[ad_1]
Hollywood loves bare-knuckle fights. And the city had a battle royale with “Road House.”
The reboot of the 1989 cult favorite, which launches on Amazon Prime on March 8, sparked a fierce behind-the-scenes fight over its release. While clashes between the studio and the filmmaker are not uncommon, this one featured subplots such as the involvement of a notorious private investigator, a producer who got pushed around, a cameo by Ari Emanuel, and a director who went crazy. Even more shocking, some of the embarrassing details began to be revealed publicly in recent months, culminating in director Doug Liman vowing to boycott the film’s SXSW premiere in March.
Despite the drama, the film is expected to be one of the most watched on Amazon Prime this year. So how did things go wrong?
In November 2021, Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy were running MGM and began negotiations with Liman to direct and Jake Gyllenhaal to play the tough bouncer, played by Patrick Swayze in the original. Joel Silver, who produced Swayze’s version for MGM, was on board to bring the film into the modern era (Gyllenhaal’s character is now a former UFC fighter). At the time, MGM was making movies for the big screen and the prospect of streaming was not a factor in the discussions. But after Amazon closed its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM in March 2022, the trajectory of “Road House” changed.
In July 2022, De Luca and Abdy left to run Warner Bros. and the film changed. Still, Amazon Studios boss Jennifer Salke quickly rescued him and was ready to greenlight the film with a cast that also included Billy Magnussen, Daniela Melchior and Lukas Gage. Sources familiar with the negotiations say the filmmakers and Gyllenhaal were given a choice: make the film for $60 million and release it in theaters or take $85 million and stream it only. They opted for the latter.
“They all took the money,” says a well-informed source.
(Amazon and Liman declined to comment.)
On August 2, 2022, Amazon published a press release that erased any ambiguity about the film’s distribution plans. “Road House” was labeled as an Amazon Prime Video movie, and Salke touted the appeal “to our global audience.” Liman and Silver signed the press release, with Liman gushing, “I’m thrilled to put my own spin on the beloved ‘Road House’ legacy,” and Silver noting that he was “very excited to bring this newly imagined version to audiences across the world”.
But the acrimony was just beginning.
Silver continued to push for a theatrical release and became so combative that the studio threatened to cut ties with him. That led Emanuel, CEO of WME parent Endeavor, to lobby on Silver’s behalf. Sources say Emanuel approached Salke and begged him not to fire the legendary producer. A source familiar with the back-and-forth described his pleas as “desperate.” Emanuel recruited private investigator-turned-quasi-consultant Anthony Pellicano in an effort to help Silver keep his job. (WME declined to comment.)
“There was no point in Ari caring,” says a source. “WME doesn’t even represent Liman. CAA does it.”
Meanwhile, things continued to look rosy from the outside, with all parties on board with the streaming plan. Deadline reported that UFC superstar and WME representative Conor McGregor would be joining the cast, noting that the film “will stream on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide upon release.” The story does not mention the fact that the two-time UFC champion was facing multiple allegations of sexual assault and violence against women at the time. (McGregor has denied this.)
But in late 2023, Salke eventually ousted Silver from working on the “Road House” release for verbal abuse from several staff members, including Amazon Studios and MGM chief marketing officer Sue Kroll and film director of Amazon, Courtenay Valenti. The studio also severed ties with Silver on Mark Wahlberg’s upcoming film, “Play Dirty,” prompting the producer to hire high-profile Hollywood litigator Bryan Freedman. (It is unclear how the legal dispute was resolved.) When news of Silver’s ouster broke on November 30, Pellicano became the de facto spokesman for the uproar, noting: “The parting of ways is amicable. He was not fired. There were simply disagreements with creative concerns.”
Just as the maelstrom was subsiding, Liman went nuclear with an open letter On January 24, he wrote that he would boycott the film, stating that “Amazon has no interest in supporting theaters.”
The letter appears to be the last shot in a project plagued by discord. In the end, it has left some with a bad taste in their mouths. “It’s disrespectful to everyone who worked hard on it,” says one of the people involved. “It is fun transmission movie.”