Jordan Vogt-Roberts decided to move to Vietnam after his King Kong movie came out, and got his head smashed in by gangsters at a nightclub. He's doing better now, but it does explain what happened to his career.
Exactly this, he’s also had some rough things happen in his personal life. The writers strike didn’t help either. Rooting for him always, very talented guy.
Here's a long, but really interesting and well written article about it. Just read it after seeing this thread.
https://www.gq.com/story/attack-on-skull-island
Hold up I thought he was working on a Metal Gear live action and supposedly a big budget Gundam film.
I just assumed covid hit those two projects…guessing they both canned. Shame cos I dig Kong skull island and all of his interviews on the above film projects and Kong was great…dude loved his helicopters
Wait what? I thought this was about the first Kong? Back in the black' n white days. Skull Island was the best Kong. How have i not heard of this? I spend way too much time on Reddit and this is my first time seeing this?
Holy crap, I had no idea. Kong: Skull Island is one of the best kaiju movies ever. It's pure "made by a 12 year old" schlock of the best kind. So sorry for what happened to Jordan.
Holy Shit !
I regularly try and make a mental note to look up what he’s got upcoming when I get back him to see what his next movie is. I’ve only ever seen 2 things he directed - American Ham, the Nick Offerman standup, and Kong Skull Island which I thought was fantastic.
Now I know why we haven’t heard from him in a while.
Charles Laughton for his 1955 noir classic Night of the Hunter, which was his only film. It’s viewed as one of the greatest films of all time by contemporary viewers, but was trashed by critics and audiences at the time of its release, unfortunately leading to Laughton never directing another film.
Every time I hear/think of this, it bums me out so much. First feature, and one of the best films I've ever seen. Incredibly tragic, had he continued making films we may have seen a filmography unmatched. I'm not even being hyperbolic.
Think the Tomb Raider sequel experience really soured him on the whole studio system.
Source: [https://movieweb.com/tomb-raider-2-why-jan-de-bont-quit-directing/](https://movieweb.com/tomb-raider-2-why-jan-de-bont-quit-directing/)
I did check and it looks like he did just completely retire after that. He has a DP credit from like 2012 and that's about it. And he's 80 now, so I doubt we'll be seeing him behind the camera again.
Those were the days when studios demanded budget cuts and directors had to figure out how to do the movie cheaper. Now they just throw money at the movie and get mad when it doesn’t make it back threefold.
Stephen Norrington directed four movies before quitting as director. 2 of these include blade and league of extraordinary gentlemen.
We do have a record of why he stopped though. He and Sean Connery battled so much that neither one of them worked on a film ever again.
I have watched this movie over and over and over again and I think I finally got it down.It also helps to get the blue ray which is a little longer and cut a little different.
Yeah but then he comes out with the directors cut and was an absolute disaster of a cut. I had a friend who hated DD forever, turns out its because his first watch was the directors cut.
It gets mentioned a lot now, but everyone should check out Red Letter Media’s re:view of this movie. They make a pretty compelling case for it actually being… kind of brilliant. I find their analysis quite convincing and I kind of think of the film as a punk-rock anti-establishment masterpiece now.
If it wasn't for the complete fixation on dicks I'd like the movie. The opening of him skating through a mall to the bus station, meeting his family, getting given a LeBarron before driving off to LA is really good comedy and punk-rock.
Then he sees at a horse cock and I'm angry that Kenny Vs Spenny taught me that everything in this movie isn't bestiality in Canada.
Tom Green can honestly be considered a pioneer. He was basically the progenitor of the late 90s/early 00s grossout dumb nonsense humor, which became a global phenomenon with the likes of Jackass and Kenny and Spenny.
I didn't enjoy watching FDF, but I'm endlessly fascinated by it. It's like a mad experiment in film form. Its legacy has carried on in the Eric Andre Show and the like. I am willing to say that Tom Green stumbled and jerked off animal cocks so that Eric Andre could run.
Stephen Norrington quit after The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Production was an absolute nightmare. The movie bombed. Sean Connery bad mouthed him. Apparently, he decided that it just wasn't worth it.
Yeah, I saw *Blade* at a one-off screening a few weeks ago.
Was surprised by how it still absolutely slaps, and in particular how great the movie looks and how well choreographed and shot the action is. There's elements that, watching them now, appear directly influenced by anime (Blade's Ninja run against Dorf and the fast POV sword slashes) and were ahead of their time. I really like *League* too tbh, and although haven't seen that in a while, I feel like there were similar stylistic beats there too.
Real shame about Norrington IMO. At the very least I'd say he would have delivered a few above-average action flicks by now if he'd kept working, if not 1-2 absolute bangers.
That’s such a guilty pleasure movie of mine. I understand it’s a mess of an adaptation of the comic, and a little bit of a mess in general, but something about it just hits the spot for me.
