Simon Afram arrived in Hollywood with bravado and deep pockets.
The little-known Swiss producer was ready to spend $45 million of his own money on "Fortitude," a World War II thriller he wrote. He offered millions of dollars to big-name talent including Nicolas Cage, who worked about two weeks on the film, according to people familiar with the matter.
The movie business has always attracted wealthy people with stories they need to tell on the big screen. The odds of success are slim. Even Oscar-winning directors like Francis Ford Coppola and Kevin Costner have funded movies that flop, which is why newcomers typically look for experienced partners to limit risk.
But Afram made "Fortitude" without a co-financier or a distribution partner who could guarantee it would play in theaters or be streamed.
His approach to filmmaking was also unconventional. He sued Martin Scorsese during the development of "Fortitude" and told skeptical colleagues he expected to cast huge stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Pacino. At one point during production, 20 crew members pushed a camera crane up a hill to save money, people who worked on the film said.
Then came another twist. In August, Afram sued Netflix for $105 million for multiple counts, including breach of contract, after an unencrypted drive he had delivered containing a copy of the movie disappeared from the streaming giant's office. Netflix in turn accused Afram's lawyers of extortion.
The legal dispute stunned Hollywood, where the only thing people take more seriously than content security is their relationships with major studios.
Now, it is unclear what will happen to "Fortitude." At least three major Hollywood distributors passed on buying it, people with knowledge of the matter said. Bianca Goodloe, an executive producer on the film, said it "absolutely will be released," but didn't share specific plans.
Afram's suit against Netflix claims that the film could have "conservatively" been "estimated to at least break even," with revenue of at least $112.5 million. The suit said no sophisticated buyer would take on "Fortitude" now, though, because of the risk the stolen copy could appear online.
Afram responded to questions with a letter in which he said a "substantial number" of the assertions in this article are "factually inaccurate, materially misleading, lacking important context, or based on anonymous opinions and accounts that I do not recognize as accurate." He didn't elaborate or respond to follow-up questions.
A-list ambitions
There is little public information about 49-year-old Afram. He was a director of a now-liquidated Swiss luxury-goods company and president of a firm that signed a real-estate development deal in Dubai in 2014 that never came to fruition.
Wynn Las Vegas sued him in 2017 for allegedly not repaying $550,000 of credit and a Nevada court issued a default judgment for the casino company. In his letter to The Wall Street Journal, Afram called it "a private financial matter."
Before "Fortitude," his only film credits were as co-executive producer on little-seen movies directed by Al Pacino and Johnny Depp that he helped finance.
"Fortitude" is based on a true story about British intelligence agents who convinced Adolf Hitler that Allied forces were planning to attack a French coastal area called Pas-de-Calais on D-Day, instead of Normandy.
Afram signed a partnership to make it in 2020 with LBI Entertainment, a production and management company whose clients include Leonardo DiCaprio and Scorsese, according to legal filings. Afram later told associates he played poker with DiCaprio and his friends, including actor Lukas Haas, who appeared in the film.
In 2022, Scorsese agreed to executive produce "Fortitude" for $1 million. Afram sued the "Goodfellas" director the following year, alleging he didn't personally reach out to potential filmmakers and actors as promised. Producers typically handle disputes with talent behind closed doors to protect their reputations as collaborators.
In a cross-complaint, Scorsese called Afram a "novice filmmaker" with unrealistic expectations of how long it takes to develop a motion picture. Scorsese's complaint said the directors and actors his team initially reached out to about "Fortitude" weren't interested. The suit was settled in 2024.
By last summer, Afram was preparing to start shooting "Fortitude" in September and told colleagues he believed DiCaprio or Tom Hardy would act in the film. A cast list from that time viewed by the Journal listed Tom Cruise and Pacino in key roles. Neither was ultimately in "Fortitude."
Afram was quiet during meetings, asked few questions and spoke primarily with an inner circle of fellow inexperienced producers, according to people close to "Fortitude."
Ultimately, filmmakers led by director Simon West ("Con Air," "The Expendables 2") scrambled to secure actors at the last minute, including Cage and Ben Kingsley. Plans changed frequently during filming, including when a London suburb's council objected to swastika flags being hung on their town hall, the people said.
The production paid some crew members and vendors late, lost shoes imported from Italy, and laid off people in the middle of the six-week shoot, the people close to the film said. When the crew didn't have a motorized base that cost about $10,000, they manually pushed a camera crane up a hill.
After shooting, crew members stayed in touch on a WhatsApp group called "Fortitude Survivors/Casualties Party."
Afram was unhappy with West's initial cut and started over with his own editor, according to people familiar with the matter. Dissatisfied with the film's professionally produced score, he wrote new music himself, the people said.
A missing movie
"Fortitude" was completed this past spring, and Afram needed to find a company to release it. Several studios and streamers passed, including Amazon and Apple, people familiar with the matter said.
In June, a Netflix executive agreed to screen the movie. Ten days later, the Netflix executive emailed Afram's team to inform them that the drive containing "Fortitude" had been stolen, according to the producer's suit. The Netflix executive said it would probably be sold "for scrap" since the thieves didn't have a password. But the "Fortitude" drive wasn't protected by a password.
A Netflix spokesman said the company "disputes any claim that it bears the risk of loss for a film delivered without the proper industry-standard safeguards." The streaming service has filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that Afram still has a copy of the film and that it didn't intentionally cause the loss of the drive.
The case has been referred to the Los Angeles Police Department. An LAPD spokesman said the investigation is ongoing.
"I hold no personal animosity toward anyone at Netflix," Afram wrote in his response to the Journal. "I simply wanted our concerns to be heard. When that did not happen, I asked the court to hear them."
Soon after filing the suit, Afram put out a trailer for "Fortitude." It opens with the words "A Simon Afram Production." Kingsley's name is misspelled. It is very unusual for trailers to be released for movies without a distributor or release date.
Meanwhile, Afram has started hiring crew for his next project, a heist film called "C.L.A.Y." based on another script he wrote. This time, Afram plans to direct the $20-million production himself.
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