Miles Teller, was not eligible for a second season on the platform.

• Copenhagen Cowboy on Netflix: How much is this dark and fantasy series from the director of Drive worth?

“Although I assumed it was dead a few years ago, it has become something we have to fight for,” he added. “Theatrical films are part of what makes us human and allows us to experiment with creativity.”

AI is not an artist. AI is a product.

The director, who lives in Copenhagen with his wife and children, went on to link the platforms to the dangers of artificial intelligence, saying it is “Certainly a phenomenon that affects our industryRemember that the topic of artificial intelligence is one of the main topics of the writers’ and actors’ strike that is currently blocking Hollywood, except for streaming payments.

A senseless world

Refn recently said IndieWire that with the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, content goals must be revised. “We produce content as a business, but we rarely talk about why we produce content“, said the director.

“What is the point ? We never talk about why we produce content. We just talk about making content and making more as fast as possible, and it’s all a slap in the face, but it’s not necessarily a healthy mirror of society or us as humans.“

He follows: “The more empty, the more empty calories, the more they are consumed, the faster you will outgrow them. It leads to stupidity, a lack of empathy, a lack of education, everything that art can contribute. In some ways, we are on the wrong track.“

“You know, we’ve never produced as much content as we have in the history of our content production, and I think most people spend more time looking for what not to watch than what. Isn’t that part of the problem? I think it’s a much more philosophical and complex issue than just winning, because it’s all about money.“