I like them in general.
I like when actors direct small personal projects even tho some of them are terrible.
it depends. they are often good with actors but their films are rarely cinematic IMO. although i’m generalising here. there are exceptions.
There’s no generalizing, but mostly good films are coming to mind:
Frailty – Bill Paxton
Pollock – Ed Harris
Gone Baby Gone – Ben Affleck
Good Night and Good Luck – George Cloony
Then, occasionally, you’ll get real auteurs like Woody Allen or Clint Eastwood
On the other hand, you can get a debacle like Eddie Murphy with Harlem Nights.
I’m always eager to check out the directorial efforts made by actors. The results are sometimes quite clumsy, but there have been some truly interesting and passionate projects that came out of this switch to behind the camera.
It’s pretty much a crap shoot every time, I think. Of course alot fall into a ‘middle ground’ like with Harris’ and Clooney’s films above with some great ones and bad ones on the fringes.
Nonetheless, I do find it interesting when directors like Allen or Chaplin really make a name for themselves as ‘triple threats’. ;)
Actors and actresses who become directors…why not? Cinemaphotographers, screenwriters and editors all become directors. Anyone who has worked extensively in the film industry and has a genuine passion for it has a chance of being a great director. You could fill a football field with the actors and actresses who have each made several acclaimed films.
Has anyone seen Afflek’s next movie “The Town”? It has Jeremy Renner and John Hamm, so naturally I’m curious.
George Cloony and Affleck my ass… Some recommendations:
Gangster Story (1959) – Walter Matthau
Walter’s only directed film, sound and picture is crap, pacing is all over the place, but does show potential.
Goin’ South (1978) – Jack Nicholson
Great film, Two Jakes is also not bad.
One-Eyed Jacks (1961) – Marlon Brando
Another great film.
Hello, Dolly! (1969) – Gene Kelly
Make this a double bill with Gangster Story, if you think Walter can’t direct, wait till you hear him sing. Great film though. Kelly made quite a few good flicks.
Haunted Honeymoon (1986) – Gene Wilder
Always great fun.
“Actors and actresses who become directors…why not? Cinemaphotographers, screenwriters and editors all become directors. Anyone who has worked extensively in the film industry and has a genuine passion for it has a chance of being a great director. "
how many cinematographers have become good directors though? Jan De Bont? Ernest Dickerson? all great camera men, but terrible directors. can you think of any decent ones?
“You could fill a football field with the actors and actresses who have each made several acclaimed films.”
yes but how many of them have actually made a successful career out of it? making one or two good films is one thing, doing it on a regular is another.
People forget about Sean Penn. I thought “Into the Wild” was a very good adaptation of Jon Kraukeur’s book. Penn has a good eye for these sorts of folksy stories and if he devoted more time to it he might even develop into a significant director of note.
And Penn reminds me of Tim Robbins who did Bob Roberts, Dead Man Walking and Cradle Will Rock.
I liked Penn’s first 3 films. ‘Into The Wild’ was good too but lacked that dark edge i appreciated in Crossing Guard and The Pledge.
He is good though.
I agree with Joks Penn’s Movies are acceptable also he is a good actor
Very surprised The Night of The Hunter hasn’t been brought up yet. Charles Laughton made a classic his only time directing.
I’ve always liked Sean Penn’s The Pledge.
Also, Orson Welles would count, right? I think he did War of the Worlds before he became an actor and then later Citizen Kane … but I could have that completely wrong – could anyone shed some light on that?
More people should watch Tom Noonan’s movies.
Also, while I haven’t seen his work yet, Cassavetes must be mentioned as well.
Many directors like Polanski and Cassavetes started out as actors.
Guillaume Canet’s Tell No One, Steve Buscemi’s Trees Lounge and Animal Factory, Tim Roth’s The War Zone, Gary Oldman’s Nil By Mouth, and Todd Field’s In the Bedroom are all excellent. Frank Whaley’s Joe the King also stands out as an excellent film by an underrated actor.
Also, Tom Noonan’s films (see Mike Spence’s excellent recent write-up in the Garage).
Most good actors-turned-directors are able to get excellent performances out of their actors. Bad actors-turned-directors seem to have trouble controlling their actors and lead to broad and not very interesting performances.
Night of the Hunter is a great film, yes.
Warren Beatty directed Heaven Can Wait, Reds, Dick Tracy, and Bulworth.
I’m generally not a big fan of Ron Howard’s work as a director.
Robert Redford, of course, won the Best Director Oscar for Ordinary People in what was probably the biggest mistake in Oscar history (he won over Scorsese for Raging Bull , Polanski for Tess, and Lynch for The Elephant Man), and was nominated again Quiz Show.
Redford’s Quiz Show redeems the mistake of him winning an Oscar for Ordinary People.
Howard is crap. As is Jon Favreau, Penny Marshall, Rob Reiner, Mel Gibson, Danny Devito and Kevin Costner (although Open Range was surprisingly pretty good). I think there comes a point in every actor’s life where they don’t want to take orders from a director and decide that they can do things well themselves (the old adage that “everyone wants to direct” on film sets is true in general but seems especially true for actors). If an actor directs, I generally prefer that they stay behind the camera and not also act in the film but there are exceptions (Beatty is notable).
Have you noticed that you could swap the name Ron Howard out with Zemeckis and Zwick and the film looks exactly like any of them could have directed it. That’s how totally generic these Hollywood go to directors are.
Devito is hit and miss. I liked ‘Hoffa’. ‘Open Range’ was indeed good. ‘Quiz Show’ is Redford’s best IMO. hope somebody releases a special edition dvd of that film in the not too distant future.
As for Reiner, he gets a pass due to Spinal Tap.
Ari, despite all his sins since, Rob Reiner did give us This is Spinal Tap.
MATT: it’s funny how ‘Ordinary People’ beat out Raging Bull at the oscars. who takes about Ordinary People now? it’s pretty much forgotten.
Yeah. I think Ordinary People was more in touch with the zeitgeist in Hollywood at that time, and, as if often the case, that’s a large part of why it won. Tess is extremely well directed too, I thought, and The Elephant Man proved that Lynch could have made great mainstream films if he’d wanted to.
@Ari—I wouldn’t go that far, but Quiz Show is a good film.
I also should have mentioned Robert Duvall’s The Apostle, which I thought was quite good.
Both Tess and The Elephant Man were superior to O.People.
I like The Apostle too.
Does Takeshi Kitano count here? If so, he would be at the top of my list for actors turned directors in the last 20+ years.
I like Vincent Gallo’s films too.
beat takeshi is very good
I like benigni too and gallo
A few more. The more I think about it, the more impressive the number of actors who have gone on to make good films is.
Buster Keaton
Dennis Hopper
Peter Fonda
Ida Lupino
Tommy Lee Jones’ The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada was underrated. I like Keith Gordon too. And Cornel Wilde made some interesting films.
Cassavetes would be the king in this category I would have to say
rishi goswami
do you like them ? do you think they understand psyche of actors better then others ? or do you hate them ?