Edward Berger says Hollywood needed Netflix to wake it up
Hollywood needed Netflix to wake it up.
That was director Edward Berger's verdict in Rome on 19 October 2026, during a fireside chat at the MIA Market. The session was listed for 14:00 at the Hotel Westin Excelsior's Sala Giardino d'Inverno, with Berger billed as a writer, director and producer, according to the MIA Market schedule.
Berger said the movie business had become complacent and kept relying on what had been successful before. It needed a real disruptor, he said, and Netflix provided it. He added that the industry may now be entering a period where Netflix takes inspiration from the movie business in return, according to Deadline.
He spoke from direct experience. Netflix gave the formal go-ahead — known in the industry as a greenlight — to his film All Quiet on the Western Front when Sasha Bühler was its Director of Film for German-speaking Europe. Bühler exited Netflix in August 2026. Berger described the shoot as singularly great with no stress, and the film went on to win Best International Film at the 2023 Oscars.
MIA, short for Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo, is organised in Rome as a market, pitching forum and co-production hub where producers buy, sell and jointly build projects, according to Deadline. The programme frames Berger's session around whether creative independence can be preserved on large-scale films made for a global audience.
Berger also shared a late change on Conclave, his Vatican drama. Sergio Castellitto, who played Cardinal Tedesco, switched his lines from English to Italian just days before filming. That decision added Italian-language dialogue to the film, and Ralph Fiennes learned Italian so he could reply in the same language.
Two large projects sit on Berger's slate. He is attached to direct a sequel to World War Z with Brad Pitt returning to star. He also has The Riders, an A24 project that added Michael Smiley, Danny Huston, Camille Cottin and Ulrich Thomsen to its cast, according to Deadline.
What makes this stand out is the route Berger described. A German-language war film backed by a streamer, a Vatican drama reshaped by an actor's language switch, then franchise-scale work. For viewers, the question is simple. Who decides how those stories get told.