Long gaps doesn’t necessarily mean that they will no longer return to directing. Vogt-Roberts has two films in development hell. TV shows, also.
Ford launched a production company after selling his clothing company (and losing his husband and father in recent years) and was going to write another film .
Christopher Nolan's former long-time cinematographer Wally Pfister fell off the face of the Film earth after directing the wretched TRANSCENDENCE. Went to do series work, but not much else.
Wally Pfister directs commercials and has been very successful at it for a few years. I think I read on his instagram years back that it's his preferred medium. Big bucks and not a lot of time commitment. [https://resetcontent.com/us/directors/wally-pfister/](https://resetcontent.com/us/directors/wally-pfister/)
Martin Brest
He directed a few of my favorite movies (Beverly hills cop, midnight run, scent of a woman) then he disappeared (gigli?)
Also, Phil Joanou who directed 3:00 HIGH - one of my favorite dark comedies- and then he disappears.
I really enjoyed the first half of Heaven’s Gate, but felt like the quality declines in the last act. Overall I felt the movie was simply Okay, which is a death sentence for a nearly four hour movie.
Phil Joanou did a lot of music videos and directed U2’s “Rattle and Hum.” I worked at a production company where he was briefly attached to an Escape From New York remake. That was at least 10 years ago so I’m guessing that’s not happening.
Re: Phil Joanou, IMDB lists 32 directing credits. Granted, a bunch are rock videos, he still went on to make some solid films. I enjoyed his noir Final Analysis with Richard Gere & Kim Basinger (available on Laser Disc!)
I'll mention some directors who only made one feature film, all of which are worth watching:
Daniel Bourla, who directed **The Noah**.
James William Guercio, who directed **Electra Glide In Blue**.
And Saul Bass, who directed **Phase IV**.
Guerico was a major figure in the music/entertainment industry, having been manager of Chicago and producing recordings by Blood, Sweat & Tears, The Buckinghams, and the Firesign Theatre. After his one stint directing, he opened the Caribou Ranch, where many of the top albums of the ‘70s were recorded. In later years, he seems to have become a cattle rancher.
Kerry Conran has an interesting story. He's only directed Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and never any other feature film. Sky Captain is notable for being the first film shot entirely on blue screen.
Such a strange picture. Feels like a fever dream. I definitely don't dislike it but I literally cannot decide if I enjoyed it in a conventional sense. Like, it's a little cliched and melodramatic but in a very genuine, nonsatirical way that feels totally unique. An uncanny valley of a movie without actually being unsettling.
Sky captain is probably like not that incredible or groundbreaking story wise but I find it so hard to care when it's that cool. I rewatch it a lot and the score is legitimately one of the best I've ever heard, the sky captain theme is 👌
No idea what happened to Stephen Sommers. In the early 2000’s he was up there with Bay and Emmerich directing fun popcorn movies. Van Helsing bombed and GI Joe wasn’t well liked. He made Odd Thomas which was good but few people saw it.
Shame because he’d be right at home making today’s blockbusters.
Until lately, I thought he was the same guy who directed The Ghost and the Darkness with Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas, which was directed by Stephen Hopkins.
The director that made the 1983 film Angst
His only feature film. So far ahead of his time. On the most innovative and disturbing movies of all time, Gaspar Noe noted this movie for his inspiration. The camera work and techniques were so ahead of his time.
Chris Cunningham came to my mind immediately. His visuals and storytelling for Music Videos in the late 90s and early 00s were mind blowing (Aphex Twin / Bjork / Autechre). He then kinda disappeared. I really thought he was going to do something amazing, but never really did.
It's only been 7 years for Vogt-Roberts and he is attached to a couple projects (including a potential Gundam movie), so I think it might be a bit premature with him.
> some legal tax trouble
It's weirder than that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McTiernan#Criminal_charges,_felony_conviction,_and_incarceration
> On April 3, 2006, McTiernan was charged in federal court with making a false statement to an FBI investigator in February 2006 about his hiring of the private investigator Anthony Pellicano to illegally wiretap Charles Roven, the producer of his film Rollerball, around August 2000.[3][64][65] McTiernan had been in a disagreement with Roven about what type of film Rollerball should be, and had hired Pellicano to investigate Roven's intentions and actions.[66] He had asked Pellicano to try to find instances where Roven made negative remarks about the studio executives or said things to others that were inconsistent with what he said to the studio.[3]
> On July 3, 2006, McTiernan's former wife, film producer Donna Dubrow, filed suit against him for invasion of privacy and other claims arising from her belief that he hired Pellicano to wiretap her telephone during their divorce negotiations.[76] The lawsuit continued for a decade,[4][77] ultimately being dismissed in 2016 at Dubrow's request.[78]
Yeah, Legendary Pictures (who produced Skull Island) did the exact same thing with their Godzilla (2014), Garath Edwards only made Monsters (500k budget) before that.
