Hollywood 'scared to take risks' says Hole 3D director

By Natalie Jamieson
Newsbeat entertainment reporter Joe Dante says it was difficult to get The Hole 3D into production

A Hollywood director has accused US movie bosses of being scared to finance new and original films.

Joe Dante, famous for 1980s classic Gremlins, says he's proud he managed to complete his latest movie, The Hole 3D.

Released at the weekend, it's a horror film aimed at 12-year-olds and up, with a relatively unknown young cast.

It's the first feature the director's made for six years but the gap was not intentional.

"You look at a film-maker's filmography and there's often these large gaps," says Dante.

"And you think, 'Gosh, was he in rehab? What happened? He doesn't work?'

"It's not because he wasn't working. He was working. He was trying to get pictures off the ground.

"Sometimes you get as far as casting them, you get as far as finding locations and then all of a sudden the money dries up."

It's not how the studio system used to work, the director told Newsbeat.

'Game-changer'

"The business has changed now. In the old days they would come to me and say, 'Do you want to direct this?' and if I said 'Yes', they already had the money and we'd make the movie.

"But now, they say, 'Oh great, we'll put your name on it and we'll go out and look for money.'"

It means dozens of films languish in development waiting for funding.

Dante admits he's juggling a variety of movies at the moment and that it can be a frustrating process.

"I have a number of pictures floating around now in town, saying, 'Well, you know if we can get this actor and this other actor and this tax break over here, then we can put all these elements together and make a movie.'

"That's why you're not seeing as many movies made," claims the director.

As for the films that do manage to get funding, he senses that Hollywood is playing it safe.

"There's a huge appetite right now at the studios for remaking pictures and doing TV shows and doing titles that people have already seen before.

"Even if they never saw the movie, it sort of sounds similar. I think that's kind of a cop out frankly.

"I think they're just afraid of doing something that's risky and new."

Lucky timing

There are always exceptions, such as James Cameron's Avatar which dominated in January and February this year, while this summer Christopher Nolan's Inception proved a success.

Mark Wahlberg (left) agrees that the way movies are made has changed

More recently, Will Ferrell's action/comedy The Other Guys went to number one at the UK box office when it came out two weeks ago.

Adam McKay directed the actor's previous hits, Anchorman and Talledega Nights, and was back in charge for The Other Guys.

He admits that timing was on their side: "We were lucky, we got this movie in right before the world economy collapsed.

"I don't know if we would get this movie made now in this climate."

McKay thinks the global downturn will lead to less choice at your local multiplex.

"You're going to be seeing more genre films, there are going to be more horror films, there's going to be more action movies," he told Newsbeat.

"There's going to be more old name Hollywood stars that they know they can sell overseas."

Wahlberg's view

The change isn't lost on actors either.

Mark Wahlberg played Ferrell's cop partner in The Other Guys and agrees that the game's different in Hollywood now.

"They're just making different kinds of movies, the DVD business has changed the way movies are being financed and the models that they're using."

He joked it doesn't necessarily mean you'll see actors have their wages cut though.

And Adam McKay says it's not all doom and gloom in Hollywood and the lull could spell an opportunity for more specialised movies.

"Eventually what always happens is out of that come independent films and films with a vision that speak to a different voice."