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Carl Erik Rinsch (born 1976 or 1977) is an American film director. He directed the 2013 film 47 Ronin. In 2018, Netflix hired Rinsch to produce a 12-episode series called Conquest and spent $55 million on the project, but it fell apart after production milestones were missed and no episodes were completed.

Early life and education

Rinsch was born in Los Angeles, California. As a teenager, he took a short film class at the University of Southern California and later attended college at Brown University and Columbia University.

Personal life

Rinsch was married to Gabriela Rosés Bentancor, an Uruguayan model and fashion designer. Rosés filed for divorce in July 2020.

Career

Rinsch's short film The Gift received a positive response and won awards at the 2010 Cannes Lions international advertising festival. The acclaim from this led to him being the planned director for a prequel to Alien and a remake of Logan's Run, although both projects would move on to other hands. Rinsch did other work directing commercials.

Rinsch made his feature film directing debut in 2013 with 47 Ronin, a fantasy adaptation of the Japanese historical epic of the Forty-seven Ronin. It starred Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada and Rinko Kikuchi. The film had a production budget of $175 million. It was received poorly both critically and commercially. Following 47 Ronin, Rinsch went back to directing commercials.

Abandoned Netflix series and legal disputes

Rinsch and his wife Gabriela Rosés planned a passion project for their next work: a science-fiction series about an artificial human-like species called "Organic Intelligent" created to provide humanitarian aid around the world and face conspiracies in the background that create conflict and an apocalyptic showdown. Production company 30West invested in the project, and Rinsch and Rosés began creating episodes; when they ran out of funding, actor Keanu Reeves stepped in as a co-producer and fronted enough money for the pair to finish six short (4–10 minutes) episodes. Rinsch and Rosés used the episodes to pitch a full season. During the streaming boom of 2015–2019, there was an intense race for content, and both Amazon Prime Video and Netflix expressed interest in picking up the project. Netflix landed it, agreeing to provide $61.2 million in several installments to produce the series, which was renamed Conquest.

According to a 2023 The New York Times investigation by journalist John Carreyrou, the production of Conquest was troubled and Rinsch's behavior became erratic. A film union in Brazil complained about Rinsch's behavior on set, specifically his yelling and cursings at members of the crew. He also began taking lisdexamfetamine, a prescription drug and amphetamine. In 2019, Rosés hired a behavioral health consultant to try to persuade Rinsch to enter rehab.

The situation on set worsened to the degree where an "intervention" was held by Rosés, Rinsch's brother, his wife, and members of the crew of Conquest, urging him to go into rehab. As the project was running low on cash, Rinsch urged Netflix to send him more money, despite not meeting production deadlines for the first phase of the project. Netflix forwarded his production company another $11 million, which Rinsch immediately transferred to his personal brokerage account and used it to purchase stock options, losing around $6 million in weeks.

Rinsch sent emails to Netflix executives involved in the project stating that he had a way to map "the coronavirus signal emanating from within the earth." His wife filed for divorce; in 2021 according to his wife's lawyers, Rinsch told her that airplanes were "organic, intelligent forces" and he sent texts to her saying he had the power to predict lightning strikes and volcanic eruptions. In March 2021, Netflix cut off funding for Conquest, with no finished episodes submitted. Rinsch has insisted in the subject line of an email to Netflix executives that he is "of sound mind and body", and stated in a 2023 Instagram post that he had refused to respond to questions for The New York Times article because he predicted that the article would "discuss the fact that I somehow lost my mind ... (Spoiler alert) ... I did not."

Despite the setbacks with Conquest and his stock market losses, Rinsch recovered somewhat financially. He used the money remaining that Netflix had sent his production company to invest millions in the cryptocurrency dogecoin in 2020, which he cashed out in May 2021, making $23 million. He then purchased five Rolls-Royces, a Ferrari, and large amounts of expensive furniture. Meanwhile, in an arbitration case he brought against Netflix, he argued that the money was contractually his and that Netflix owed him more than $14 million In May 2024, the arbitrator ruled that Rinsch owed Netflix $8.78 million and the rights to the existing show footage.

Filmography

• 47 Ronin (2013)

References

1. ^ Carreyrou, John (November 22, 2023). "The Strange $55 Million Saga of a Netflix Series You'll Never See". The New York Times. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
2. "CLOSE-UP: LIVE ISSUE/CAMPAIGN SCREEN AWARDS - Rinsch: from cleaning sewers to Best New Director. The winner's life reads like a script from a Hollywood film, Lisa Campbell writes". www.campaignlive.co.uk. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
3. Carl Rinsch. "Carl Erik Rinsch". Retrieved October 13, 2015.
4. Leblanc, Will (2011). "Carl Rinsch Loses Another Job, The Logan". CinemaBlend. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
5. "Rinsch Universal circles for 47 Ronin". Variety. November 17, 2009. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
6. Neumaier, Joe. "'47 Ronin,' movie review". Los Angeles Times.
7. ^ Foundas, Scott (December 30, 2013), "'47 Ronin': The Inside Story of Universal's Samurai Disaster", Variety
8. Acuna, Kirsten. "Why Keanu Reeves' '47 Ronin' Was A Huge Box-Office Bomb". Business Insider.
9. ^ "The Strange $55 Million Saga of a Netflix Series You'll Never See". Yahoo News. November 24, 2023. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
10. "Director Allegedly Pockets Netflix Money, Spends It On Cars, Designer Clothing, Dogecoin". GameSpot. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
11. ^ Brownell, Bradley (November 27, 2023). "Netflix Gave An Unproven Director $55 Million For A Sci-Fi Series, And He Blew It On Rolls-Royces, Crypto, And Dodgy Stock Bets". Jalopnik. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
12. Leston, Ryan (November 23, 2023). "47 Ronin Director Reportedly Blew Netflix Sci-Fi Series Budget on Stocks and Crypto". IGN. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
13. Roe, Mike (November 23, 2023). "Carl Rinsch Spent Millions of Netflix's Money on Crypto in $55 Million Sci-Fi Writeoff". TheWrap. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
14. Carreyrou (May 31, 2024). "Netflix Wins $8.8 Million in Fight Over Planned TV Series". The New York Times. Retrieved June 2, 2024. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |First= ignored (|first= suggested) (help)

• Living people
• Brown University alumni
• Film directors from Los Angeles
• American film producers
• 1970s births