I was looking through an older issue of Entertainment Weekly this week, checking out the movies that are coming out this fall and early winter. I started noticing a strange tendency in these movies - lots of actors were directing upcoming films. Flipping through the magazine, I saw four reasonably high-profile movies being helmed by people who have been actors for the bulk of their career.
Now a couple of these were from actors who have experience with directing. Robert De Niro last directed, officially, in 1993. In December comes The Good Shepherd and it’s $110 million budget. Seems like a lot to give De Niro, but that’s why I’m not a producer.
Rocky has another movie coming out, too, descriptively named Rocky Balboa. Though Stallone has experience directing crappy movies, he hasn’t directed one since 1985. He also has an Edgar Allan Poe biopic in pre-production. He is slated to write and direct Poe.
Of more interest to me are movies from two first time directors. Or at least that’s what I thought. The biopic Bobby is due in late November. The Robert Kennedy biopic has a huge cast; one that I would think would require an experienced director to manage the chaos. Well, it is directed by Emilio Estevez. Surely this has to be his directorial debut, right? Guess not. He has a few so-so movies under his belt, including The War at Home and Men at Work.
(Incidentally, the Bobby cast includes: Anthony Hopkins, Elijah Wood, Laurence Fishburne, Demi Moore, Lindsay Lohan, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy, Sharon Stone, Christian Slater, Martin Sheen, Ashton Kutcher, Heather Graham, Harry Belafonte, Joshua Jackson, and Nick Cannon. I think it is important for biopic to make sure every character is played by a very recognizable actor. Grounds the film in reality.)
So I guess there is only one actor-directed movie with a newcomer leading the charge. Joey Lauren Adams, she of the high-voice and Chasing Amy fame, makes her directorial debut with Come Early Morning. Adams wrote the movie, which looks to be a fairly run-of-the-mill romantic comedy. I am guessing it will be pretty far removed from Adams’ other infamous comedy, Bio-Dome.
Comments (6)
I don’t think that this is all that odd. It seems pretty frequent where an actor gets a shot a directing a small picture, whichs leads to a much bigger follow up picture (if they do a reasonably good job). Mel Gibson would be a prime example of this with “The man without a face” followed by “Braveheart”.
Have you seen the War at Home? I haven’t seen it, but I’ve read that it’s a well done movie (not enjoyable, but well done). Plus Emilio has some experience with biopics… he was in Young Guns after all. I do tend to agree with your sarcastic (that was sarcasm, wasn’t it?) assessment of the cast of Bobby.
The fact that actors are directing doesn’t seem unusual to me (Hello. Clint Eastwood.). The surprising thing to me was the number of these movies coming out in a three month period. And I realize that it’s arguable Adams is an actress the “public” has heard of. Many times, when I see reference to the latest actor-helmed film it is buried in a sidebar. You know, the latest Steve Buscemi or Kevin Spacey. I suppose Beyond the Sea had some hype.
Is Young Guns really considered a biopic? Any more than the forthcoming Marie Antoinette? (Keep in mind, I’m one of the few that actually enjoyed Young Guns and Young Guns II.)
Your probably right about the frequency. I’m thinking there have been many movies of this nature, but this is spanning several years and they are typcially smaller movies. It seems to me that just about every actor has to try their hand behind the camera at some point.
Of course Young Guns is a biopic, just like American Outlaws and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. How can you even question this? Do you expect some shred of historical accuracy or something?
Your probably right about the frequency. I’m thinking there have been many movies of this nature, but this is spanning several years and they are typcially smaller movies. It seems to me that just about every actor has to try their hand behind the camera at some point.
Of course Young Guns is a biopic, just like American Outlaws and the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. How can you even question this? Do you expect some shred of historical accuracy or something?
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