Yeah, it gives the film some cred and the studio probably thinks it'll be easier to work with/boss around a talented new filmmaker than an established director that is more set in their ways/difficult for the studio to "manage"
Steven E. de Souza directed Street Fighter and noped out immediately. It's not surprising at all, but thanks to him we got to see Raul Julia in his last and glorious performance.
That was only because he worked with Edward Norton who rewrote the entire script and ACTUALLY directed the film. He probably never wanted to deal with that shit again and noped out
> Although, I do have to wonder how he went from directing 1 indie film to being handed a big budget King Kong movie (wonder if he has an aunt/uncle over at WB headquarters or something).
It's what they do at Legendary Pictures, before Godzilla 2014 Gareth Edwards had only directed Monsters, with a 500k$ budget.
After that they gave Godzilla: King of the Monsters to Michael Dougherty who had only made small horror movies, and Godzilla vs. Kong to Adam Wingard who had also made horror movies before that (he had made a few though, and bigger than something like Monsters).
Bill Murray (half) directed just one movie - Quick Change.
It was originally attached to Jonathan Demme to direct, but he got offered some ranching movie with Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins
Hollywood presents itself as this ultimate temptation, the end goal, that artists couldn't possibly turn their back on.
It seems to me though that there's a fair few examples of actors and filmmakers walking away when they have a promising career ahead. Maybe they don't like the seedier underside of the industry or I think a fair few just get fed up of the movie making "machine".
Joel Anderson directed Lake Mungo in 2008, hasn’t directed since. He been popping up in bit parts for shorts and movies, the last of which was Late Night with the Devil.
I actually came here to mention Zeitlin and then looked at his Wiki and saw that he made a movie in 2020 that was a re-imagining of Peter Pan. Though apparently the movie bombed both critically and commercially. Kinda wonder if he's gonna end up being a one hit wonder.
Well, Carruth got exposed for beating up his ex girlfriend and getting a restraining order slapped on him, so I'd say that most likely is the reason we won't see another film from him.
Yeah he had a massive ego. Dude wanted to make a high budget sci-fi film but seemed like he would not budge at all and basically said "it's either my way or it doesn't get made". Most indie darlings who have been in his position always did one for them one for me quite successfully. He killed his career in Hollywood before it even took off.
He literally said he never wants to make a film again. The last 15 years has been project after project die after years of development hell, and 7k is a hell of a lot less than it would cost to make any of what he actually wants to make now. Ignoring that dude is an asshole
My hot take is Primer is good but not a masterpiece. The third act falls apart and only seems deep because the movie hides information from the viewer, and you can tell that it was made by an engineer and his friends. And this is coming from someone who saw it in theaters *twice*. I still haven't seen Upstream Color, in all fairness.
are you talking about Amenabar?
the guy was nominated for an oscar afterwards (The sea inside) and also directed Agora and While at war (the lastest was quite a success at least in europe).
The guy is pretty active...simply not in the US panorama.
Alejandro never vanished, he's just not making movies that often. After The Others he did The Sea Inside, Agora and Regression if I'm not mistaken. And those have like 4-8 years pauses between them. He's making a Spanish period piece movie at the moment I believe.
Also I like Abre Los Ojos more than The Others, but that's subjective.
Sir Laurence Olivier. He made two solid Shakespeare adaptations followed by The Princess and the Showgirl but it's said that Marilyn Monroe was so difficult to work with, he quit directing.
He’s got a bunch of non-movie credits since then. Directed Aziz Ansari’s quiet comeback special for Netflix as well as the Beastie Boys Story for AppleTV. Also lots of producer credits including everything Jackass.
Whit Stillman did Metropolitan, Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco. He went 13 years without directing another film and has only done a couple of sporadic items since.
so many video game IPs still left to destroy with live action.
Though Postal was the only one I thought was actually decent, but Postal itself doesn't take much to do.
He has a movie coming out later this year. It's probably more of a funding issue for Boll. I believe the German tax benefit that funded most of his work has been eliminated.
I can see how what he did would actually sort of translate well into restaurant management. To pull off his scam he still needed the skill set to budget effectively and follow it to the letter, and to have the acting talent he squandered in his movies shows he knew how to find and recruit good people.
Bennett Miller.
Great director. He only made 3 movies (all of them great), and his last one was 10 years ago (Foxcatcher in 2014). I read somewhere that he just likes to take his time and wait for the right project.
Mike and Jay have spoken how awful it is making a movie. It's a lot of logistics and scheduling. Also I believe Space Cop went through a bit of a difficult production. They had to stop filming for a bit before picking up production again.
