Markiplier Wants ‘Iron Lung’ To Stay Indie “From Start To Finish”, Says He “Might Starting Burning Blu-Rays On My Own”
Despite the box office- and headline-conquering success of Iron Lung having opened more and more Hollywood doors for director/star Mark ‘Markiplier’ Fischbach, the YouTuber says he has no interest in changing his current plan to keep the film’s production 100% indie and within his purview – so much so that he’s even willing to hand press every copy of the film’s physical Blu-ray release.
Speaking with Deadline‘s Jill Goldsmith ahead of the film’s surprise third weekend in theaters, the fledgling filmmaker was met by the praise from his host that “Iron Lung is an inspiring story for independent filmmakers and independent film, which is so complicated to navigate and so hard to turn a profit,” to which he affirmed, “Yes. That is a big, big thing for me.”
“Obviously, since the movie came out there have been a ton of studios that have reached to talk about theatrical distribution,” he continued. “But that convinced me that I shouldn’t take those deals, because of what that represents. I am a firm believer that inspiration is the most valuable currency we have, and when the right inspiration comes along for people it can really drive them to do something incredible.”
“I started out studying biomedical engineering and I was in my final year before I quit to do YouTube. I had a health incident and sitting in the hospital, I had to do something. I felt a need to search out inspiration.
“And I found inspiration in some YouTube channels that were making some really cool things, visual effects-based things. And I didn’t even know people could do that, especially on their own, not as part of a movie or show. I just started where I could. And if I can inspire one film student, that’s incredible, if I can spark two that’s unbelievable.
“People should go out of their way to try to make sure that someone is inspired by the things that are getting made in the world because that inspiration carries a lifetime of progress in an art form. And you never know. Maybe what I do is not going to amount to anything, and no one’s going to become a director, but maybe there’s going to be one, and that’s worth everything.”
From there, the conversation turned to the future, with Markiplier being pressed as to what the “next steps” are for Iron Lung‘s lifespan and in turn reassuring fans of his commitment to his DIY ethos.
First declaring, “Run in theaters for as long as it will go and then get it up somewhere as soon as possible,” he then told Goldsmith, “I’ve already made the commitment to do this by myself without the attachment of any other companies or studios. I just kind of want to do it independently from start to finish, almost symbolically.”
“I might have to buy a bunch of Blu-ray burners and start burning Blu-rays on my own and shipping them out, manually, start an online store,” he concluded. ” That kind of stuff is fun, [and] doesn’t scare me too much. I always liked to fall back on the thing where, at the end of the day, you can do it all yourself if you really want to.”
