Comments on: 12 Great & Not-So-Great Debuts From Screenwriters-Turned-Directors

By: DG

DG — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

No mention of Diablo Cody or am I missing it? Also Harmony Korine, he's one of the craziest examples of screenwriter turned director, getting his first writing job by basically meeting a pervert in the park when he was 19. Also most of all I'm just happy that you can still make the jump from screenwriter to director in this day and age, as I believe all the best directors are writers too or have written

By: Terrence Aybar

Terrence Aybar — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

Way of the Gun is pretty goddamn awesome but even I have to admit that the plot gets kinda convoluted as it moves along. It's one of those movies that you have to give your absolute undivided attention to while watching and even then it's really easy to miss an important detail or nuance.

By: Leonardo

Leonardo — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

I thought that "The Way of the Gun" was great, the last third makes it better again.

By: wes

wes — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

I was disappointed with Synecdoche.

By: Dale

Dale — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

Don't overlook James L. Brook's "Terms of Endearment" which won Oscars for Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor and Actress. Not a shabby directorial debut.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

Avengers sucked.

By: eduardo

eduardo — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

Throw me on the Way of the Gun-bandwagon. That movie's pretty damn good, and way more distinctive than Jack Reacher, which I still kinda liked.

By: Rob

Rob — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

Alex Kurtzman's People Like Us?

By: THOR

THOR — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

No mention of the Academy Award-nominated Steven Knight's (Dirty Pretty Things, Amazing Grace, Eastern Promises) directorial debut that's one later this month?!

By: Theoc

Theoc — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

Excellent list, some great stuff in there.

By: JG

JG — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

Steven Gaghan won an Academy Award for TRAFFIC (2000) and followed that up with ABANDON starring Katie Holmes, which I don't know if anyone saw, much less liked. Seems to have righted ship with follow-up SYRIANA.

By: Stephen B

Stephen B — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

Worst "successful screenwriter turned director" movie: Kevin Williamson's Teaching Mrs. Tingle. This was before everyone realized Williamson was more or less a hack (or at least a one trick pony) and expectations were actually pretty high. It's awful. It plays like a bad ABC Family movie of the week.

By: cirkusfolk

cirkusfolk — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

Paul Schrader???

By: Red Stevens

Red Stevens — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

What about Preston Sturges? I'm only saying this because didn't he start the trend of screenwriters-turned-directors?

By: jean vigo

jean vigo — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

While many of these examples reveal a lot of folks who come from a clear "non-directing" or even "non-filmmaking" (Frank Miller) background, there tends to be a running misconception in this "biz" about the screenwriter/director thing. It has to do with "intent" and actual background.

Many of the folks on this list actually INTENDED to direct, made shorts, went to film programs and studied the craft, but "broke in" as screenwriters. Frank Darabont, on this list, is a good example of that; he made several shorts in his early 20s before going into screenwriting, then BACK to being a writer-director, NOT writer "turned" director.

Funny, how the business sees a lot of this like a team sport (e.g. "you're a center fielder; you can't play 1st base.") Not like that. Of course, many intend to become writers and then become directors, but not strictly the case. (See: Paul Haggis.)

By: John Gilvray

John Gilvray — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

If one wants to do a proper story on this subject, please go to the writer-directors you are writing about, and maybe manage to ask them the actual story about what happened, in script, in production, in post, to the pictures you are discussing. Then you would have something for people to read and discuss, probably blisteringly improved and informed by the subjects of the article. I should certainly like to see Christopher McQuarrie and William Monahan and Steve Zallian, among others, respond to the assertions in this piece about writer-directors. I suspect that most of them would have a word to say. This article does not go out for comment to the people it is talking about. Whether this is out of innocence, ignorance, or intentional deficit of elbow grease is for the writer to consider, because surely there was no trained editor involved.

By: Jeff Smith

Jeff Smith — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

The Fabulous Baker Boys, Steve Kloves's directorial debut should be up there with the good ones.

By: Reini Urban

Reini Urban — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

Come on, you really did miss two of the best and alive writer-turned directors out there!
How could you miss Quentin Tarantino, who was quite successful in both but arguably is a better screenwriter than director.
And even better, the famous novelist Lee Chang-dong who decided to go into directing (and later on into politics) with quite a breakthrough success also, similar to his books. He never did screenwriting for others.

By: ronnie

ronnie — Fri, 13 May 2016 09:45:15 +0000

frank miller's THE SPIRIT was definetely the kind of movie a watched and loved, but knew no one else would get. i thought jackson was great. i found the story totally understandable, and cool: jackson wants the blood of hercules to be immortal, eva mendes wants the golden fleece. you know, im gay, but i thought the t and a was quality.

im afraid its the kind of film that people dont like because they overthought it. sin city gave people the wrong expectations for where this film would go.