July 4th, 2008The Best Directors are the “Small” Directors
So I was thinkin’ the other day - about what separates really good movies and really bad ones, when the both have over $150 million to spend.
One of the main things I came up with is that the best big-budget movies seem to all be made by people who really cut their teeth making edgy, successful independent film. Now of course, nothing competes with character, theme, etc., but you can’t have these things if the director doesn’t push for them.
Sam Raimi
Made The Evil Dead for $350K in ‘81 before getting $300-odd million for Spider-Man 2
Peter Jackson
Made his indie career mostly from financing from the New Zealand Film Board, now the country’s most famous filmmaker after The Lord of the Rings
Chris Nolan
Shot Following for $6000 (less than Robert Rodriguez could), and is now the first Hollywood filmmaker to shoot a film on IMAX film - this summer’s “The Dark Knight”
The list goes on and on (John Favreau - Iron Man, Alfonso Cuaron - Prizoner of Azkaban + Children of Men…) but you get the idea. These guys know how to stretch a dollar; I’m pretty sure Michel Gondry would’ve made a pretty awesome Fantastic Four.
