Aaron Ryder is one of those American movie stars that you enjoy interviewing. Presentable, cool and humorous, he makes you feel at ease despite being one of the most successful producers in Hollywood today, with partners such as Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve. We met him in Costa Navarino, where he was recently scheduled to take part as a consultant in the Oxbelly international film seminar. “I’ve never done anything like this before, it’s probably going to destroy me…” Ryder, 50, laughs, and immediately begins to talk about his experience with the younger generation: “For almost my entire career, I was the youngest person in the room, and one day I realized how it had changed. Last March we filmed a short film in Alabama with a 24 year old director. The crew was also more or less the same age, it was a really great experience, you really felt the freshness and ingenuity of the new generation, it was exciting. But the bad thing is that when you are 20 years old and you are separated from others, they only come to you for advice or … permission.

However, Ryder’s experience, which includes producing films such as Remember, The Arrival, and The Prestige, may provide answers to other, very serious questions in the industry, such as: the recent decline of Netflix and other streaming platforms; “Probably, this is a temporary phenomenon. For those of us who have followed what Netflix has been up to for the past 10 years, this seemed inevitable. Everyone who wanted Netflix had it, until the question arose: Do I really need Netflix? The bad thing is that the rest of the players followed him and in doing so destroyed (s.b. uses a cruder phrase) our ecosystem, which in general worked well. Cinema attendance continued to rise until the pandemic. During it, a group of companies took the opportunity to launch their platforms, and that changed everything.”

When I point out to him that this particular development has probably just sped up a few years, he doesn’t seem to agree. “You know, everyone is talking about this, that it should have happened in 8-10 years anyway. The truth is that we have no idea what will happen in 10 years in the film industry. Do you think the videocassette market predicted its downfall? Personally, I’m not sure that audiences don’t want to go to the theater anymore.” His reaction is similar when I mention the (popular) theory of two-speed cinema, where big blockbusters and feature films go to theaters and all other production ends up on platforms. “It seems to me that we are trying to predict the future, and this, unfortunately, can act as a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

“However, we also have an obligation to find a way to make films that intrigue audiences to see in theaters. See, for example, “Everything, everywhere, all at once.” It doesn’t have any stellar actors or even a very solid plot, and yet it’s broken through theaters because it’s a great contemporary film. We just have to remind people that they can only do one thing for two hours and life will still be okay. I am generally optimistic about the future. How can I not be? I don’t know what else to do!” Ryder concludes with a laugh.

“The truth is that we have no idea what will happen in 10 years in the film industry. Personally, I’m not sure that audiences don’t want to go to the theater anymore.”

Our environment is quickly generating talk of Greece as a filming location, which has been on the rise in recent years. “I am more and more convinced that Greece can be a place for cinema. In fact, we have a major $100 million project that I would like to present here. Financial incentives in Greece are now very attractive (ss stands for EKOME cash rebate) and the climate is much milder than, for example, Hungary. In addition, we must take into account that there are already places in Europe, such as, for example. Serbia, where people are reluctant to work because of the stance she has taken on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

Location, however, is often the deciding factor in a film’s success. I remind my interlocutor of Dirt, a wonderful self-produced film that essentially reintroduced us to Matthew McConaughey’s explosive talent in 2012. The Dirt was indeed one of the few films of mine that was made exactly where it should be. It’s in Arkansas, not far from where director Jeff Nichols grew up, and it’s really the perfect fit for the atmosphere of the story we wanted to tell.”

As a producer, Aaron Ryder is currently worried about whether he can finish his next film in time to show it at the upcoming Venice Film Festival. He is connected with this latter by a story that today seems outrageous. “Venice became my favorite festival when we went there with Nolan’s Memento. All year everyone told us that the movie sucks. The festivals rejected her. Finally we went to Venice and the Italian distributor also found it crap. He even told us to get ready because the Italian public can be very tough. I only remember that at the premiere, at the beginning of the show, I put my hand on my wife’s knee, and when I let go at the end, there was a huge sweat stain. The audience gave a standing ovation for eight minutes. I was only 27 years old and I just started crying.”

However, Denis Villeneuve’s Oscar-winning “Arrival” fell in love with everyone from the very beginning, I note. “Everything except the studio that shot it,” he replies pointedly. “Let’s just say they had some… questions. This creative interaction between filmmakers and studios is commonplace. The former try to make the film very specific because they have it in mind, and the studio, for its part, wants to make it appealing to as wide an audience as possible. Most of the time, the “scale” is exactly where it should be. That’s the magic of good commercial cinema.”