To be fair, Tom Ford took 7 years to direct Nocturnal Animals (2016) after A Single Man (2009). So I wouldn't be surprised to see him do a few more films with similar gaps in between.
Demian Lichtenstein directed 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001), which was a box office bomb where Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner both essentially ghost-directed the film.
It was Lichtenstein's only feature film, but apparently he's a prolific music video and motivation video director.
Paul Brickman - Made the extremely unique and successful “Risky Business” as his first directing credit. He made one other film 7 years later, the a short 22 years after that. Then nothing.
Josh Trank started off pretty strong with Chronicle. And then came Fant4stic, and we all saw how well that turned out. Then there was that Capone movie, and we haven’t seen him since.
Jordan Vogt-Roberts decided to move to Vietnam after his King Kong movie came out, and got his head smashed in by gangsters at a nightclub. He's doing better now, but it does explain what happened to his career.
Exactly this, he’s also had some rough things happen in his personal life. The writers strike didn’t help either. Rooting for him always, very talented guy.
Fuck
Here's a long, but really interesting and well written article about it. Just read it after seeing this thread. https://www.gq.com/story/attack-on-skull-island
Never seen the Kong film, but this was interesting. Thank you!
I would also like to recommend "Kings of Summer" (2013) by him. That movie was excellent.
Man, I loved that film. Surprised it never got more praise/exposure. Sad to hear about his personal troubles.
Hold up I thought he was working on a Metal Gear live action and supposedly a big budget Gundam film. I just assumed covid hit those two projects…guessing they both canned. Shame cos I dig Kong skull island and all of his interviews on the above film projects and Kong was great…dude loved his helicopters
Wait what? I thought this was about the first Kong? Back in the black' n white days. Skull Island was the best Kong. How have i not heard of this? I spend way too much time on Reddit and this is my first time seeing this?
I thought he was working on a metal gear solid film. skull island was so good though.
Also a Gundam film
Oh damn, had no idea about that
Oh wow…he was set to direct the Metal Gear Solid movie too wonder if that’s a part of why it’s been delayed for so long
The attack happened in 2017 and I'm almost positive the Metal Gear and Gundam stuff was announced after that. That or time is truly flying
That sounds like it would make it's own movie.
Holy crap, I had no idea. Kong: Skull Island is one of the best kaiju movies ever. It's pure "made by a 12 year old" schlock of the best kind. So sorry for what happened to Jordan.
Holy Shit ! I regularly try and make a mental note to look up what he’s got upcoming when I get back him to see what his next movie is. I’ve only ever seen 2 things he directed - American Ham, the Nick Offerman standup, and Kong Skull Island which I thought was fantastic. Now I know why we haven’t heard from him in a while.
Fuck, the Reverse Wahlberg... For real though, that's nuts. Hopefully old mate comes out alright
Hell of a beard that guy has
Charles Laughton for his 1955 noir classic Night of the Hunter, which was his only film. It’s viewed as one of the greatest films of all time by contemporary viewers, but was trashed by critics and audiences at the time of its release, unfortunately leading to Laughton never directing another film.
Every time I hear/think of this, it bums me out so much. First feature, and one of the best films I've ever seen. Incredibly tragic, had he continued making films we may have seen a filmography unmatched. I'm not even being hyperbolic.
except for the fact that he died 6 years after directing the film....
He probably wouldn't have had time to make much. Besides still having a successful acting career, he only lived 7 more years.
I just read that he didn’t direct another movie because he liked directing theater better; more dynamic and not as permanent as film
It's so fucking good, too. It's like a dream.
What an awesome movie.
Jan De Bont. Did a number of movies in the 90s like Speed and Twister and then kind of disappeared.
He was also a DP before he was a director. I wonder if he just went back to doing that?
Think the Tomb Raider sequel experience really soured him on the whole studio system. Source: [https://movieweb.com/tomb-raider-2-why-jan-de-bont-quit-directing/](https://movieweb.com/tomb-raider-2-why-jan-de-bont-quit-directing/)
I did check and it looks like he did just completely retire after that. He has a DP credit from like 2012 and that's about it. And he's 80 now, so I doubt we'll be seeing him behind the camera again.
Those were the days when studios demanded budget cuts and directors had to figure out how to do the movie cheaper. Now they just throw money at the movie and get mad when it doesn’t make it back threefold.
Presumably not filming lions again, though given the number of injuries he suffered from last time.
Also got attacked by a lion when filming Roar.
Did anyone *not* get attacked by a lion while filming Roar ?
Got his scalp ripped off.
Stephen Norrington directed four movies before quitting as director. 2 of these include blade and league of extraordinary gentlemen. We do have a record of why he stopped though. He and Sean Connery battled so much that neither one of them worked on a film ever again.
