Mondo Bizarro's Top 12 Out-of-Character Films For Famous Directors!
The things people do to avoid being typecast! As part of their careers, many Directors have made movies that just seem out of character. These movies are not necessarily bad, nor they are necessarily good. A lot of them are just weird. More importantly, these are simply not the kind of films that you expect to see from these men and women. You'll see Carrie rip-offs, superhero comedies and a movie about Tibet! You may just look at these films in a different light, folks.
12. The Sicilian: At least you didn't waste a million feet of film on this! After the success of Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino decided to make the most self-indulgent film ever (pre-Ishtar)- Heaven's Gate. With millions gone and confidence in him shot, the guy kept working in random films, hoping to regain the studio system's trust. One of those films is The Sicilian, a film based on another book related to the Godfather series, and it bombed. Yes, even when handed a Godfather-style book license, Michael still made a bomb. Of course, when you cast Christopher Lambert and John Toturro as Sicilian brothers, what do you expect?
11. Wolf: Bark at the satire! 1994's Wolf is a pretty well-respected movie, but how many people actually remember who Directed it? It was none other than Mike Nichols, the man behind such films as The Graduate and Working Girl. Do you put him on your short-list of werewolf film Directors? No, me neither!
10. The Fury: Wait- where's the twist? After the success of Carrie, many other films followed suit and tried to copy it. One of those films was The Fury, a 1976 film by Brian De Palma. Yes, that Brian De Palma. Of course, the crazy part is that De Palma actually Directed Carrie too! Next you're going to tell me that the Director of Leprechaun also made Rumplestiltskin. Oh wait- he did!
9. Zebraman: I kept waiting for all of the blood and gore. Takashi Miike is a name associated with disgusting, violent and upsetting movies. After all, he did make Ichi the Killer, Audition and Visitor Q. However, he has also made some more standard fare that had their creepy moments (i.e. The Great Yokai War, Full Metal Yakuza). However, he did manage to make one gore-free film about a superhero who fights crime. It's still weird, but it is blood-free...and has a sequel.
8. Magic: It's a kind of weirdness. Known more for his acting roles by people of my age, Sir Richard Attenborough is a very accomplished Director. Among his filmography, you can see Young Winston (Churchill), Ghandi and...a film with a killer dummy. Yeah, he Directed Magic, a film that people suddenly saw after Silence of the Lambs became a hit. Okay then.
7. What Lies Beneath: Who framed you, Robert? Notable for either the Back to the Future series or his creepily-realistic animated films of the last decade, Robert Zemekis is a big name Director. That's kind of why I'm surprised to see him Direct the film What Lies Beneath- a straight-forward thriller. You couldn't work in aliens or a cartoon character.
6. Battle Beyond the Sun/Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women: It's a double-dose of re-dubbing! As part of Corman's attempt to make a quick buck, a pair of Russian Sci-Fi films were re-dubbed and had footage added for an American release. Corman utilized two of his proteges- Peter Bogdonavich and Francis Ford Coppola- to do so. Yeah, I bet they keep these two movies off of their resumes. It's okay- I own the latter film on DVD.
5. Deal of the Century: Can you at least kill a demon here? Famous for such films as The Exorcist and Bug, William Friedkin is known for creepy films. So, it should come as a big surprise that he Directed a 1983 comedy starring Chevy Chase and Gregory Hines. The less said, the better.
4. American Graffiti: The force is with this one. While he's not the most prolific Director, George Lucas is obviously one of the richest. He officially has six films on his Directorial resume and only one of them is not a Sci-Fi film- American Graffiti. While it's not a bad film, it certainly stands out on his lopsided resume.
3. Seizure: You've got to start somewhere. With a resume full of serious, political films on his resume, Oliver Stone is not the kind of guy you would think of to Direct a mind-bending film. However, his 1973 debut film is just that. The plot involves a writer whose own creations show up at his door one day. Yeah, drugs were very popular in the '70s.
2. Kundun: You're way outside of New York! Martin Scorcesi's film career is built almost entirely around one of the world's most famous cities. So, it should come as a big surprise to see the he Directed a film about the 14th Dali Llama. More power to you, buddy, but could you warn us next time you're going to travel thousands of miles cinematically?
1. Music of the Heart: This is really scary! The plot- a woman decides to use her musical knowledge to teach the violin to inner city children. The star- Merryl Streep. The Director- Wes Craven. Wait- what?!? It's true, readers. In fact, the only reason that Craven Directed Scream 3 was under the condition that he was allowed to Direct a more personal project- this film. That's...that's just odd.
For more film talk, go to my blog. It wire-tapped Mickey Rooney...but nobody called him.
Next up, I focus on a man and his knack for getting cast in shitty sequels. You're up, Lance! Stay tuned...
Comments
Seizure doesn't seem too out of character for Oliver Stone considering that he directed Natural Born Killers, a very trippy film.
These are all really interesting, but nothing Stone or Scorcesi does would surprise me given they are both lovers of movies. The Craven one was a bit of a shock. I still find Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil a little bit of an odd entry in Clint Eastwood's list, but that one is not too extreme.
Whoa. Reading the list, I have to say, the item at #1 really deserves to be there...
I thought for sure the Scorsese entry was going to be the Edith Wharton romance Age Of Innocence (which is great, btw), but yeah, now that I think about it, that one's set in New York too, just a decade or two after and a dozen or so blocks uptown from Gangs Of New York. Well, what about that huge flop *musical* he did with Liza Minnelli? That's a premise that's way out of Scorsese's comfort zone, what was it called again...? ....Oh, yeah. Never mind. Wait!, Casino wasn't set in New York, it was way out in Las Vegas, ...and it was pretty much Goodfellas Go West. I guess Kundun it is.
...or The Aviator.
These are always great lists.
I don't know how you find these things. The only one I could maybe think of was The Quick and the Dead (director of Evil Dead doing a western?).
Late feedback time!
1. I figured that you all would be thrown for a loop by the Craven choice. It sure got me too!
2. I do see your point about 'Seizure' to a certain extent, but it still feels like a cheap, horror film- which is something I don't associate with Stone.
3. Some of these guys do a lot of film types, but there's usually one that you can point to. It's only people like Danny Boyle who make things hard.
4. 'The Quick and the Dead' is a good choice too, actually. It's an easy #13 or a replacement for one of the lower-ranking ones.
To answer the overall question I've gotten a lot, all you have to do to make a list like this is to think up a silly idea, check to make sure that you can find enough fodder for it & use Wikipedia to buffer it. Wikipedia is your friend. :-)
Thanks for reading & I hope you enjoy my 'tribute' to Lance Henriksen's career in sequels.
Yeah, that last one threw me for a loop. Wes Craven directing the almost after-school special, Music of the Heart with N'Sync singing the title theme. Who knew!?