By After making headlines in January for promising to boycott his film’s premiere in protest of Amazon’s release strategy for the movie, “Road House” remake director Doug Liman ended up going after all.
According to Variety Liman made a surprise appearance at South by Southwest on Friday to attend the film’s premiere where Jake Gyllenhaal introduced the screening at Austin’s Paramount Theatre.
Gyllenhaal made a point of thanking Amazon executives for their commitment to the film before also thanking “our incredible director, he’s in the audience tonight”.
Gyllenhaal added: “He’s been a friend for over 15 years, I’ve wanted to work with him for that time, we’re so lucky. He’s so brilliant and this movie is too.”
Gyllenhaal stars in the film as an ex-UFC fighter who is now a bouncer at a roadhouse in the Florida Keys. His violent past emerges when a criminal gang threatens him.
Liman previously penned an open letter explaining his decision to skip the debut of the film, saying distributor Amazon had “asked [him] and the film community to trust them and their public statements about supporting cinemas.”
He indicated they’d broken that trust by deciding to premiere the film on Amazon Prime Video instead of giving it a theatrical release.
A few weeks later it emerged in trade reports Amazon had given the filmmakers a choice between a $60 million budget for a theatrical release, or $85 million for streaming and they chocse the latter.
“Road House” will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on March 21st and is expected to be one of the biggest streaming launches of the year so far.
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