The director behind the box office hit Sound of Freedom has opened up about how he's 'not going to make $1' off the successful movie.
Following its release on 4 July, Sound of Freedom has only gained more and more popularity. Within a month of its release it had surpassed Fast X in the box office - despite having a much, much smaller budget - and earned the title of the 13th highest-grossing movie of the year in the United States so far.
It's now topped $160 million, and its earnings will only continue to grow when the movie is released in the UK at the end of August.
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Throughout all of it, though, director and screenwriter Alejandro Monteverde says he won't be earning as much as a dollar in profits from the movie's box office success.
In an interview with the LA Times, Monteverde addressed the way the film has been received and described it as a 'phenomenon'.
"Nobody, no one, thought that this movie was going to make the box office it’s making," he said. "It’s a complete surprise, including to myself. I thought this movie was never going to see the light of day."
The director earned a salary for his role directing the movie, but despite the fact he was the one in charge of it, Monteverde ended up giving away his 'points', aka his share, in the film's box office earnings.
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He explained: "As a director, you always get your share of what’s called points. But early on, they needed to raise more money because the film was independent and they didn’t have funds. At that time, I thought the movie was not going to see the light of day so I gave my points away, as did many other people in the film."
As a result? Monteverde said: "I’m not going to make $1."
The director said it took him 'a while to come to terms' with having given away his points, but continued: "It’s exciting now when you see this massive box office. There’s also something romantic about it. You know, the beauty of the struggling artist is still there."
I guess this will be a good lesson for Monteverde, who will hopefully at least gain some recognition through the success of Sound of Freedom.
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He's admitted that he hadn't initially set out to make a movie about child trafficking, and that Sound of Freedom came to be after he saw a 'small news piece on child trafficking and child pornography'.
"It shook my soul," Monteverde said. "And at that time, I only had one child. When I went to [bed], I couldn’t sleep. I woke up the next day and I told my wife, 'I have to do something about this'. She didn’t want to hear about it because it’s too dark. It’s taboo."
Sound of Freedom stars Jim Caviezel and is based on the real-life story of former government agent Tim Ballard's efforts to rescue children from sex traffickers.
Topics: Film and TV, Money, Celebrity