Tony Gilroy at the world premiere of his new movie “Behemoth!” Paramount-Warner Bros. He criticized the “tragic” nature of the merger. Shot on a budget of $36 million, “Behemoth!” is representative of the mid-budget, adult-oriented drama that once sustained Hollywood’s theater business and allowed filmmakers like Gilroy to make a name for themselves in the industry. He fears that the impending merger (which David Ellison has just announced will spin off both historic movie studios to a company called Skydance) threatens to wipe out the “wholesome, beautiful business” he’s worked in for more than three decades.
“People say the movie industry is in trouble,” Gilroy said. Diversity Friday night at Alice Tully Hall. “You walk around, you stop wherever you want, what are people talking about? Have you seen this? Have you seen that? What department are you in? The business is solid, and to tear down the architecture that made it what it is in the name of venture capital is tragic.”
“Behemoth!” stars Pedro Pascal as a talented cellist who finds himself re-immersed in the world of Hollywood movie scores. It is Gilroy’s first major project after completing work on the Emmy-winning series “Andor.” It was also named the centerpiece of the 64th New York Film Festival, following James Gray’s star-studded opening night feature “Paper Tiger” and Ava DuVernay’s closing night documentary “14th.” While promoting his new film, Gilroy praised the festival’s lineup as a bright spot in an increasingly turbulent Hollywood landscape.
“Thank you for what you did [the festival] “So elegant and dazzling, and for surrounding us with so many great movies,” Gilroy told the crowd. “The way you’ve curated it this year, that’s one hell of a cast! Damn. And everyone knows it. When a lot of things go to shit in Hollywood, it’s like a thank you. Thank you for letting us bring our soufflé to your wonderful party.”
Gilroy also thanked Matt Greenfield and his partners at Searchlight Pictures, the independent studio owned by the Walt Disney Company, which also produced “Andor.”
“This is not an easy movie to greenlight, and it’s not an easy movie to sell,” he concluded. “But here we are. Here we are. We got here calmly, gracefully, without drama, with our zest for life intact.”
Skydance has decided to tentatively complete the merger on Tuesday, October 6, which will combine Hollywood’s traditional Big Five studios (Disney, Universal, Sony, Warner Bros. and Paramount) under just four owners. While Ellison argues that Paramount and Warner Bros. will maintain separate studio identities under the Skydance umbrella, industry figures including “Behemoth!” Producer Sanne Wohlenberg fears that the merger “will limit a filmmaker’s possibilities to an alarming degree.”
“Gosh, we certainly live in turbulent and uncertain times, don’t we? Things don’t seem to be getting any easier,” Wohlenberg said. “I think you have to take a deep breath and believe that things will come back in cycles. When you look at history, there have been very, very bad times. Unfortunately, we are heading into a situation that will limit the competitive nature of the industry and the possibilities for a filmmaker to an alarming degree. And it shouldn’t be like this. I think we will survive, and I hope we will have better times.”