15 Directors Who Shaped My Movie Love

So there's this meme going around that Paolo tagged me with. So why not? The idea is that you list 15 directors, mainly off of the top of your head, that contributed to the way you experience and think about the movies. This is not a list of my all time favorites though half of the list would probably overlap. This is the list I come up with when I think briefly on the formative masterminds and/or the ones that have or had some sort of claim on my soul if you will. Three of them I could definitely live without at this point but I'm trying to be honest about the exercize.

Wise with Wood ~ West Side Story 

So here goes in no particular order... 


ROBERT WISE (1914-2005)
When I was a kid West Side Story and The Sound of Music were the most Epically ! Epic !!! movies to me. At the time I didn't quite grasp the auteur theory but at some point I became aware that this guy had made both so therefore "He must be the best director of all time!" Later I discovered that he wasn't but I still think he's a stronger talent than he gets credit for being nowadays.
first encounters: The Sound of Music and West Side Story (on television) 

ALFRED HITCHCOCK (1899-1980)
As I said in my Rope retro, he's training wheels for any young budding film buff who is curious about The Man Behind the Curtain (Hitch or otherwise).
first encounter: North By Northwest (I think I saw it here, the place I saw many old movies for the first time. My parents didn't know what a monster they were creating by taking me there regularly.)

WOODY ALLEN (1935-)
For the same reason as Hitchcock really; it's impossible to think you're watching anyone else's film. Woody was the first director I "followed", eagerly anticipating and attending each movie as soon as I could. As a result, he'll always have a place in my heart.
first encounters: Broadway Danny Rose (in theaters... my older brother's idea), The Purple Rose of Cairo (in theaters, my idea)

Wyler meeting Charlton Heston's son.

WILLIAM WYLER (1902-1981)
The auteur theory isn't everything. This man understood dramatic storytelling and didn't dumb it down but made accessible all the nuances and fine points. Plus he could wring top notch work from all kinds of actors. His resume is deservedly overstuffed-with-classics. Just last month while watching The Best Years of Our Lives I even dreamed of watching all of his movies chronologically in a row for a blog project. I bet it would be an awesome journey. 
first encounters: Ben Hur (revival house) and Wuthering Heights (VHS) 

STEVEN SPIELBERG (1946-)
Because everyone loves him and therefore he was ubiquitous when I was growing up and still is to a degree. There was no question that he was shaping Hollywood and more than one moviegoing generation. I never felt personally attached but he was always present in the movie menu.
first encounters: Raiders of the Lost Arc & E.T. (in theaters)... the latter is the only movie I can ever remember seeing with my Grandma *sniffle*

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Walk of Fame Newbies: Spacek, The Derns, Oprah

I know that a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has to be (literally) bought. But I still find the whole thing weird, exciting and confusing. People get one when they're barely established, others when they're legends, some never. Oprah Winfrey is getting her star for television next year. Yes, the Oprah. She's been ruling the small screen for so long that she's as synonymous with it as Philo T Farnsworth. And it's only happening now?

Nevertheless, I love those photos of stars holding their stars. It's so meta. Plus, it's fun to see who comes out in support of them.

Anyway, the 2011 crop was announced. Two music acts that I'd love to see biopics on despite my aversion to the genre made the list: The Go-Gos (I've discussed that one already) and Oscar winner Melissa Etheridge.

Here's the complete "movie" list for 2011: Penélope Cruz (good time in her career for this. Nice) Bruce Dern & Laura Dern & Diane Ladd (listed separatedly but ♪ ♫ its a family affair... it's a family affair ♪), Ed Harris (maybe he'll be an Oscar winner for The Long Walk Home by the time that ceremony is held?), The Muppets (who already have a star for television), Reese Witherspoon, Kenny Ortega (wait, who?), Gwyneth Paltrow and three major players you'd have thought would have had them since the 70s or early 80s: director Ridley Scott, Carrie herself Sissy Spacek and the enduring Donald Sutherland.

Whose star will you end up visiting?
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Birthday Suits, Well Directed

Lights. Cameras. Birthday Action (for this, the 30th of November). Only one month left to go and it's 2010. How crazy is that?

Ridley, Terrence (in the 70s) and Marc

1835 Mark Twain's books have been adapted into movies ever since the movies began. Most notably The Prince and the Pauper and any tale of Huck Finn or Tom Sawyer
1920 Virginia Mayo 40s and 50s star, frequent Danny Kaye foil
1926 Richard Crenna, character actor
1927 Robert Guillaume, "Benson"
1929 Dick Clark, seemingly immortal creature who may finally be destroyed by the rise of his spiritual offspring Ryan Seacrest. It's all very Cronos vs. Zeus, only without the thunderbolts
1937 Ridley Scott, manly director whose movies are usually way better when they're shot through with a strong female presence. Consider the three classics: Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Alien. The rest of the filmography surely has its moments but that's the trinity right there.
1943 Terence Malick, mysterious director, nature lover. He's only directed 4 features but what a quartet: Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, The New World. His fifth classic (I'm guessing) Tree of Life will arrive next year.
1950 Margaret Whitton potent 80s supporting actress (Secret of My Succe$s, Ironweed) who made her last movie Trial By Jury way back in 1994. I guess Hollywood didn't meet her needs. They certainly didn't capitalize well on her gifts.
1950 Chris Claremont wrote the X-Men, owned my childhood
1951 Bo Welch frequent Art Direction Oscar nominee. The filmography includes The Color Purple, Edward Scissorhands, Men in Black, Batman Returns, The Birdcage and The Little Princess
1952 Mandy Patinkin, singer, Inigo Montaya, broadway star, actor, continually wasted on TV series. I loved Yentl (1983) as a kid but I still can't quite forgive Babs for putting Mandy in a film musical (his only) and not letting him sing. That ain't right. I mean Warren Beatty even let him sing (with Madonna) in Dick Tracy and that wasn't even a musical



