Shawshank Redemption star Tim Robbins recently lamented the rise of algorithms being used by streaming services like Netflix to produce new films, saying it leaves him concerned for the future of cinema.
Robbins, who has not starred in a film since 2019’s Dark Waters, criticized Netflix in a recent interview with The Guardian where he reflected on the state of Hollywood.
“You go on Netflix right now, you see what films are coming out and you tell me that that’s the future of cinema? We’re in big trouble,” he commented.
The actor explained that Shawshank Redemption did not get much viewership when it first premiered in 1994 until it started playing on Turner Classic Movies.
“We’re at 30 years now [on from] Shawshank Redemption,” he said. “When it came out it got good reviews, it got nominated for Academy awards, but nobody saw it. It was VHS and [Ted] Turner playing it on his television channel [Turner Classic Movies] that changed that. That is a beloved movie. It remains on top of IMDb as the most favored movie of all time.”
He continued, “So I know that a quality movie, a quality television show, will last. Whether it’s a hit or not is irrelevant compared to what people are going to think about it in 10, 15, 20 years.”
Robbins went on to add that he has become quite picky about which films he chooses to star in.
“The main thing for me, at this stage of my life, is that I don’t want to waste my time on a set doing something frivolous,” he said. “I don’t want to be there for the sake of being there.”
Now, the actor stars in the dystopian Apple TV+ drama Silo, about a group of people living in a heavily regulated underground bunker after Earth becomes a toxic wasteland.
Robbins said it felt like “a gift” to receive the scripts for Silo during the pandemic.
“Imagine reading these scripts when we were in the middle of lockdown,” he told The Guardian. “It was like a gift, a blessing, as an artist, as someone who wants to do something that reflects the anxieties and fears of our own society. It seems very close to what we were dealing with on a daily basis at that time – the lack of transparency of information, the people being told by the government to limit their freedom for the good of all.”
Silo is streaming now on Apple TV+ with new episodes airing every Friday.
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