Helen Mirren calls out Netflix as 'devastating' for movie directors

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• Actress Helen Mirren called Netflix's effect on the film industry "devastating" for directors, in a recent interview with the UK's The i.
• "It's devastating for people like my husband, film directors, because they want their movies to be watched in a cinema with a group of people," Mirren said.
• Mirren's criticism of Netflix follows similar criticism from the likes of directors Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg in the past year.

Actress Helen Mirren became the latest high-profile name to speak out against Netflix's impact on the film industry, in a recent interview with the UK's The i.

Mirren said the streaming service's lack of emphasis on theatrical release of films was "devastating" to directors like her husband, "Ray" director Taylor Hackford.

"It's devastating for people like my husband, film directors, because they want their movies to be watched in a cinema with a group of people," Mirren said. "So it's a communal thing."

Despite her strong stance on the service's presentation of films, Mirren went on to admit in the same interview, with a smile, that she herself will watch movies on her iPad.

Mirren's criticism of Netflix follows similar criticism from the likes of directors Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg in the past year.

Spielberg made headlines last month for saying that a film released by streaming services like Netflix and Amazon should be considered a "TV movie" and should not be eligible for the Academy Awards.

"I don't believe that films that are just given token qualifications, in a couple of theaters for less than a week, should qualify for the Academy Award nominations," Spielberg told ITV News.

Nolan last year called out Netflix's "mindless policy" of releasing films simultaneously on its streaming service and in theaters, though he also praised Amazon's 90-day theatrical window as "a perfectly usable model." Spielberg made no such distinction between Netflix and Amazon in his interview.

Read Mirren's interview with The i here.