Netflix is having a pretty great 2019 already. We’re only a couple of days into the new year, but in the world of film/TV, all eyes are seemingly on the streaming service. That’s because two of Netflix’s late-year releases, “Bird Box” and “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch,” have not only become popular additions to the ever-growing library of titles on the streaming service, but also because both have dominated social media in the last week. And while we’re definitely not going down the “Bird Box” rabbit hole, discussing that meme-ified film, we can take a deeper look at ‘Bandersnatch’ and have the people behind the interactive film explain some of the more interesting aspects.
Don’t worry, we’re not here to spoil every ending or all the Easter Eggs in the latest “Black Mirror” installment. Instead, producer Charlie Brooker spoke to THR recently to talk about the writing process for the groundbreaking film and why one of the endings, in particular, is meta.
**Mild Spoilers for “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” ahead. You’ve been warned.**
The ending that seems to have the most people talking is what is dubbed the Pearl ending, which features a forward jump in time and a not-so-subtle allusion to Netflix. “The Pearl ending is quite meta, where it sort of pulls out to reveal someone who has been writing all of this to appear on Netflix,” says Brooker. “To be honest, the whole thing was extremely meta. Throughout the whole process, we’ve often commented on how life has been imitating art, or the other way around.”
He continues by describing how the ending almost mirrored (no pun intended) the writing process of the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style film. “There were lots of times where we found ourselves pretty much staring at complicated flowcharts and bits of code, much like Pearl does, and as you see, Stefan does,” Brooker says. “We had lots of conversations where we would have to simplify it. All of that stuff that you see in ‘Bandersnatch,’ we ended up saying in real life. It’s a very odd, meta, fourth-wall-, fifth-wall-, sixth-wall-breaking film. I don’t know really how to classify it: as a film or as an experience? Our ambitions were to make it as cinematic as we possibly can.”
And boy, are Brooker and Co. ambitious. There are multiple endings, Easter Eggs, scenes, and other bits of the film that if you don’t spend the hours upon hours investigating, you probably won’t ever see. According to director David Slade, that idea that there are scenes that 90% of people just won’t ever see is something the folks behind the scenes had to come to grips with early on. In fact, he says there’s even a scene that he hasn’t been able to find.
Slade says, “There are scenes that some people just will never see and we had to make sure that we were OK with that. We actually shot a scene that we can’t access.”
For those completionists out there, you can do a quick Google search and find flowcharts and explanations for how to reach each ending, as well as the Easter Eggs. For the rest of us, just feel free to watch ‘Bandersnatch’ over and over again.
“Black Mirror: Bandersnatch” is available on Netflix now.