Cary Fukanaga’s directing work on the ground-breaking TV series True Detective was one of the highlights of last year, and we all look forward to the Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn led second series, which arrives this summer (even though Fukanaga doesn’t direct this time out). Fukanaga also has a feature-length project due for screens this year in the form of BEASTS OF NO NATION, which also is a bit of a ground-breaking event, as it debuts on subscription based streaming service Netflix as well as theaters on the same date.
At the Tribeca Film Festival, Fukanaga spoke with former Focus CEO James Schamus for a Directors Series Talk where he chatted about his feature project.
“There’s not one white person in it. It’s not [Leonardo] DiCaprio saving Africa. It’s mainly an African cast. The movie is a very difficult subject. It could easily become one of those films where someone’s like, ‘That seems too serious, I don’t want to watch that again. But I think by nature of the force of Netflix being behind it, it will be in people’s faces enough that they’ll be like, ‘Ok, I’ll give it a try.’ Hopefully once they start watching it, they’ll be consumed by it.”
I’m really looking forward to the film, which stars Idris Elba in an apparent award-tipped role, as well as breakout role for 14-year old Abraham Attah.
Netflix acquired BEASTS OF NO NAME last year for $12 million. Fukanaga spoke about concerns, or lack of, of releasing the feature to a streaming platform rather than the traditional route.
