Swedish director Ruben Ostlund has revealed further details about his anticipated next film, The Entertainment System Is Down, expected to premiere at a major film festival in 2027.
The plane crash drama set during a long-haul flight from London to Sydney will comprise some passengers who are rowdy Australian cricket fans heading home after their team has lost an Ashes series against England, said the director at Slano Film Days, the talent development initiative he is attending as a mentor in Croatia this week.
Ostlund said this strand of the plot was inspired by both the story of real-life Australian cricketer David Boon, who is said to have consumed 52 cans of beer during a flight from Australia to England in 1989, and his own observations of Australian men while spending time at his holiday house in Majorca. “They have a very friendly, warm atmosphere. At the same time, they are very manly,” he said.
Ostlund admitted he has not watched much cricket himself. “I watched a little. It’s an interesting sport because it has an upper-class vibe to it.”
Another detail is that the calamity aboard the plane is partly caused by passengers arguing over what film they should watch
After the entertainment system breaks down, the crew rig up a single screen. Passengers have the chance to watch a film by the now exiled Russian auteur Andrey Zvyagintsev, but the majority insist on an Adam Sandler title instead.
“They can’t make that work, and that’s when they open a hole in the floor and start to fix the whole thing, and that’s how they ruin the plane. Just because the passengers didn’t want to watch Leviathan, that is why they are crashing…”
Ostlund revealed the filmmakers are in talks with an airline to hold a premiere of the film during a flight. “I would love to do that kind of collaboration.”
Separately, the director whose credits include Force Majeure and the Palme d’Or-winning art-world satire The Square, said he is working with a modern art gallery in Rome, which has invited him to work on an exhibition exploring behaviour in public spaces. His idea is to place €100,000 in the middle of a square. Crowds can then take as much of the money as they want.
“But the thing is that at the end of the exhibition, all the money that is left in the square will go to a foundation that is paying hospital bills for poor families in Rome. If you take from that money, you are also taking from these people”.
When Ostlund first presented the idea, he said he was told: “The money will be gone on the first day.” But Ostlund said: “I believe much more in humans’ generosity.”
The exhibition was originally planned for last autumn but “it turned out the money aspect was very controversial. People got very scared”. Ostlund said he hoped the idea can be revived and that he has a private donor ready to put up the cash.
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