Mendes says recession hits movies

Kate Winslet starred in Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road

Film director Sam Mendes has said that Hollywood dramas and period movies are now "almost impossible to make" due to the recession.

"They're serious films, they have something to say, they're the ones that are almost impossible to make," he told BBC Radio 4's The Film Programme.

When asked if it would be possible for him to make Revolutionary Road now, he said: "Probably not, no."

The drama starred his wife Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Mendes said since the movie was released earlier this year, both studios involved in the project have changed due to financial difficulties.

He said Dreamworks has "basically folded and rebuilt itself in another form" and Paramount Vantage "doesn't exist any more".

The American Beauty director added that the global recession has hit the film industry in a "very odd way" as "big movies are more popular than ever".

He said that his new movie, Away We Go, was "very cheap" as he did not employ any famous names and no "serious money" was paid out.

"But the movies in the middle are almost getting squeezed out, which is the big dramas, the movies that do cost a bit of money... with well-known actors in them," he added.

The full Sam Mendes interview can be heard in The Film Programme on BBC Radio 4 on Friday from 1630 BST.