MRC has established itself as a champion of innovative filmmakers like Edgar Wright, Emerald Fennell and Chloe Domont. But the movies these auteurs deliver defy categorization and that presents its own challenges.
“A lot of the movies we make don’t have a lot of obvious comps so they tend to be very difficult for the marketplace to properly evaluate,” admits Brye Adler, MRC’s co-president of film. “Something like ‘Wuthering Heights‘ is an R-rated period romantic drama, but describing it like that doesn’t reflect its potential to be distinctive, which is why it worked. Or you can’t put ‘Cruel Intentions’ and ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley in the same category, but that’s what ‘Saltburn’ is. The system does not compute what we make.”
Instead of chasing the latest fads, MRC pursues the boldest talent. It’s a strategy that has largely paid off for the production company, which has backed box office hits and critical successes like Wright’s “Baby Driver,” Domont’s “Fair Play,” Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction,” Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out,” and Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” and “Saltburn.” There have been misses too — the less said about “The Dark Tower” and “Mortal Engines” the better — but the track record is enviable and has established MRC as an artist friendly haven.