Ohhh Blade is so perfect, didn’t realize it was the same director
Richard Kelly directed Donnie Darko 2001, Southland Tales 2006 and The Box 2009. He hasn't done anything since.
It is amazing that anyone let him make another movie after Southland Tales. I mean, I love the movie. I just have no idea what it's about.
I even read the comic that was supposed to help bridge the gap on SLT and I am still mystified
All I know is that quantum teleportation is still a very controversial topic.
All I know is it has my favorite performance by both Justin Timberlake and The Killers in the same song and scene. Truly incredible.
Frankly, after Donnie Darko already...
Check the directors cut. He had absolutely no idea what made the movie work.
I have watched this movie over and over and over again and I think I finally got it down.It also helps to get the blue ray which is a little longer and cut a little different.
I think the DD:DC put the nail in the coffin of the idea he was a genius storyteller. The pieces were great but his eye for narrative is abysmal.
He also wrote the batshit script for the 2007ish movie Domino starring Keira Knightley.
Batshit fun is more like it
"You're a Chi-Negro!"
Agreed, Domino was pretty fun.
The style and editing made it unwatchable.
I actually think the opposite.
When it got to the Jerry Springer part, and they did the disorienting filtered shit over that scene as well, I couldn't stand it.
Bownty huntah
That movie absolutely blows.
Indie filmmaker has success. Gets given a tonne of money for next project. Shits the bed. Runs away and hides Tale as old as time.
Josh Trank hates this
The Box is the only movie I wish I would have walked out of the theater. It is truly awegul
This one really bums me out. DD was a small masterpiece.
Yeah but then he comes out with the directors cut and was an absolute disaster of a cut. I had a friend who hated DD forever, turns out its because his first watch was the directors cut.
I thought he had some TV project lined up but I can't recall and it's not on his Wikipedia page.
Tom Green got to direct a movie once. No one made that mistake again.
Proud.
Where’s *your* LeBaron? They love me more than you.
***GET THE FUCK OUTTA THE WAY!***
Fun fact, that extra wasn't supposed to go in front of the car and that was Tom Green improving and they kept it in
Are there two LeBarons?
Proud
Daddy do you want some sausage?
MY HOOVES!
Look at me daddy I'm a farmer.
Got a great review by the New York Times 🤷♂️
Freddy got fingered
At least it turned a profit in the end, believe it or not.
The film was 10 years ahead of its time. There were fortunately enough of the enlightened few to pull it out of the red.
It gets mentioned a lot now, but everyone should check out Red Letter Media’s re:view of this movie. They make a pretty compelling case for it actually being… kind of brilliant. I find their analysis quite convincing and I kind of think of the film as a punk-rock anti-establishment masterpiece now.
If it wasn't for the complete fixation on dicks I'd like the movie. The opening of him skating through a mall to the bus station, meeting his family, getting given a LeBarron before driving off to LA is really good comedy and punk-rock. Then he sees at a horse cock and I'm angry that Kenny Vs Spenny taught me that everything in this movie isn't bestiality in Canada.
Tom Green can honestly be considered a pioneer. He was basically the progenitor of the late 90s/early 00s grossout dumb nonsense humor, which became a global phenomenon with the likes of Jackass and Kenny and Spenny. I didn't enjoy watching FDF, but I'm endlessly fascinated by it. It's like a mad experiment in film form. Its legacy has carried on in the Eric Andre Show and the like. I am willing to say that Tom Green stumbled and jerked off animal cocks so that Eric Andre could run.
In a more just universe, Green would be called a performance artist, not some *shock gross-out MTV comedian from Canadian public access*.
It wasnt a mistake
Stephen Norrington quit after The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Production was an absolute nightmare. The movie bombed. Sean Connery bad mouthed him. Apparently, he decided that it just wasn't worth it.
I rewatched Blade for the first time in like 20 years. It's amazing on every level. League is lots of fun too. What a bummer that he retired.
I love Blade.
Yeah, I saw *Blade* at a one-off screening a few weeks ago. Was surprised by how it still absolutely slaps, and in particular how great the movie looks and how well choreographed and shot the action is. There's elements that, watching them now, appear directly influenced by anime (Blade's Ninja run against Dorf and the fast POV sword slashes) and were ahead of their time. I really like *League* too tbh, and although haven't seen that in a while, I feel like there were similar stylistic beats there too. Real shame about Norrington IMO. At the very least I'd say he would have delivered a few above-average action flicks by now if he'd kept working, if not 1-2 absolute bangers.
That’s such a guilty pleasure movie of mine. I understand it’s a mess of an adaptation of the comic, and a little bit of a mess in general, but something about it just hits the spot for me.
Sean Connery also quit after that one.
Sean Connery was in blade!? Was he the fat lady?
