Written by Anthony Watkins
Over the years, we have witnessed many directors who found almost immediate initial commercial/critical success in directing feature films. Some of these include the best known directors such as Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg, and James Cameron. Three more recent directors that I will be addressing in this article are M. Night Shyamalan, Neil Blomkamp, and Dan Gilroy.
You remember Shyamalan’s name from his ‘90s and early 2000s hits including The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable (2000), and Signs (2002). While The Sixth Sense was not the director’s first directional effort, it was one of his very early features that had some critics touting that Shyamalan was one of the most promising directors to arise in Hollywood. It was not many years later, however, that Shyamalan’s work began to fall by the wayside, producing flops including Lady in the Water (2006), The Happening (2008), The Last Airbender (2010), and most recently the Will Smith vehicle After Earth (2013). It has been over a decade since Shyamalan has produced a commercially and critically successful film, with many critics begging to see the “old Shyamalan” that we saw in the late ‘90s.
The second recent example, Neil Blomkamp, known universally for his directional debut with the critically acclaimed sci-fi film, District 9 (2009), has since not been able to replicate his original success, as his next effort Elysium (2013) did not perform well commercially and was regarded as a significant “step down” by many critics who wanted to see a film as socially relevant and original as District 9. Blomkamp’s latest film, Chappie (2015), another sci-fi film dealing with emotions of artificial intelligence, was met with mostly negative reviews and underperformed at the box office. Some critics went as far as noting that they hope Blomkamp does not become another Shyamalan.
You remember Shyamalan’s name from his ‘90s and early 2000s hits including The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable (2000), and Signs (2002). While The Sixth Sense was not the director’s first directional effort, it was one of his very early features that had some critics touting that Shyamalan was one of the most promising directors to arise in Hollywood. It was not many years later, however, that Shyamalan’s work began to fall by the wayside, producing flops including Lady in the Water (2006), The Happening (2008), The Last Airbender (2010), and most recently the Will Smith vehicle After Earth (2013). It has been over a decade since Shyamalan has produced a commercially and critically successful film, with many critics begging to see the “old Shyamalan” that we saw in the late ‘90s.
The second recent example, Neil Blomkamp, known universally for his directional debut with the critically acclaimed sci-fi film, District 9 (2009), has since not been able to replicate his original success, as his next effort Elysium (2013) did not perform well commercially and was regarded as a significant “step down” by many critics who wanted to see a film as socially relevant and original as District 9. Blomkamp’s latest film, Chappie (2015), another sci-fi film dealing with emotions of artificial intelligence, was met with mostly negative reviews and underperformed at the box office. Some critics went as far as noting that they hope Blomkamp does not become another Shyamalan.
Blomkamp's directional debut, District 9 (2009), was praised for its originality, special effects, strong performances, and its social commentary on immigration and race in the modern world.
The third example is Dan Gilroy, who just made his directional debut last year with the noir crime drama/thriller Nightcrawler (2014). The film, with a relatively small budget of only $8.5 million, was universally praised by critics and enjoyed box office success, grossing over $10 million in its opening weekend and ending up grossing over $32 million (IMDB). The film was certainly a bold and stirring opening for the director, and we can only hope he will continue along this path.
Dan Gilroy's first directional effort, Nightcrawler (2014) was met with high praise for its stunning cinematography, sleek screenplay (written by Gilroy), strong performance from Gyllenhaal, and social commentary on the American work ethic.
All new directors want to make an initial good impression with audiences. This will help them gain a fan base and persuade viewers to see their next project—perhaps whether they are particularly interested in the subject matter or not. In a way, this is a method of pre-selling the film, as tickets will be sold and money will be earned by the studio based off the director’s previous success. However, this is a double-edged sword. By making a startling debut, viewers will undoubtedly (and naturally) expect that level of work with upcoming films. This of course puts a significant amount of pressure on the director to produce as thrilling and stimulating feature as they did in their debut. They can usually get away with something not quite up to par as a previous film, but if they churn out multiple flops, they will most likely start to lose their fan base and their reputation as a director will begin to crumble. This ends up being just one of the many challenges of being a film director.
WORKS CITED
IMDB. 2015. 09 Apr. 2015. <http://www.imdb.com>.
WORKS CITED
IMDB. 2015. 09 Apr. 2015. <http://www.imdb.com>.
