COVID cinema: How The Courier's director dealt with his film's changing release dates

When COVID-19 officially shut much of world down, everything was put on pause. And while Hollywood’s struggle with production protocols and cinematic release dates certainly weren’t even close to the worst thing to come from COVID, it did contribute to an air of uncertainty for tens of thousands of people involved in the entertainment industry.

One of those people was Dominic Cooke, whose film The Courier premiered at the Sundance festival in January 2020. Originally shot in 2018, the Benedict Cumberbatch movie had undergone a full editing and production process before its premiere, meaning it would have been ready to roll out just a few short months later. And then, COVID, and a flurry of shifting release dates for the film, which only just hit theaters on March 19 in the states.

Before The Courier’s PVOD release next Friday, April 16, The A.V. Club sat down with Cooke to talk about his frustrations around those delays, and what he loves—or doesn’t love—about spy movies.