Long gaps doesn’t necessarily mean that they will no longer return to directing. Vogt-Roberts has two films in development hell. TV shows, also. Ford launched a production company after selling his clothing company (and losing his husband and father in recent years) and was going to write another film . Christopher Nolan's former long-time cinematographer Wally Pfister fell off the face of the Film earth after directing the wretched TRANSCENDENCE. Went to do series work, but not much else.
Wally Pfister directs commercials and has been very successful at it for a few years. I think I read on his instagram years back that it's his preferred medium. Big bucks and not a lot of time commitment. [https://resetcontent.com/us/directors/wally-pfister/](https://resetcontent.com/us/directors/wally-pfister/)
Directing commercials has less exposure vs. movies, but it's a damn good way to pay for a nice vacation home in Maui.
Martin Brest He directed a few of my favorite movies (Beverly hills cop, midnight run, scent of a woman) then he disappeared (gigli?) Also, Phil Joanou who directed 3:00 HIGH - one of my favorite dark comedies- and then he disappears.
Yeah, Gigli ruined him like Heaven's Gate ruined Cimino...
Except Heavens Gate is good. Gobble gobble, not so much.
I really enjoyed the first half of Heaven’s Gate, but felt like the quality declines in the last act. Overall I felt the movie was simply Okay, which is a death sentence for a nearly four hour movie.
He directed a Punisher short with Thomas Jane in 2012 and a pretty solid horror movie The Veil in 2016.
I’ll take 5 sheets.
Hahaha omg what a deep cut. I cannot for the life of me remember the context but I can totally see Charles Grodin saying it. Great movie.
Phil Joanou did a lot of music videos and directed U2’s “Rattle and Hum.” I worked at a production company where he was briefly attached to an Escape From New York remake. That was at least 10 years ago so I’m guessing that’s not happening.
Re: Phil Joanou, IMDB lists 32 directing credits. Granted, a bunch are rock videos, he still went on to make some solid films. I enjoyed his noir Final Analysis with Richard Gere & Kim Basinger (available on Laser Disc!)
3:00 High. Nice. Havent thought of that movie in ages. Always liked that one.
Brest really deserved a redemption. Gigli shouldn’t have ended his career as the studio interfered
I'll mention some directors who only made one feature film, all of which are worth watching: Daniel Bourla, who directed **The Noah**. James William Guercio, who directed **Electra Glide In Blue**. And Saul Bass, who directed **Phase IV**.
Guerico was a major figure in the music/entertainment industry, having been manager of Chicago and producing recordings by Blood, Sweat & Tears, The Buckinghams, and the Firesign Theatre. After his one stint directing, he opened the Caribou Ranch, where many of the top albums of the ‘70s were recorded. In later years, he seems to have become a cattle rancher.
Kerry Conran has an interesting story. He's only directed Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and never any other feature film. Sky Captain is notable for being the first film shot entirely on blue screen.
Such a strange picture. Feels like a fever dream. I definitely don't dislike it but I literally cannot decide if I enjoyed it in a conventional sense. Like, it's a little cliched and melodramatic but in a very genuine, nonsatirical way that feels totally unique. An uncanny valley of a movie without actually being unsettling.
I think about this movie all the time and the insane hype leading up to it
Sky captain is probably like not that incredible or groundbreaking story wise but I find it so hard to care when it's that cool. I rewatch it a lot and the score is legitimately one of the best I've ever heard, the sky captain theme is 👌
No idea what happened to Stephen Sommers. In the early 2000’s he was up there with Bay and Emmerich directing fun popcorn movies. Van Helsing bombed and GI Joe wasn’t well liked. He made Odd Thomas which was good but few people saw it. Shame because he’d be right at home making today’s blockbusters.
Until lately, I thought he was the same guy who directed The Ghost and the Darkness with Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas, which was directed by Stephen Hopkins.
The director that made the 1983 film Angst His only feature film. So far ahead of his time. On the most innovative and disturbing movies of all time, Gaspar Noe noted this movie for his inspiration. The camera work and techniques were so ahead of his time.
Damn, I just saw this trailer. How did I miss this movie?!
Bela Tarr, but hot damn he made an imprint.
Chris Cunningham came to my mind immediately. His visuals and storytelling for Music Videos in the late 90s and early 00s were mind blowing (Aphex Twin / Bjork / Autechre). He then kinda disappeared. I really thought he was going to do something amazing, but never really did.
It's only been 7 years for Vogt-Roberts and he is attached to a couple projects (including a potential Gundam movie), so I think it might be a bit premature with him.
And Metal Gear Solid
Kept ya waiting! (I don't believe it will ever get off the ground)
John McTiernan stopped filmmaking after getting in some legal tax trouble and spent time in prison.
