Last month, I was told by an indie distributing source that Netflix was still holding tight to “Gore,” the long-buried biopic starring Kevin Spacey as Gore Vidal, with zero interest in selling it off.
Directed by Michael Hoffman (“The Last Station”), the film was in post-production back in 2017 when Netflix pulled the plug, right after the first wave of sexual misconduct allegations against Spacey broke. The streamer quickly distanced itself, shelving the project entirely. The film, reportedly a $40M investment, was quietly swept under the rug.
Now we have an in-depth report from IndieWire, citing numerous cast and crew who worked on “Gore,” and the situation is pretty dire. One of them is producer Andy Paterson, who confirms that he’s hassled Netflix, for years, to “either show the film or to give me the opportunity to find a new life for it.” Their response? “They do not intend to ever release the picture or sell it to a third party.”
Quite the extraordinary statement. Apparently, the main excuse Netflix gave to Paterson is that they already took a tax write-off on the film, which is the exact same thing Warner Bros, quite infamously, did on “Batgirl.”
Paterson adds that for a company that purports to be all about freedom of artistic expression,” to have his film “buried,” when they still have the first five seasons of ‘House of Cards’ and several Kevin Spacey films on their platform, boggles his mind.
Just before the allegations against Spacey emerged, Netflix had planned to release the film in theaters, as a theatrical run was then necessary for eligibility in major awards competitions. Furthermore, in the final weeks of filming, the streaming giant requested that the production create a trailer specifically for use in the film’s awards campaign, according to a source who spoke to IndieWire.
A finished cut of “Gore” was seen by Netflix brass at some point in the process. According to Boswell, he had heard from people he knew in Los Angeles that Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos had screenings of the film in his private theater to show off the quality of the film.
At this point, you’ve got to feel for the cast and crew who poured their time into this film. Hoffman hasn’t directed much since, and everyone involved is stuck in limbo over a project that’s essentially ready to be seen.
Still no distributor for "Bucking Fastard," "Alpha Gang," "The Last Photograph," "Closing Night," and "The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd." The issue seems to be quality more than a lack of willingness to buy.