If there’s one thing Netflix covets above all things – including viewership data – it’s that elusive Academy Award win for Best Picture. The streaming service has been nominated for the most prestigious prize several times, but has so far left empty-handed on every occasion.
When it’s not canceling popular shows left, right, and center, the company can often be found making deals for independent films that are deemed potential awards season contenders, and the platform often ends up paying over the odds as a result. Todd Haynes’ May/December is the latest candidate to emerge, with Netflix stumping up $11 million dollars to win the distribution rights.
While that’s a drop in the ocean compared to what its blockbuster movies cost, Haynes’ filmography does indicate that the sum is more than likely a great deal more what the film itself actually cost to make. In fact, the bidding opened at $6 million, with Netflix proving the deepness of its pockets by paying almost double that to land a project that does admittedly boast a 93 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, but feels unlikely to be the buzziest title of the year.
Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore topline the story, with the former’s young actress arriving on the scene to live under the roof of a married couple for the purpose of doing research for her latest role, in which she plays a youthful iteration of Moore’s former tabloid-friendly starlet. Great acting is guaranteed then, but it remains to be seen if May/December ends up proving to be worth the outlay.