- Title: Eric Bana returns to comedy in Netflix film 'Special Correspondents'
- Date: 25th April 2016
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (RECENT - APRIL 2016) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, ERIC BANA, ASKED ABOUT NETFLIX MOVE INTO MOVIE MAKING, SAYING: "It is exciting. It is exciting for actors, writers and directors that hopefully more material that may kind of be hard to put together or hard to find an audience for suddenly gets a huge audience. So, for us it's absolutely gold. Not to mention the amazing original programming that they're doing with series and stuff, but these kind of one-off movie ideas that they're doing are going to be absolutely essential for the industry actually."
- Embargoed: 9th May 2016 15:28
- Keywords: Ricky Gervais Special Correspondents Eric Bana movie film Netflix
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK / UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATIONS
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK / UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA0074EVAA19
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Australian actor Eric Bana returns to comedy with a turn as an egotistical journalist in the Netflix movie 'Special Correspondents'.
The 'Troy' actor was known in his early career for starring in Australian sketch show 'Full Frontal' before going on to star in a series of Hollywood films.
He described his comedy return as 'too much fun'.
"I'd kind of forgotten what it was like to go to work and be allowed to laugh and not get in trouble. I can be a bit of laugh around set which doesn't always go down well on a drama because they get very, very serious about the day, which is odd actually because the best way to deal with drama is to not stress about it. Quite often when you're working on a drama it can go the other way. Getting to work with the most famous corker of all time in Ricky Gervais and not get in trouble for it was nice," said Bana.
The film, directed by 'The Office' creator Ricky Gervais, follows two journalists, Frank Bonneville (Bana) and Ian Finch (Gervais) who are due to visit Ecuador and cover an ongoing conflict for a New York radio station.
But when Finch loses their passports they decide to make-up an elaborate lie that they have been kidnapped in Ecuador.
Bana described how Gervais, who has seen his own fame in the U.S. grow with his acerbic presenting at the Golden Globes, was fun to work with, although he also found himself having to keep the director in check.
"It was great. I think for him it was a mixture. I think he likes to have a laugh as an actor but then he's got the added pressure of having to make the day as a director. I went in worried that I'd get in trouble but then I realised, "no, no, it's actually encouraged" but then it went the other way where I would be telling him off for laughing too much and I was worried we wouldn't get the shot. So, it kind of went in all kinds of directions."
'Special Correspondents' is the latest film to be produced by Netflix and exclusively premiered on the streaming video service.
Netflix made a similar move in 2015 with Cary Fukunaga's child soldier epic 'Beasts of No Nation'.
"It is exciting. It is exciting for actors, writers and directors that hopefully more material that may kind of be hard to put together or hard to find an audience for suddenly gets a huge audience. So, for us it's absolutely gold. Not to mention the amazing original programming that they're doing with series and stuff, but these kind of one-off movie ideas that they're doing are going to be absolutely essential for the industry actually," said Bana, when asked about Netflix's move into movie-making.
'Special Correspondents' premieres on Netflix on Friday (April 29). - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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