Viggo Mortensen called out Amazon in an interview with Vanity Fair magazine for the company’s decision to scrap an extensive theatrical release for Ron Howard’s 2022 movie “Thirteen Lives” and give it a global streaming launch instead. Mortensen, who starred in the well-reviewed Thai cave rescue thriller opposite Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton, said the film was a “really good movie” that MGM intended to give a full blown theatrical release to after “they did their test screenings for that movie and got the highest scores in the history of that studio.”
“They were going to put it out worldwide in many, many, many thousands of theaters,” Mortensen said. “Then Amazon bought MGM, initially promised to respect the deal that MGM had made with Ron Howard, and then they went back on that. Basically you saw that movie for a week in Chicago, New York and LA, London, and that was that. Then you had the streaming, which I thought was really sad. It’s a really well-shot movie.”
“Thirteen Lives” opened in select theaters on July 29, 2022 and launched on Prime Video on Aug. 5, 2022. The movie earned solid reviews, with many critics comparing the film favorably to Howard’s previous ticking-clock survival thriller “Apollo 13.”
“They have all their excuses for why they did that, but it comes down to greed,” Mortensen said about Amazon. “How much money do you need? I think Amazon could certainly have respected the deal, as they said they were going to, and released it widely in theaters and let it have its run. And then they could have also made money streaming. But they figured it would be more cost-effective — i.e., they would make more money — if they didn’t have to bother with spending money on promoting it and putting in theaters and sharing that money with theaters, frankly. That’s what it comes down to. To me, it’s greed.”
“For a guy with such a storied career like Ron Howard, who has made so much money for studios, who was so deservedly well-recognized as a filmmaker historically — to do that to a guy like him I think is appalling,” the actor added. “He’s a very nice guy, so he hasn’t gone out there complaining about it, but I’m happy to do it for him. I’m not speaking for him, I’m just speaking for myself. I think it was shameful what they did.”
Mortensen also sounded off on the current state of film criticism, saying “what passes for critical thinking in terms of reviews is pretty poor” these days.
“In terms of the reviewer having some understanding of film history, how movies are made — the level is really low,” he added. “There are some good reviewers, some really interesting conversations are had from journalists in terms of their reactions to films, but it’s not great. As a director, certainly as a director-producer, I pay attention. It matters to me more, a lot more than as an actor because the fate of the movie, whether it’s going to be distributed well, whether it’s going to be seen in movie theaters — a lot hangs in the balance as to how it’s received critically.”
Head over to Vanity Fair’s website to read Mortensen’s latest profile in its entirety.