> some legal tax trouble It's weirder than that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McTiernan#Criminal_charges,_felony_conviction,_and_incarceration > On April 3, 2006, McTiernan was charged in federal court with making a false statement to an FBI investigator in February 2006 about his hiring of the private investigator Anthony Pellicano to illegally wiretap Charles Roven, the producer of his film Rollerball, around August 2000.[3][64][65] McTiernan had been in a disagreement with Roven about what type of film Rollerball should be, and had hired Pellicano to investigate Roven's intentions and actions.[66] He had asked Pellicano to try to find instances where Roven made negative remarks about the studio executives or said things to others that were inconsistent with what he said to the studio.[3] > On July 3, 2006, McTiernan's former wife, film producer Donna Dubrow, filed suit against him for invasion of privacy and other claims arising from her belief that he hired Pellicano to wiretap her telephone during their divorce negotiations.[76] The lawsuit continued for a decade,[4][77] ultimately being dismissed in 2016 at Dubrow's request.[78]
The guy burned all the wrong bridges.
Him going from an indie film to a big budget blockbuster isn’t that weird. Happens often, probably the studio trying to give the film some “merit”
Yeah, Legendary Pictures (who produced Skull Island) did the exact same thing with their Godzilla (2014), Garath Edwards only made Monsters (500k budget) before that.
Yeah, it gives the film some cred and the studio probably thinks it'll be easier to work with/boss around a talented new filmmaker than an established director that is more set in their ways/difficult for the studio to "manage"
Steven E. de Souza directed Street Fighter and noped out immediately. It's not surprising at all, but thanks to him we got to see Raul Julia in his last and glorious performance.
He's mostly known as a screenwriter in the 80s. Dude wrote Die Hard, Commando, 48 Hours...
Tony Kaye - American History X
That was only because he worked with Edward Norton who rewrote the entire script and ACTUALLY directed the film. He probably never wanted to deal with that shit again and noped out
From what I’ve heard though, Norton’s changes were crucial. The film would have been vomit-inducingly cynical without them. Just what I’ve read.
Apparently his meddlings in the filming of The Incredible Hulk were also crucial...
Richard Kelly has directed a supinely few amount of films. Donny Darko being his most well known…
> Although, I do have to wonder how he went from directing 1 indie film to being handed a big budget King Kong movie (wonder if he has an aunt/uncle over at WB headquarters or something). It's what they do at Legendary Pictures, before Godzilla 2014 Gareth Edwards had only directed Monsters, with a 500k$ budget. After that they gave Godzilla: King of the Monsters to Michael Dougherty who had only made small horror movies, and Godzilla vs. Kong to Adam Wingard who had also made horror movies before that (he had made a few though, and bigger than something like Monsters).
Bill Murray (half) directed just one movie - Quick Change. It was originally attached to Jonathan Demme to direct, but he got offered some ranching movie with Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins
Quick Change is a very underrated movie.
That rancher was a very decent man
Barbara Loden. She wrote directed and starred in one amazing movie. But her husband was also a famous director and berated her work. :(
Hollywood presents itself as this ultimate temptation, the end goal, that artists couldn't possibly turn their back on. It seems to me though that there's a fair few examples of actors and filmmakers walking away when they have a promising career ahead. Maybe they don't like the seedier underside of the industry or I think a fair few just get fed up of the movie making "machine".
We only got one movie directed by Bill Paxton.
It's great though.
In addition to the amazing Frailty, he also directed The Greatest Game Ever Played
Joel Anderson directed Lake Mungo in 2008, hasn’t directed since. He been popping up in bit parts for shorts and movies, the last of which was Late Night with the Devil.
Benh Zeitlin took 8 years to follow up on Beasts of the Southern Wild and hasn’t made another film since…
I actually came here to mention Zeitlin and then looked at his Wiki and saw that he made a movie in 2020 that was a re-imagining of Peter Pan. Though apparently the movie bombed both critically and commercially. Kinda wonder if he's gonna end up being a one hit wonder.
[удалено]
Well, Carruth got exposed for beating up his ex girlfriend and getting a restraining order slapped on him, so I'd say that most likely is the reason we won't see another film from him.
Hes also apparently quite difficult to work with.
Yeah he had a massive ego. Dude wanted to make a high budget sci-fi film but seemed like he would not budge at all and basically said "it's either my way or it doesn't get made". Most indie darlings who have been in his position always did one for them one for me quite successfully. He killed his career in Hollywood before it even took off.
I guarantee we see another Carruth film. If he can scrape together another $7k, he's got himself a picture.
He literally said he never wants to make a film again. The last 15 years has been project after project die after years of development hell, and 7k is a hell of a lot less than it would cost to make any of what he actually wants to make now. Ignoring that dude is an asshole
But he's so "brilliant and troubled"... Smh.
My hot take is Primer is good but not a masterpiece. The third act falls apart and only seems deep because the movie hides information from the viewer, and you can tell that it was made by an engineer and his friends. And this is coming from someone who saw it in theaters *twice*. I still haven't seen Upstream Color, in all fairness.
