Jerry Seinfeld Says Movie Business Is Over After Directing A Movie
Jerry Seinfeld is best known for co-creating and starring in the breakout hit 90s sitcom, which bears his name. Despite his massive success in television, Seinfeld hasn’t ventured into film very much, though he has finally taken on the task of directing the feature film, Unfrosted, which is set to premiere on Netflix next month. Unfortunately, the iconic comedian is not optimistic about the state of cinema at large, explaining in a recent interview that he believes the film industry is a relic of a foregone era, having been replaced by a general cultural sphere of confusion and malaise.
“It was totally new to me. I thought I had done some cool stuff, but it was nothing like the way these people work. They’re so dead serious! They don’t have any idea that the movie business is over. They have no idea.”
Jerry Seinfeld
Seinfeld Doesn’t Blame AI Or TV
During his interview, Jerry Seinfeld half-jokingly remarked that the film industry is dying. He even poked fun at the over-serious producers and film insiders who seem to have not gotten the memo. Unlike many other industry insiders, Seinfeld doesn’t feel that AI, writers’ strikes, or the rise of prestige TV is responsible for the demise of film. Instead, the 69-year-old comedian implies that media is produced and eclipsed so rapidly that the public has no time to latch onto any cultural touchstones anymore.
Jerry Seinfeld specifically stated, “Film doesn’t occupy the pinnacle in the social, cultural hierarchy that it did for most of our lives. When a movie came out, if it was good, we all went to see it. We all discussed it. We quoted lines and scenes we liked. Now we’re walking through a fire hose of water, just trying to see.”
The Internet To Blame?
When asked to elucidate on what has replaced film as the pinnacle of entertainment and spectacle, Jerry Seinfeld elaborated that a general sense of confusion has taken over, arguing, “Disorientation replaced the movie business. Everyone I know in show business, every day, is going, ‘What’s going on? How do you do this? What are we supposed to do now?’”
While he doesn’t explicitly reference social media in his interview, it seems clear that Jerry Seinfeld is referencing the nonstop barrage of news and information delivered to the public by constant access to the internet. In a way, he’s absolutely right, as social media has made micro-celebrities come and go in a blink, in stark contrast to the days of a blockbuster film dominating the entertainment sphere for an entire summer.
Jerry Seinfeld’s Complaints Are Nothing New
Of course, Jerry Seinfeld’s comments may also be a simple bitter rant by an aged comedian who is frustrated with his place in the modern entertainment landscape. Seinfeld has been quite vocal in the past about his distaste for young audiences, even vowing several years ago to quit performing at college campuses across the country. After remarking that cinema is dying, Seinfeld went on to provide a long explanation of why stand-up comedy is superior to film in the modern era.
Unfrosted
His argument revolved around the authenticity of stand-up, which Seinfeld argues cannot be faked like in Hollywood films. These words, while thought-provoking, do ring a bit hollow, knowing that the comedian is promoting his new film, which tells an entirely fabricated backstory of how Pop-Tarts were invented. The film, titled Unfrosted, stars Jerry Seinfeld alongside a wide array of revered stand-up comedians, such as Bill Burr, Jim Gaffigan, Amy Schumer, Cedric The Entertainer, and The Daily Show‘s Ronny Chieng.
Unfrosted Coming To Netflix
Despite the claims made by Jerry Seinfeld about the state of the film industry, his directorial debut is set to premiere on Netflix on May 3. It may not have the same mass appeal of a big-budget Avengers film, though with any luck, maybe fans will still be talking about the Pop-Tarts film by lunchtime.
Source: GQ
