Lee Daniels Admits He “Sold Out A Little Bit" By Making ‘The Deliverance' for Netflix

Lee Daniels’ “The Deliverance” is currently the most watched title on Netflix. I turned it off after 30 minutes. It’s damn-near unwatchable.

Daniels, whose past credits include “Precious,” “The Butler” and “The Paperboy,” delves into the horror genre in this film, which was met with terrible reviews, and has even resulted in a scene, featuring Glenn Close, going viral for all the wrong reasons.

Shortly after “The Deliverance” started streaming, social media users started sharing a clip of Glenn Close. In the scene, Close, with heavy makeup, dark black eyes and fanged teeth, says the words: "I can smell your nappy pussy.”

In an interview with The Film Stage, Daniels describes his mixed feelings of hopping onboard a movie that had Netflix seemingly interfering in much of his creative process:

With this [film] it was really hard [to cultivate dread] … I hope I achieved it because Netflix kept saying tension, tension, tension, tension. And I didn’t really want tension. The tension is whether or not Ebony was going to beat them kids. That, to me, is the tension, not that shit that is going on in the house. I gave up a little bit and just said, “Okay, let me just give them what they want a little bit because it’s a Lee Daniels film, but it’s also a Netflix film.

Daniels eventually opens up a little more and confesses that he might have “sold out” by directing this film since he is very well aware that making something for Netflix means that he’s very firmly planted in the “world of clicks.”

I sold out a little bit because we’re not in the world of cinema. We’re in the world of clicks where, if they’re not invested in the first five or ten minutes, they’ll turn that shit off. 

In “The Deliverance,” a family discovers strange, demonic occurrences that convinces them, and the community, that their house might be a portal to hell. If you can believe it, the film is based on the “true story” of Latoya Ammons and her family who swore their Indiana home was haunted.

It’s not like “The Deliverance” has a bad cast. Au contraire. The film has talent to spare, and stars the likes of Andra Day, Glenn Close, Mo’Nique, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.