A24: Why Barry Jenkins, Sofia Coppola and James Franco Love Working With the Indie Distributor
Before Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight” pulled off a surprise Best Picture win at the 2017 Academy Awards, it was just another screenplay trying to find a production company to turn it into a movie. The fact that the project ended up being indie distributor A24’s first original production says a lot about the company, which Jenkins praised continuously during awards season for letting him tell the story he wanted to tell, never raising concerns about the story being unconventional.
“Nothing we did was geared toward making the movie fit this box or that box,” Jenkins said in a previous interview. “There’s something to be said about how the film can create the market, and create the campaign.”
Jenkins recently told GQ that one of the things that distinguishes A24 from other film companies is how A24 cares more about the tone and vibe of a script than the plot or story. “They don’t need to know what it’s about,” Jenkins said. “They just need to know how it feels.”
Jenkins isn’t alone in his praise for A24. Here are several other filmmakers and actors who have worked with the company and told GQ why A24 is in a league of its own.
Harmony Korine
“They have balls.”
James Franco
“This is one of the things they’re great at: taking something small and delicate and giving it the kind of support that other people can’t.”
“I really like those guys. They don’t have the personality of movie executives.”
Colin Farrell
“They have such a great eye for these small little films and rich and unique stories that may have not found it to the big screen if it wasn’t for them.”
Daniel Radcliffe
“When you can get a distribution company that likes the film for the same reasons that people that made it like the film—I’ve found that rare.”
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Brie Larson
“A24 has the unique ability to find and champion authentic narratives that cut to the core in a raw and honest way.”
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