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Director Jail due to superhero commitment.

post #1 of 43
4/9/11 at 12:16pm
Thread Starter 
Who's next? Branagh?
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post #2 of 43
4/9/11 at 2:09pm

Branagh's been pretty low-profile-- he can go back to character pieces if Thor bombs. Snyder's in the make-or-break position.

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post #3 of 43
4/9/11 at 2:59pm

Andres, There of course is a chance that...THOR, is a box office...Smash!  In that case, KB, will not be a candidate for director jail!

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post #4 of 43
4/9/11 at 3:25pm

Not sure how expansive this topic can be as there are only so many superhero films coming out. Branagh, Johnston, Whedon, Campbell, and Snyder are the guys most surrounded by uncertainty and at career crossroads of some kind. Matthew Vaughn will probably turn in something decent, and in the unlikelihood that his film somehow gets away from him and he creates a giant clusterfuck in 2012 (Whedon is probably in a much scarier position as far as that year is concerned), Nolan is going to be perfectly fine, maybe quite a bit more than perfectly fine.

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post #5 of 43
4/9/11 at 3:54pm

Not sure I get exactly what this thread is saying exactly. I mean, has anyone been director jailed for making a superhero movie? Most of them have been successful. If anything Branagh was in director jail already and Thor was a chance to get back on the radar. Whedon and Snyder also probably have more to gain than lose from jumping on the bandwagon.

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post #6 of 43
4/9/11 at 4:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul C View Post

I mean, has anyone been director jailed for making a superhero movie?

 

 

Despite two TV credits post Wolverine, I'd say that Gavin Hood is right now.

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post #7 of 43
4/9/11 at 4:40pm
Thread Starter 
Paul, I wanted to discuss the risk of doing superhero films. I used a term with ample use here (2nd result was a chud link, when I searched the term).
Gavin Hood is a good example he took some risk and then he was tied to one shitty script.
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post #8 of 43
4/9/11 at 4:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Walker View Post



 

 

Despite two TV credits post Wolverine, I'd say that Gavin Hood is right now.



He's going to direct the Ender's Game adaptation, so I wouldn't say he is close to being in director jail.

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post #9 of 43
4/9/11 at 7:32pm

Shane Black might be an interesting name to throw out there.  Black hasn't done much (anything?) since KKBB in 2005, and while I think its highly unlikely Iron Man 3 bombs, hes going to have a lot riding on it, especially since the second film was so lackluster.    

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post #10 of 43
4/9/11 at 7:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Park Chan-wookie View Post

He's going to direct the Ender's Game adaptation, so I wouldn't say he is close to being in director jail.

Yeaaaah, but that's not REALLY going to happen, is it? For the unwatchability of Wolverine, Hood should probably be in whatever "director jail" is.

 

If anything, I would think superhero films are PRYING filmmakers from director jail, since those are the cheapest options when you have to pay for actors and CGI and marketing. Joss Whedon's directing CV was awfully quiet after Serenity. After "Sleuth," no one was exactly jumping to hire Branagh. It's been a few years since Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. And look at Stephen Norrington trying to get back into the game after LXG with The Crow (which, I guess didn't work).

 

Of course, all this ends with Simon West directing an Iron Fist movie. I KNOW it does.

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post #11 of 43
4/9/11 at 11:01pm
Quote:

Originally Posted by Park Chan-wookie View Post

 

He's going to direct the Ender's Game adaptation, so I wouldn't say he is close to being in director jail.


 

Unless it's under the PRO version, IMDB isn't stating this at all. I know IMDB is to be taken with a spoonful of salt, but they're pretty quick to jump on bullshit, dead end rumors. The very fact that this isn't listed kind of speaks volumes.
 

 

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post #12 of 43
4/9/11 at 11:03pm

Also,  this is spot on with how the superhero genre seems to work for directors:

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gabe T View Post

If anything, I would think superhero films are PRYING filmmakers from director jail, since those are the cheapest options when you have to pay for actors and CGI and marketing. Joss Whedon's directing CV was awfully quiet after Serenity. After "Sleuth," no one was exactly jumping to hire Branagh. It's been a few years since Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. And look at Stephen Norrington trying to get back into the game after LXG with The Crow (which, I guess didn't work).

 



 

 

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post #13 of 43
4/10/11 at 1:34am

Exactly, superhero movies have become the default 'one for them' for filmmakers who actually want to do other projects but don't have the clout.

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post #14 of 43
4/10/11 at 3:02am

Which is what I thought the topic was about when I clicked on it.

 

Brannah has has a great deal of stage and small screen sucess post Sleuth,  so I think its more of a case of picking his projects a bit more cautiously.

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post #15 of 43
4/10/11 at 5:34am

It feels like this is what's happened to Sam Raimi. Especially after Drag Me To Hell didn't perform that well.

