On Saturday, Karina and I were discussing the upcoming Judd Apatow-produced comedy Pineapple Express, which I think is a waste of David Gordon Green’s directorial talent. Even more, I think it’s a waste of his writing talent, as it’s his first film where he’s not (credited as) one of the screenwriters. But, as Karina argued, a guy has to earn a paycheck now and again, and if him making this stoner comedy means I get to see more beautiful little films from Green in the future, then I should be happy for him and thankful to Apatow and Columbia Pictures. After all, great actors do this sort of thing all the time, so why shouldn’t it be okay for directors?
However, all too often a sellout film can leave a really bad taste in our mouths. Sometimes that one really commercial movie will harm a filmmaker’s career for a long time, whether because it’s a box office flop or because it ends up only being the first in a new, more-mainstream direction for the filmmaker (see John Woo, sort of). Hopefully Pineapple Express won’t be as bad as any of these famous disasters by otherwise great directors:
- Alien Resurrection (1997) - It kind of seemed a dream come true that Jean-Pierre Jeunet (The City of Lost Children) would be wooed by Hollywood, especially for something as high-profile as the fourth Alien installment. But like many great foreign filmmakers, Jeunet was not nearly as great with an English-language script (nor is, apparently, Wong Kar-Wai). The movie looked really good, as had Jeunet’s French films, but overall the film was quite disappointing. It wasn’t necessarily Jeunet’s fault, but because he wasn’t fluent in English, it was likely difficult for him to communicate well with the actors and to see the faults of Joss Whedon’s script. Fortunately, Jeunet went on to make Amelie and has hopefully ignored the call of Hollywood ever since. (more…)
Originally posted on:SpoutBlog