1952 Henry Selick director, stop motion miracle worker (Coraline, James and the Giant Peach, The Nightmare Before Christmas. See previous post)
1955 Billy Idol rocks, sneers, acts once in a blue moon (The Doors)
1956 Stephen Dillane actor of stage, screen, tv. Has played husband to two of TFE's favorite actresses: Kidman in The Hours and Moore in Savage Grace
1959 Cherie Currie, about to be portrayed by Dakota Fanning in The Runaways (see previous posts)
1969 Marc Forster hot bald director (Quantum of Solace, Finding Neverland, Monster's Ball)
1969 David Lindsey-Abaire playwright and screenwriter (Rabbit Hole)
1969 Amy Ryan, Oscar nominated actress (Gone Baby Gone)
1973 Nimród Antal the unusual named Hungarian American director (Kontroll) is currently directing Adrien Brody and Topher Grace in a reboot of the Predator franchise imaginatively titled Predators (2010)
1982 Clémence Poésy, French actress, known to millions as "Fleur Delacour"
1985 Aoi Miyazaki, Japanese actress

Finally today is the 31st birthday of diminutive screen god Gael García Bernal, one of the best and most important actors working. My wish for his next decade onscreen is that he reunite with either Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mama Tambien) or Pedro Almodóvar (Bad Education) but preferrably both. Maybe even a reteam with Alejandro González Iñárritu so long as the director hands him an Amores Perros quality role rather than the thankless one he got in Babel.

The cinema doesn't always do right by its most talented partisans but thankfully GGB is in demand. Next up is a romantic drama with Amanda Seyfried called Letters to Juliet. After that he's starring in the period drama También La Lluvia for actress turned director Icíar Bollaín followed by (gulp) a romantic comedy with Kate Hudson called Earthbound. Finally, that Oscar nomination that he's deserved but that's proved elusive could arrive. He has another starring role in a biopic (he's done that before with Motorcycle Diaries) called Gardel and then there's (maybe) Martin Scorsese's Silence, a historical drama about Jesuit priests. The latter, where he'd supposedly partner with the other recent screen "Che", Benicio Del Toro, sounds promising. Wouldn't it be nice to see Scorsese try his hand at directing a young and very talented actor whose name isn't Leonardo DiCaprio for a change?
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Red Carpet: Underworked, Overworked, Erratically Co-Worked

Did you miss red carpet lineup? Too bad, it's back anyway! Here's a random sampling of celebrities who've been working the red this past week. As always, it's chosen based on who I wanna talk about.


I didn't used to think much of Eva Green, who was looking smashing in movie star red in London for the premiere of her new film Cracks, but two things changed my mind. First, her chemistry with Daniel Craig in Casino Royale and two, the shot of her flying through the air in The Golden Compass. I'm sad we'll never see more of witchy Serafina Pekkala. The further we get away from that movie the more I'm bummed that it didn't quite work. The book was so terrific but studios and filmmakers should never take on source material that's bolder than they are (this is one of the many reasons that Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy worked so spectacularly. He's huge like the material). It's do or die when you've got a classic book in your hands.

I know that Maggie Gyllenhaal is a mom now but it isn't enough to see paparazzi shots of her hanging out in the West Village. The silver screen needs her. Get back to work, lady! Ridley Scott (pictured attending his daughter's movie premiere) doesn't have Maggie's current problem. He's always working. The IMDB suggests that he has 23 projects brewing as either director, producer or both. I'd hate to be his personal assistant. I'm hoping that one of those 23 movies is as good as Blade Runner or Thelma or Louise but that's like asking for the moon so, let's try again... I'm hoping that one of these 23 projects is as good as Black Hawk Down. There! Much more likely.

