Working Title's Eric Fellner didn't realize how "full-on" horror 'The Substance' would be

A1 Digital India News: Working Title Films co-president Eric Fellner admits he didn't understand how "purely" body horror The Substance would turn out to be. The industry veteran spoke to fellow president Tim Bevan at a BFI Film Festival event in London on Tuesday, where he was asked about his career highlights and failures, as well as the great success of "cultural Britishness" in films like Bridget Jones, Notting Hill, Love Actually and Darkest Hour.

More recently, Working Title Films produced The Substance with Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, which grossed an impressive $24 million at the worldwide box office. "[Coralie Farguet's] script is really good," said Fellner, adding that after watching Revenge (2017) he flew to Paris for "lunch" with the French filmmaker to see if he could work on her next film.

"I personally don't fully understand how to implement it," he admits. "But I think it's good. It definitely brings people to the cinema, which is great. And it's great for a company like Mubi to bring people to the cinema because it shows that the two — streaming platforms and theaters — can coexist." And they work well together."

Both refer to the special "cultural Britishness" seen in films like Bean or Four Weddings and a Funeral Home. How did they succeed so well? It was mainly luck - they knew a group of very talented British people who, crucially, did not want to go to Hollywood.

The substance is a lesson for the pair: "It made us realize that if it really existed, people were interested in it, they weren't turned away from it," says Fellner, agreeing with Bevan that most films should be made for $15 million, like Sa'ive with Ice. "Films need to spend less money, and they need to be more adventurous in that area."