By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
The Male Director Challenge: 2002
Very interesting year, 2002.
Only 7 “newcomers” (as defined in previous entries) in the Top 50… 2 men of color (one from film school/indies, the other from music videos and ads)… 1 specialist… 2 taking the direct line from TV directing or writing… 1 who actually got fired mid-production, but is still credited… and Christopher Nolan’s first studio movie.
#10 Grosser – Chicago – Rob Marshall – They hired a stage choreographer/director with some TV experience to direct a musical.
#16 – The Santa Clause 2 – Michael Lembeck – He had a ton of TV credits, series and MOWs, to his name before getting this sequel opportunity.
#27 – Two Weeks Notice – Marc Lawrence – His third Sandra Bullock movie as screenwriter turned into his first as a director (aside from 1 TV episode)
#36 Barbershop – Tim Story – USC film school kid, made a couple indies before getting a feature break at New Line.
#41 – Insomnia – Christopher Nolan – His first studio film after hitting the indie jackpot with Memento.
#45 – Jackass: The Movie – Jeff Tremaine – He shares credit on the side with an established director. Still, he gets the official credit alone. And he is one of the team that made the series and the movies and everything Jackhole.
#46 – The Time Machine – Simon Wells – A top guy in the Spielberg animation universe got his shot. As the story goes, he was replaced by Gore Verbnski mid-production, and then maybe shot some more of the film. No one wants to talk about it. His only live-action directing credit.
#47 – Drumline – Charles Stone III – Music Video and advertising director gets a shot.
Studio experienced directors making films in the Top 50 in 2002 were: Raimi, Jackson, Lucas, Columbus, Zwick, Shyamalan, Roach, Sonnenfeld,
Spielberg, Tamahori, Gosnell, Cohen, Spielberg, Verbinski, Tennant, Brill, Liman, Robinson, Hanson, Mendes, Fincher, Wang, Ratner, Russell, Rodrieguez, del Toro, Levant, Wallace, Scorsese, Eastwood, Casavettes, Michell, Payne, Minkoff, Jonze, Reynolds, Lyne, and Schultz
Muy Interesante. Carry on…
I love the great Charles Stone III movie ‘Charles Stone III.’ A hagiography, sure, but still sublime.
Tim Story did a bunch of R&B videos in the late 90s/early 00s and Charles Stone directed a feature called PAID IN FULL for Miramax that sat on the shelf for a couple years before he did DRUMLINE.
lol @ Chris. I laughed a good 5 minutes.