We've bemoaned the apparent loss of the mid-budget movie for a while now. Movies seem to be either bloated and monstrous, leading at times to huge losses, or they're scraped together by indie crews whose productions are held together by hopes and dreams alone.Recently, at a keynote given at the Edinburgh Film Festival, Scottish director Kevin Macdonald brought up his 2009 feature State of Play. "I didn't realize at the time, but looking back, that was a pivotal film in Hollywood, as well as for me, because it was sort of the end [of an era]," Macdonald said (via Deadline). The film's stacked cast includes Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, Jason Bateman, Robin Wright, and Jeff Daniels. Crowe plays a journalist digging into a murder that might be tied to a politician. - YouTube www.youtube.com "Donna Langley mentioned it too when she did Desert Island Discs. It was a turning-point movie for her at Universal and the rest of Hollywood because it was conceived as an all-star, intelligent thriller for adults at $100 million. Can you imagine that today?"No, Kevin, we can't.Domestically, the movie tanked, bringing in just $37 million. The total box office was $87 million.It's worth noting that people seem to like the movie, and if it were released today, it might do well on a streaming service. Alas, hindsight.Macdonald revealed the script was originally pushed hard as a Brad Pitt vehicle. During rewrites, Macdonald and another well-known screenwriter tried to punch it up with...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Yesterday