Ron Perlman Fires Back At Haters Of His Latest Movie
Ron Perlman had some harsh and interesting words for critics who had negative things to say about Don't Look Up on Netflix.
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The relationship between on-screen or behind-the-camera talent and the crowd of movie critics has been, and will always be, a tenuous one. Both sides need each other in this ecosystem, though there are (many) examples of when it would appear neither side really understood that. It’s an interesting balancing act in that movies need promotion, often through critical analysis and critics need the movies to keep coming out. Even if that means they pan them. So, of course, there will be times when things boil up and an actor or actress just gets fed up with the process. It’s understandable and it happened recently with Ron Perlman who had some choice words for the critics when it came to their collective opinions of his latest movie.
While speaking with The Independent about a variety of career-related things, Ron Perlman did get into it about the critical reception to his most recent film, Don’t Look Up. Perlman plays a military officer in the film about an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. The entire film is supposed to be a representation of the seeming indifference to climate change here on Earth with the non-response (or maybe perverse response) from world leaders and tech executives to the impending doom supposed to drive the viewer crazy. But critics were mixed in their reactions to the film, something Perlman clearly took umbrage with. Check out what Ron Perlman had to say:
“F*** you and your self-importance and this self-perpetuating need to say everything bad about something just so that you can get some attention for something that you had no idea about creating. It’s corrupt. And it’s sick. And it’s twisted…”
While he doesn’t refer to a specific critical opinion of the film, he is likely talking about the response to Don’t Look Up in the aggregate. The Adam McKay movie landed at 53% on Rotten Tomatoes with reviews coming in as more polarized than just an average *meh* across the board. Folks seemed to either really love it, or really hate it. And there was very little in between on this. Presumably, Ron Perlman is responding to the latter group when expressing a bit of vitriol to the critical crowd. And it’s tough to blame him, especially if he was proud of what they did with the flick. It clearly hit with a certain segment of viewers.
But it’s also a little off-base for Ron Perlman to lambast a group of critics for not liking something as “self-important” when they had legitimate gripes with the film. It’s not the industry imperative to just see a bunch of world-class actors and actresses on the screen and instantly just default to thinking it’s a great movie. Don’t Look Up, for sure, had its flaws. A spot-on criticism of the film from more than one voice was that the blunt nature of the narrative overrode some of the subtler points the flick was trying to make. I get that this was kind of the point, but that isn’t going to be for all viewers. It’s just that simple.
And Ron Perlman calling out those who didn’t create the film being precluded from having any avenue for opinion is a bit skewed as well. Perlman didn’t create the movie either, from what I can tell. He was handed lines and executed them very well. The dude’s one of the great actors, no doubt. Does that render his opinion moot also? See? It gets tricky here when we start deciding who can say what about whatever else. After all, critics don’t just bring attention to themselves when writing a review, they bring attention to the…wait for it… movie itself.
In all, though it divided critics and audiences, Don’t Look Up was still a massive hit for Netflix. With a star-studded cast, the movie is now the second-most-watched film for the streamer through its first 28 days on the platform behind only Red Notice.
