Edward Berger, the Oscar-winning director of All Quiet on the Western Front, said the film industry needed a jolt from a disruptor like Netflix — yet he suggested the influence might start flowing the other way in coming years, with studios once again shaping streaming strategies.
Speaking at a fireside conversation at the MIA Market in Rome, Berger reflected on the effect Netflix’s global streaming model has had on Hollywood. He said the industry had grown complacent and that Netflix’s arrival forced a necessary reset.
Berger argued the sector required a disruptive force to shake it awake, noting that studios had gotten comfortable repeating past formulas rather than reinventing how films are made and distributed.
He also observed that the dynamic may be shifting: after a decade where streaming upended traditional models, the big studios could now inspire Netflix and others, creating a mutually beneficial relationship between theatrical and streaming worlds.
Berger recalled a telling moment from when All Quiet was being shopped: Sasha Bühler, then Netflix’s director of film for German-speaking Europe, gave a blunt take on how the streamer would treat their project. Her message boiled down to a simple principle — great films get the company’s backing, weaker ones do not — a candid assessment Berger found daunting but admirable.
He described his experience working with Netflix on All Quiet as remarkably smooth and without stress. The studio provided substantial financing — an amount Berger said would have been impossible to secure via local or international sales at that moment — and that support arrived just as the Covid-19 pandemic was beginning. Without Netflix’s funding, he believes the film might not have been made.
All Quiet on the Western Front went on to win the Academy Award for Best International Film in 2023. Bühler, who had overseen the project at Netflix, left the company in August of this year.
How an Italian actor altered Conclave
At the MIA Market, Berger entertained an audience of Italian industry figures with a humorous anecdote from the set of Conclave, which was shot in Rome. In casting a role that required an Italian actor over 65 who could speak English, the available options were scarce, he said to laughter.
Sergio Castellitto was suggested and given the part of Cardinal Tedesco. It soon became clear, however, that Castellitto’s English was limited, and he began responding to English dialogue in Italian. With production days away, the team decided to embrace the shift and incorporate Italian into the film’s dialogue.
Berger recalled that the rest of the cast had been preparing to work in English, so Castellitto’s use of Italian was an unexpected change. Ralph Fiennes, playing Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, opted to pick up enough Italian to reply naturally on camera rather than have the production halt or alter its plans.
No one wanted to stop filming, Berger said, so they adapted: the multilingual turn became part of the film.
Berger has been particularly active lately and has several projects lined up. He was announced as the director who helped restart momentum for the World War Z sequel, with Brad Pitt set to return as lead. The original 2013 film was adapted from Max Brooks’ 2006 novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. Plan B Entertainment — with producers Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner — is behind the sequel, with Berger set to executive produce and Dennis Kelly writing the screenplay.
He is also attached to direct a biopic package about Lance Armstrong, with Austin Butler cast as the disgraced cyclist; Apple won a competitive bidding process for that project. Additionally, Berger will direct Stradivarius, a Netflix film written by Itamar Moses.
Berger is one of the headline figures at this year’s MIA Market in Rome, sharing top billing with industry names such as Jane Tranter. The market opened today and runs through October 23.
Daniel Hayes is a business journalist with a focus on market trends, startups, and corporate strategies.
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