Helen Mirren curses at Netflix at CinemaCon, speaks out in support of traditional movie theatres

Helen Mirren addressed the audience at the CinemaCon, a convention for theatre owners, in Las Vegas on 2 April. The actress was at the event to speak about her upcoming project The Good Liar at the Warner Bros presentation. In her opening remarks, Mirren spoke in favour of traditional cinemas while cursing at Netflix, reports IndieWire. “I love Netflix, but f*** Netflix. There’s nothing like sitting in the cinema and the lights go down,” she said. [caption id=“attachment_4319625” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Helen Mirren. Image from Twitter[/caption] IndieWire further writes that Mirren has always been critical of Netflix. In April, 2018 she had told The i that the rise of streaming giants was affecting filmmakers who made movies specifically for the theatrical experience. Recently, Steven Spielberg had proposed  a change in rules to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) that will make films made by the streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon ineligible for Oscars. The veteran director’s comments came days after Netflix feature  _Roma_ , directed by Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron, bagged three awards — Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Foreign Language Film — at the 91st Academy Awards. However, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has now warned the AMPAS that the potential rule change might violate competition law and become an antitrust issue. According to Variety, Makan Delrahim, the head of  DOJ’s Antitrust Division wrote to AMPAS CEO Dawn Hudson saying that new rules would be written with the intention of keeping competition at bay. The Academy’s Board of Governors will hold its annual meeting regarding the rules on 23 April.