After its debut at the Telluride Film Festival, the question remains whether or not Peter Weir’s prison-escape epic “The Way Back” will receive a seemingly deserved Oscar run before its January 21st theatrical release next year.
Producer Joni Levin had noted that a one-week qualifying run was in the cards but, when Newmarket Films were announced as the distributors, nothing of that nature was unveiled. We presumed that backers might simply be waiting on the reception it garnered at Telluride; so now that the film has been met with critical approval, will they come out and reveal an award-season tilt?
One of the strongest champions of the pic, InContention’s Kris Tapley described the film as, “incredibly moving and consistently engaging,” and “a true ensemble piece very much concerned with the necessity of togetherness to pull through the worst.” Compliments also went out to Jim Sturgess who is a “solid anchor” and, in particular, Colin Farrell, in what is described as “a truly stand-out performance as Valka, a Russian hooligan you wouldn’t want to pass in a dark alley.”
At the same time, however, Tapley also adds that that Weir “has slowly developed an art house niche out of epic scale filmmaking” and that the film is probably something that “doesn’t lend itself to studio interest.” Will that very sensibility — which doesn’t sound all that different to John Hillcoat’s “The Road” — and the small time distribution deal end up killing the film’s release prospects? We certainly hope not, but things don’t exactly look optimistic.
“I can’t imagine why not,” director Weir told Deadline. “But it all comes down to money. You have to pay for a campaign and I have worked so long with studios [that] this independent system is new to me… One [studio exec] said, ‘We aren’t in that kind of business anymore.’ I thought what kind of business? Show business?”
“It was ready for Cannes. But the talk was what is the market, especially for a drama which is an extremely chancy genre now. Few are offered, few succeed. It’s a big conversation going on in the world of film. Is audience taste changing? It seems to have fallen out of fashion. I think the fantasy film has usurped this kind of adventure.” Disappointing, but at least there’s a January release in place, right?
“Everybody dreams they will be this year’s ‘Hurt Locker,’” Weir concluded. “You go out into this independent marketplace, and push and shove and jostle to find a spot so that’s a little uncomfortable.”
What kind of topsy turvy film world do we live in when Peter Weir is considered too niche for Cannes? According to Deadline, Newmarket’s VP of acquisitions John Crye would only say that an Oscar campaign is a “distinct possibility.” We definitely can’t wait to see the film and we do hope Newmarket open the purse strings a bit for the film, and at the very least, give it a brief “for your consideration” release this year. We’d hate to see the film get lost in the dross of films released in January.