Markiplier Says ‘Iron Lung’ Success Has Him “Getting Some Calls” From Major Studios, But Current Plan Is “To Keep Going On My Own”
Where once Hollywood gave little more than a courtesy glance to his vision of adapting David Szymanski’s Iron Lung, star and director Mark ‘Markiplier’ Fishbach says he’s now receiving an ever-increasing amount of attention from major studios, all of which he is ultimately letting roll off his back in service of staying to true to his artistic integrity.
His self-produced effort having pulled in a domestic box office of 21.5 million and an additional 3.2 million internationally across its limited five-day release window, Markiplier spoke to Iron Lung‘s success during a ‘post-game’ interview given to The Hollywood Reporter‘s Ryan Gajewski.
Recalling his decision to keep the film’s production fully under his purview, the YouTuber told his host that when it came to his initial meetings with various studios, “I would say there were a lot of conversations that happened.”
“I had a lot of meetings with various companies of all kinds, talking about the possibility for the movie, and most passed. There were some offers, but there was never something that I was thinking would be good for me as a creator or respectful of me and my audiences at the scale that we are right now.”
“It’s just not a very advantageous deal to take if I give up control of it or can’t control the marketing. If I am not in control of those things, then why did I go this far to fund it, direct it, edit it, if I’m going to hand it off at the very end just to get it in theaters”
Pressed as to whether he found it “surprising that you didn’t get a better offer from the studios”, Markiplier then asserted, “There still is a stigma against YouTube.”
“One of the reasons why I really wanted this to work — at least some degree of success; I didn’t expect this degree — is to help move that mountain. It’s not like I’m going to topple the mountain by myself. It has to be toppled and then toppled again, until it becomes normalized. Once it becomes normalized, then it can become boring, and it’s like, ‘Of course a YouTuber can do this,’ and there’s nothing to question about it.”
The other factor doesn’t surprise me because it’s an out-there movie concept. It’s a video game adaptation that is not done in the way that they probably would traditionally do video game adaptations. You have the belief that, ‘If we’ve seen this before, and it hasn’t worked very well, why would we stick our neck out?’ I don’t blame them for that. For me, I don’t care about making a profit. I’m always happy to bet on myself and my fans, and it’s never let me down thus far.”
Later turning to his future film ambitions, Markiplier confirmed to Gajewski, “I’m definitely going to act again, but I like the post[-production] side a lot more.”
“I don’t need to be in the main character role. This was my final test — my thesis of combining all my skills. A lot more pre-production would have helped this one. I treat it all as learning.”
Met with the follow-up inquiry, “Are you getting calls from studios, and would you work with them in the future, or did Iron Lung prove that you don’t need them?”, the director confirmed, “I am getting some calls,” but clarified that he was regardless still intent on going the indie route.
“I don’t want this to come across as a big middle finger to every studio, like, ‘You and me are enemies now!’ That’s not how I view anything. I know that a production deal with a studio is the dream for a lot of people. A business needs assurances because businesses are skittish, so they want to know that it’s going to make them their money back. They have these guardrails and controls stipulated in the contracts. I don’t need that; I don’t want that.
“So I’m just going to keep going on my own, unless the studio — in the weirdest scenario — was like, ‘Here’s an unlimited budget, and also we’re never going to give you a note,'” he concluded. “As far as what I’m doing, I can do something bigger with a more efficient budget next time, and that doesn’t count cheaping out on the labor. I want to feed people even better than I fed them this time.”