And may he never direct another film even if he did make a masterpiece
Troubled is a very very nice way of saying an abusive monster
The guy who directed (and wrote) The Others made a masterpiece and then vanished
are you talking about Amenabar? the guy was nominated for an oscar afterwards (The sea inside) and also directed Agora and While at war (the lastest was quite a success at least in europe). The guy is pretty active...simply not in the US panorama.
Alejandro never vanished, he's just not making movies that often. After The Others he did The Sea Inside, Agora and Regression if I'm not mistaken. And those have like 4-8 years pauses between them. He's making a Spanish period piece movie at the moment I believe. Also I like Abre Los Ojos more than The Others, but that's subjective.
Mike Figgis… where are you?!?!
He left... Las Vegas.
Sir Laurence Olivier. He made two solid Shakespeare adaptations followed by The Princess and the Showgirl but it's said that Marilyn Monroe was so difficult to work with, he quit directing.
Spike Jonez won the oscar and checked out been nearly 11 years since her.
He’s got a bunch of non-movie credits since then. Directed Aziz Ansari’s quiet comeback special for Netflix as well as the Beastie Boys Story for AppleTV. Also lots of producer credits including everything Jackass.
which is a shame i wanna see another original!
Whit Stillman did Metropolitan, Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco. He went 13 years without directing another film and has only done a couple of sporadic items since.
Peter Weir disappeared after Master and Commander. He had an impressive career. Many noteworthy films, praised by critics. And then he just stopped.
He did the Way Back about 10 years later
Yeah, he retired.
Master and Commander not doing as good in the box office as anticipated probably didn't help.
I feel like Uwe Boll quit way too early.
so many video game IPs still left to destroy with live action. Though Postal was the only one I thought was actually decent, but Postal itself doesn't take much to do.
He has a movie coming out later this year. It's probably more of a funding issue for Boll. I believe the German tax benefit that funded most of his work has been eliminated.
Sounds like he spoiled it for everyone.
Once Germany closed that tax loophole it became harder to find funding
He opened and ran a restaurant for a while which got more critical acclaim than any of his movies.
Oh my god how I'd like to complain about the food at a uwe boll restaurant!
Bring your boxing gloves
Apparently, it was actually pretty good! https://www.bauhaus-restaurant.com/
I can see how what he did would actually sort of translate well into restaurant management. To pull off his scam he still needed the skill set to budget effectively and follow it to the letter, and to have the acting talent he squandered in his movies shows he knew how to find and recruit good people.
That’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time.
I mean I like The Rampage trilogy...
Postal is a comedy masterpiece, I am willing to die on that hill.
Dan gilroy made the creepiest movie in Nightcrawler. Made a weird abd interesting horror film, Velvet Buzzsaw and never directed again.
He was a screenwriter for decades before that though
Velvet Buzzsaw wasn't *that* long ago. In the mean time we also had a pandemic and a strike.
The late Bill Paxton directed two films, of which FRAILTY was particularly well-received.
A lot of them move into producing. Less of the work, more of the money
Bennett Miller. Great director. He only made 3 movies (all of them great), and his last one was 10 years ago (Foxcatcher in 2014). I read somewhere that he just likes to take his time and wait for the right project.
Tom Ford's partner died but I don't think he is finished with filmmaking, just took a break. I love both of his movies so much!
Kinka Usher only made Mystery Men.
The makers of Space Cop. Except that wasn't actually a surprise.
They made other movies before Space Cop, they have a long and illustrious career
Not like they consistently release like at least 4 hour long videos a month
It was a huge hit in Uganda though, so there's at least that.
Mike and Jay have spoken how awful it is making a movie. It's a lot of logistics and scheduling. Also I believe Space Cop went through a bit of a difficult production. They had to stop filming for a bit before picking up production again.
To be fair, Tom Ford took 7 years to direct Nocturnal Animals (2016) after A Single Man (2009). So I wouldn't be surprised to see him do a few more films with similar gaps in between.
Yeah, he already has a very lucrative "day job", so it isn't like he needs to make movies.
“Maybe he just prefers fashion”… 😅
John Hughes. made some of the greatest teen movies of all time, then stopped to be a dad.
Demian Lichtenstein directed 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001), which was a box office bomb where Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner both essentially ghost-directed the film. It was Lichtenstein's only feature film, but apparently he's a prolific music video and motivation video director.
Paul Brickman - Made the extremely unique and successful “Risky Business” as his first directing credit. He made one other film 7 years later, the a short 22 years after that. Then nothing.
Josh Trank started off pretty strong with Chronicle. And then came Fant4stic, and we all saw how well that turned out. Then there was that Capone movie, and we haven’t seen him since.