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post #16 of 43
4/10/11 at 8:23am
Thread Starter 
Ken or Gabe T, I can change the title if you want. I totally agree with Gabe T about how some of this directors are picked.
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post #17 of 43
4/10/11 at 9:04am



 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Untitled View Post

It feels like this is what's happened to Sam Raimi. Especially after Drag Me To Hell didn't perform that well.



Well, he attaches his name to a lot of projects(I guess that one about the origin of the Wizard of Wizard of Oz is going to happen), and he still has a production house to seems like it puts out lucrative projects. For example: the TV show of Spartacus.

 

Which strikes me as being absolutely awful.

 

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post #18 of 43
4/10/11 at 10:45am

Mark Steven Johnson.

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post #19 of 43
4/10/11 at 11:12am

I'd say that Mark Steven Johnson had arrest warrants issued out to him post Daredevil and Ghost Rider, but it seems like this is what finally got him incarcerated.

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post #20 of 43
4/10/11 at 11:29am

Oh god... I completely forgot he had directed When In Rome.  Shit, what a shitty piece of shit.

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post #21 of 43
4/10/11 at 12:03pm
Thread Starter 
Just to clarify, I don't think "director jail" applies strictly, sometimes is just the entrance into diminishing returns since the director lost most of his/her credibility. Like Gabe T said, wounded directors are prone to fail for superhero movies.
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post #22 of 43
4/10/11 at 2:05pm

the 2 directors from the punisher films- (punisher 2004)Jonathan Hensleigh and(punisher warzone) Lexi Alexander have not had a much going on since they released the films. although Lexi Alexander did have some problems with lionsgate while the film was being made...

 

Even Tim Story has been stuck in director jail due to the 2 fantastic four films..

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post #23 of 43
4/10/11 at 2:17pm



 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Walker View Post

I'd say that Mark Steven Johnson had arrest warrants issued out to him post Daredevil and Ghost Rider, but it seems like this is what finally got him incarcerated.



Is he actually in director's jail though? When in Rome was only last year and pulled in over $43 million worldwide, which is kind of nothing, but I can't imagine the production budget for a Kristen Bell / Josh Duhamel romcom could have been more than that. It had to have broken even at least. Besides, look at the man's CV. Fuck director's jail, if he hasn't been executed at this point, then he has to know where all the bodies are buried. By the by, the one-sheet for the film says: "From the studio the studio that brought you The Proposal". Which, as an "enticement", is probably funnier than any one thing in the film itself.

 

 

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post #24 of 43
4/10/11 at 4:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JacknifeJohnny View Post

Is he actually in director's jail though? When in Rome was only last year and pulled in over $43 million worldwide, which is kind of nothing, but I can't imagine the production budget for a Kristen Bell / Josh Duhamel romcom could have been more than that. It had to have broken even at least. Besides, look at the man's CV. Fuck director's jail, if he hasn't been executed at this point, then he has to know where all the bodies are buried. By the by, the one-sheet for the film says: "From the studio the studio that brought you The Proposal". Which, as an "enticement", is probably funnier than any one thing in the film itself.

 

 



If he knew where all the bodies are buried, we'd be on season 5 of Preacher right now.

 

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post #25 of 43
4/10/11 at 8:53pm

If hanging out on set with Kristen Bell is jailtime, lock me up!

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post #26 of 43
4/11/11 at 5:48am

He was mentioned earlier in this thread, but Stephen Norrington seems to be the very example of someone who's in director jail after a disastrous comic adaptation.

 

 

 

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post #27 of 43
4/11/11 at 6:16am

Norrington actually decided features weren't for him after LXG and the experience of working with Connery. He's only recently started making an effort to get back into it.

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post #28 of 43
4/11/11 at 6:27am

Yeah, that's how I understand it as well.

 

It didn't seem like anyone was trying to change his mind, though.

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post #29 of 43
4/11/11 at 8:36am

I guess it was actually Valkyrie that broke his stride, but Bryan Singer.

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post #30 of 43
4/11/11 at 9:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evi View Post

Norrington actually decided features weren't for him after LXG and the experience of working with Connery. He's only recently started making an effort to get back into it.



It's a shame, because for me the original BLADE remains one of the best comic adaptations, and it really helped kickstart the renaissance of the genre (though we're paying negatively for it now). Wish Norrington would have worked with better studios and producers.

 

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post #31 of 43
4/11/11 at 11:16am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hammerhead View Post

I guess it was actually Valkyrie that broke his stride, but Bryan Singer.


Maybe you are right, but I think there are a some flaws in X-2 (notwithstanding a great film) that were presages of his current situation.
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post #32 of 43
4/11/11 at 11:19am

I'm not about to start wishing for the return of the guy who made Sean Connery quit acting. You know there's at least something wrong with YOU when you're the reason a man like that says "Fuck this, I'm done." Blade was good, but I'm more than willing to call it a fluke. 

