Edward Berger Says Hollywood Needed Netflix to 'Wake Up' at Rome's MIA Market

Speaking at the MIA Market in Rome, Edward Berger argued that the film industry required a disruptor of Netflix's scale. The director of All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave said Hollywood had grown complacent before the streamer's global model forced a reckoning, and he suggested the influence may now be reversing as consolidated studios ramp up output. Berger recalled that Sasha Bühler, then Netflix's Director of Film for German-speaking Europe, told him the streamer would back All Quiet only if it was great. He credited Netflix with providing funding a German-language film could not have raised through local or international sales as Covid-19 emerged, and the film won Best International Film at the 2023 Oscars. Bühler left Netflix in August. Berger also recounted casting Sergio Castellitto as Cardinal Tedesco in Conclave, which filmed in Rome: Castellitto's limited English led to his lines being switched into Italian days before shooting, prompting Ralph Fiennes to learn Italian for his responses. Berger is attached to direct a World War Z sequel starring Brad Pitt for Plan B Entertainment, with Dennis Kelly writing, plus an untitled Lance Armstrong film with Austin Butler that Apple acquired and Netflix's Stradivarius from writer Itamar Moses. MIA Market runs through October 23.