'Emma' director Autumn de Wilde is pleased about the film's early digital release as she hopes it provides comfort for viewers during the coronavirus crisis.
Autumn de Wilde
The flick is among a number of movies, including 'The Invisible Man' and 'Trolls World Tour', which have received early home releases as a result of cinemas being shut as a result of the pandemic.
Autumn told Variety that the Twitter reaction to the film, which stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Bill Nighy, shows that it will provide comfort those during difficult times.
She said: "They were all writing to me, begging me. Please ask them to release it on demand! All I want to do when I'm stuck in my house is watch Emma!
"There's someone who's seen it seven times already in the theatre, and wanted to see it again. A lot of the people asking had seen it three times in the theatre - and it was just so amazing to have that support."
The 49-year-old filmmaker - who made her directorial debut on the project - does not seen the shift in release date as an "interruption".
Autumn explained: "I'm not thinking in terms of like, 'Oh my movie got interrupted'. I'm thinking, this is amazing! If I could even help those people with something I've made, that feels wonderful."
Despite being pleased about the filming being available for audiences at home, Autumn is desperate for cinemas to survive the implications caused by the pandemic.
She said: "I think that we all want theatres to survive this, too - really badly. And I'm committed to that. But right now, we can't do anything about that, unfortunately. Or my friends' restaurants or shops - all these things that are affected."
Autumn added: "There's a part of me that could imagine people just not wanting to be at home anymore after forced isolation, and being desperate to go to a movie theatre."
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