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post #33 of 43
4/11/11 at 11:33am
Thread Starter 
A tangential issue (thanks to Connery), this genre is prone to big stars (prima donnas) messing with the script. Mind you, it happens all the time in Hollywood.
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post #34 of 43
4/11/11 at 11:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg Clark View Post

I'm not about to start wishing for the return of the guy who made Sean Connery quit acting. You know there's at least something wrong with YOU when you're the reason a man like that says "Fuck this, I'm done." Blade was good, but I'm more than willing to call it a fluke. 



I have to wonder if Connery was really all that fired up about continuing to act regardless. And Norrington was under a lot pressure from a meddling Fox, no? Snipes apparently had issues with him (Norrington) as well, but it's hard not to believe Connery was simply looking for a reason. He'd worked long enough in the business not to let one awful experience kill it for the remainder of his life.

 

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post #35 of 43
4/11/11 at 12:42pm

Not that he was a prolific, high-profile director beforehand, but how about Frank Miller after "The Spirit"? Seems like he cashed in on all the goodwill generated towards him because of "Sin City" and "300" to get a shot at directing "The Spirit". I don't see him ever getting a chance to direct again after how it turned out. 

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post #36 of 43
4/11/11 at 12:51pm

I never really considered Frank Miller a director, and his co-directing credit on Sin City was basically Rodriguez patting him on the head. That Buck Rogers film Lionsgate asked him to do was immediately canned after The Spirit, and after that I know he did a fragrance commercial with Chris Evans and Evan Rachel Wood, but that's about it. It's funny, Miller burned a lot of bridges in the comic industry over the years (w/ fans as well as several peers), and now that the whiff of Hollywood he got turned out to be poison, he sort of seems like a man without a country.

 

 

 

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post #37 of 43
4/11/11 at 1:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MichaelM View Post
I have to wonder if Connery was really all that fired up about continuing to act regardless. And Norrington was under a lot pressure from a meddling Fox, no? Snipes apparently had issues with him (Norrington) as well, but it's hard not to believe Connery was simply looking for a reason. He'd worked long enough in the business not to let one awful experience kill it for the remainder of his life.
 

I think the quote was in EW at the time, where Connery was trying to explain why he took LXG. I'm paraphrasing, but it was something like, "They offered me X-Men, but I just didn't get it. They offered me Lord of the Rings, but I didn't get it. They offered me this, and I didn't get it, but I figured I should take it anyway." That always sounded like a guy who has one foot out the door.
 

 

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post #38 of 43
4/11/11 at 1:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gabe T View Post

I think the quote was in EW at the time, where Connery was trying to explain why he took LXG. I'm paraphrasing, but it was something like, "They offered me X-Men, but I just didn't get it. They offered me Lord of the Rings, but I didn't get it. They offered me this, and I didn't get it, but I figured I should take it anyway." That always sounded like a guy who has one foot out the door.
 

 



He was offered LotR and The Matrix; don't know about X-Men. But yes, to both he said he "didn't get it." Now, The Matrix not being clear to someone in Connery's generation, but not getting LotR? Where the fuck's he been since...birth?

 

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post #39 of 43
4/11/11 at 3:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hammerhead View Post

I guess it was actually Valkyrie that broke his stride, but Bryan Singer.



Was Valkyrie's failure(which I guess it was?)really placed on Singer's shoulders, though? It seems like Cruise was always the figurehead of any controversy when it came down to that project.

 

Singer DID develop bad blood with WB over Superman Returns, though. Isn't that why Trick R Treat(which Singer produced) got neglected for so many years?


Edited by Walker - 4/12/11 at 4:58am
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post #40 of 43
4/12/11 at 3:31am

Valkyrie wasn't a runaway success but it did moderately well for it's budget, I'm not convinced it did a lot of damage to Singer's career. Superman Returns on the other hand was monstrously expensive and a total non-starter as a franchise reboot, it must have harmed trust in him as an a-list hitmaker quite a bit. But it's overstating things to say he's in director jail.

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post #41 of 43
4/16/11 at 9:31pm

Especially considering some of the other films he made. I would understand this if it came from a Deniro or Pacino, since they've never really dabbled in the fantasy genre (or at least they haven't done anything iconic in it, I might be blanking on a role or two). But Connery did 2 highlander films and fucking Zardoz. How do you not get Lord of The Rings?

 

EDIT: This is in response to Michael M's post.

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post #42 of 43
4/16/11 at 9:44pm

Maybe Connery didn't get those either?

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post #43 of 43
4/16/11 at 10:50pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkroot View Post

the 2 directors from the punisher films- (punisher 2004)Jonathan Hensleigh and(punisher warzone) Lexi Alexander have not had a much going on since they released the films. although Lexi Alexander did have some problems with lionsgate while the film was being made...

 

Even Tim Story has been stuck in director jail due to the 2 fantastic four films..


Your also forgetting Goldblatt, who pretty much quit after he did the '89 Punisher, he's kicking around as an editor on big films though. Hensleigh seems like he could be getting out after Kill the Irishman, the response has been mostly positive for it. Apparently Alexander is premiering her new movie in churches, so there's that to think about.

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