Joel Edgerton Says There Was “Extra Critical Hate” Towards ‘Bright’

We’re in an era where people need to validate their opinions about a movie with data. So, when “Bright” hit Netflix in December and received dreadful reviews, those who enjoyed the orcs ‘n cops flick pointed toward Rotten Tomatoes which showed a stark divide between critic and audience scores. Netflix confidently announced a sequel, and sniffed that critics were “disconnected” from audiences. Now, a cast member is walking that same line.

Joel Edgerton is doing the rounds for the spy flick “Red Sparrow,” and when asked about “Bright,” revealed that he believes that critics didn’t play fair with the David Ayer flick, because it was another piece of disruptive programming from Netflix.

“All I know is what was reported, which was something like—whatever number was reported—something like 11 million that first weekend. Whatever it was, it amounted to a $100 million-plus opening weekend. But, I have to be honest, that’s considering that people don’t have to get in their car, go buy a ticket, go buy the popcorn. There’s a certain age where you can roll over and press play on the remote control. But, according to them, the numbers were there,” he told Collider. “And I think that would be supported by the wild discrepancy between the audience score and the Rotten Tomatoes aggregate score, it’s almost the inverse of ‘Star Wars [The Last Jedi].’ You’ve got critics at 93 or 92%, and the audience gave it a 50-something, and you get to ‘Bright,’ which is sort of slammed by critics, but it has a 90% audience score. I think there was a little bit of extra critical hate towards it because it’s changing the landscape of the movie business, but I think ‘Bright’ is maybe a movie that needs to be reviewed by public opinion rather than viewed through the highbrow prism of film criticism.”

Or maybe, it’s okay if critics liked one thing, and audiences like another? Yes, different audiences have different standards, but it doesn’t invalidate one side’s opinion or another. All that said, Edgerton believes it’s worth listening to all the responses to “Bright” was they prepare to make a sequel (and maybe more beyond that).

“I always think the best of anything and it’s the filmmakers or Netflix or any us learn from the response to the movie—and I’m talking about the negative responses to the movie and what people out there on the street loved about the movie—I think if you take all that information it puts you in a nice spot to make a second and maybe a third movie perhaps. It’s always worth listening to the fans and the good and bad responses to it,” he said. “I don’t know much, and I can tell you why I signed on for a sequel. I had a good time with the people; I had a tough time in the prosthetics for sure, but I loved playing the character. Between ‘action’ and ‘cut,’ it was one of the most exciting characters I ever got to play just because of the complete freedom. I love improvising, it was my version of like playing Chunk in ‘Goonies‘ or Shrek or something—the big, kicked-to-the-curb, ugly, misunderstood, monster character.”

Thoughts? Share ’em in the comments section. “Red Sparrow” opens on Friday.