In this week’s episode of “Screen Talk,” Anne Thompson and Ryan Lattanzio are finally on the same page, having both seen “Maestro” and “Killers of the Flower Moon” post-festivals. Netflix and Apple, respectively, will push these titles hard in the coming months. But how will they land with audiences? Apple’s Martin Scorsese picture “Killers” is a three-and-a-half-long true crime drama about white-sanctioned systemic murder in the Osage nation; Netflix’s “Maestro” is directed by and stars Bradley Cooper as beloved composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, but the show is stolen from him by Carey Mulligan, who movingly plays Bernstein’s wife Felicia Montealegre.
Apple and distribution partner Paramount ditched their platform release plans to instead open “Killers” wide on October 20. It’s on track to gross $24 million on opening weekend, but that’s a steep mountain to climb with a reported production budget of $200 million looming over you. “Killers” and “Maestro” are both fact-based films whose savvy marketing and awards teams are rewriting the narrative on what these films could’ve been perceived as.
Apple is now fronting “Killers” as a film about the Osage nation, not the white-male FBI whose formation their murders inspired, and Netflix is positioning “Maestro” as Mulligan’s film, with top-billing in trailers and on the poster. But what gets lost in the spin? These teams clearly want their film’s stories identified as strictly not being about the white men at their centers. But do the scripts meet their retooled stature? And will audiences care either way, or show up at all?
Anne and Ryan debate this and more in the latest episode of “Screen Talk.” We also welcome IndieWire’s Senior Business Reporter Brian Welk to discuss the long-awaited end of the WGA strike after 148 days. What went on behind the scenes? How did the negotiating committee get Disney CEO Bob Iger back into the room and listening after a botched press cycle where he disparaged strikers? What will studios and TV networks prioritize as the crush of supply-and-demand to get production back to pre-pandemic levels now dawns?
Watch the full episode above or listen to it below.
Screen Talk is produced by Azwan Badruzaman and available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify, and hosted by Megaphone. Browse previous episodes here, subscribe here, and be sure to let us know if you’d like to hear the hosts address specific issues in upcoming editions of Screen Talk.
