Up and Coming Directors
Submitted by ash_campbell on Mon, 12/08/2003 - 11:56
Tags:
- 1. Darren Aronfonsky: He’s got good skills (see Pi ), but he’s chosen some extremely dark projects (Requiem for a Dream), which could hurt his chances of bigger projects. His well-reported break over the Batman: Year One project doesn’t help matters.
- 2. Mathieu Kassovitz: This Frenchman scored a hit with Hate and his first American film, Gothika, is out now. He mixes his time in front of the camera as well as behind it, but I think he could be a force.
- 3. Doug Liman: Most noted for the cool-cat Swingers, he’s tentatively been given a project with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie called Mr. And Mrs. Smith. I suspect if it’s a hit, he’ll become an extremely hot commodity.
- 4. Christopher Nolan: He’s already hit the big-time with just three films (see here) and now has the new Batman project. His star is continuing to rise.
- 5. Michael and Mark Polish: They directed the solid Twin Falls Idaho, but I’m not sure they’ll ever get out of being niche indie directors. Too bad, really.
- 6. Alex Proyas: Director of the brilliant Dark City, he’s just finishing up the highly anticipated I, Robot, which will make or break his career, I suspect.
- 7. M. Night Shyamalan. I can't believe I forgot Manoj. This guy has been amazingly successful in his short time as a mainstream director (see here).
- 8. Tom Tykwer: A star director in Germany with the solid hit Run Lola Run, it will be interesting to see if he stays in Europe or can be lured over to Hollywood. I’m sure he’ll be solid either way.
- 9. Gore Verbinski: Has had success mostly fall in his lap, with the highly successful combo of The Ring and Pirates of the Caribbean. The only question is if he can sustain that level of directorial quality.
Author Comments:
These are the most promising of the young (-ish) directors out there today with a real chance of mainstream success and only a small number of projects under their belts. Who else do you think might become a real force?
How about Richard Kelly, he's oh 26ish and directed/wrote Donnie Darko
Haven't seen Darko yet, though I've heard good things. I'd like to see how his new project Knowing is received before I pass judgement. The movie world is littered with people who had one big hit and then disappeared or slogged through B-level (or worse) films for the rest of their careers.
Now you had me until you added Shyamalan... ;)
Actually, since I haven't seen Ring or Pirates yet, I really don't know about Gore, and the horrible press I've heard about Gothic might throw Kasovitz into doubt, but this is a great list. To tell the truth, Shyamalan ain't a bad director, but he always shoots his own scripts, and, well, let's just say I don't consider that a particularly good thing...
Really nice to see Darren A here.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs
I agree that Night needs to shoot somebody else's stuff (or get someone else to direct his next screenplay), but you have to admit he has craft and a strong style, which is more than many directors out there.
Verbinski is a crap-shoot right now, I think. But he scored well twice and that's something. We'll see...
i think its great you.ve put so much detail and work on your seprate director files. Maybe WES ANDERSON for up & comming director- keep up the great work.
have You seen Wes Andersons movies im a big fan, if you have, what do you think of his work?
That's a good point. I guess that I felt that both Wes Anderson and Paul Thomas Anderson have already hit mainstream, and are going to be around for a while. I suppose the same is true for Shyamalan and Nolan, but the others are still at that career point where they could easily disappear and nobody would really notice too much.
Personally, I love Wes's stuff; The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my favorite recent films. Thanks for the input.