Finally, I sandwiched Amanda Seyfried between two respected Oscar darlings (Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore) up top. That was partially because I want her career to turn out like theirs (she's so fine on Big Love) and partially because she's recently co-starred with both of them. But I'm beginning to wonder if Amanda needs a neckbrace especially engineered for young thespians. I should explain. As an actor Amanda is yanked from Meryl Streep (Mamma Mia) to Megan Fox (Jennifer's Body) to Julianne Moore (Chloe) to Channing Tatum (Dear John)??? Think of the acting whiplash.
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Freshwater Link

/Film more on Ridley Scott's Robin Hood's basic angle and the casting. A fourth Oscar winner has been added... is he actually going for Oscars, 2010 rather than a mere adventure romp?
Getty Images La Lohan is back to her natural red. Okay an approximation of it but still... good sign? NO. I shan't get my hopes up. Don't do that to yourself, Nathaniel!
Twitch Elisabeth Shue to star in Piranhas 3D. Sigh. I love my Shue but does NO studio or casting director or director or producer or anyone anywhere besides her fans (and it's weird how many she still seems to have) remember what she was able to do in Leaving Las Vegas? We can't get any real roles for her
Crazy Days Robyn Gibson finally dumping Mad Mel -- entitled to half a billion?
MNPP congratulates SMG on the bun in her oven and offers her sound advice, too?
Empire a Venom movie in development? Marvel has gone mad. Maybe they should slow down a wee bit or focus on, I don't know, 2 or 3 of them?
Topless Robot takes (humorous) issue with the new Star Trek "not your father's Star Trek" commercial

Robin & Marian Redux

As you may have heard the 39th film version of Robin Hood is in progress. I might be exaggerating on the number but not by much, the point being that there's another one coming about that man who robs from the rich to give to the poor [I can hear the wingnut editorials now "ack! redistribution of wealth! ack!!!" still unable to see that rich people are also into the redistribution of wealth -- no bid contracts, unfair wages, outsourcing -- so long as it's redistributed to them]. Ridley Scott is directing this version, formerly called Nottingham, which means that Russell Crowe is the star. This will mark their 5th movie together. Maybe they're trying to catch up to Tim Burton & Johnny Depp who are hitting lucky #7 with Alice in Wonderland which will be out in 2010, same year as this Robin Hood.

Every generation gets at least one version of the story of
the honorable thief and his fair maiden

It's also no surprise that Cate Blanchett has signed to co-star as Maid Marian -- offers hit her inbox at the rate spam hits yours. That said she seems like a decent choice. But Russell Crowe? Here's how Brian Grazer explains the casting decisions

They are both highly accomplished dramatic actors who are taken seriously playing rich characters in period pieces, but each has the ability to show you fun.

I'll give you the first part but "both" on the second? Blanchett can definitely have fun onscreen (see The Talented Mr Ripley, Indiana Jones, The Aviator, Bandits) even if it's it's usually only a means at getting at the drama but Crowe !? "Fun" is not the word that comes to mind. Ah well, it's a winning ticket at any rate. It's not like they'll even have to try to be able to wipe the floor with Hollywood's last big Robin Hood movie. Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland and their 1938 movie's 4 Oscar nominations won't be quite so easy to take down.

I guess this means that Ridley Scott is no longer making Monopoly the Movie which means we don't get to see who Crowe would have played in that. I had my money on The Banker with a nervous glance sideways at the Battleship.

Breakfast With ... Thelma & Louise

Just coffee and girl talk.
(I hope it's decaf. Thelma is already bouncing off the walls)

Thelma: Hiiii-iiiii
Louise: What happened to your hair?
Thelma: Nothing. It got messed up.


Louise: Thelma. What's wrong with you?
Thelma: Nothing. Why. Do I seem different?
Louise: Well... now that you mention it, yeah, you -- you seem like you're crazy or you're on drugs.


Thelma: Well, I'm not on drugs
.>>>>>>... But I might be CRAAZZZZZY!

I don't think I've ever properly expressed how much I love Thelma & Louise but let me just say that this movie makes me as happy as Brad Pitt's hitchhiking cowboy made Geena Davis's Thelma!


(In other words: When I saw this movie in 1991 it was like I "finally got laid properly")
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Linkwood Forest

Coming Soon casting rumors abound for Ridley Scott's Robin Hood
Fin de Cinema is it a lie when they say there aren't any good roles for women?
Modern Tonic has a cruise contest (win a cabin for two) from Barcelona to London for Mamma Mia!
Arbogast on Fu Manchu
NY Post Jane Fonda on her love life
Deadline Hollywood Nailed, David O. Russell's first feature since I Y Huckabees, is shut down... AGAIN. If you need me I'll be over here crying. Love his movies I do.
StinkyLulu profiles a performance I dearly love: Olivia DeHavilland in Gone With the Wind
Bright Lights After Dark on M Night Shyamalan @ 'the troph of ego'
Hollywood Elsewhere revives an old argument about Eyes Wide Shut. I very much agree.

Question: Entries to the Batman (1966) Blu Ray giveaway (entries due tomorrow) have been uncharacteristically sparse. No blu-ray player? If so I sympathize. Can't give up my DVDs just yet.

One Last First Thing: Not that I care. I had a miserable time participating last year but be very afraid: Bizarro Days (blog-a-thon) are upon us again.


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Queen LaLinkah

Defamer Pretend to look surprised. Is Queen Latifah really about to come out?
"Of Interest" Draco Malfoy and Nicole Kidman
The Hot Blog Poland hates to be a dick -- but y'ar Blanche, y'ar. Why else would you imply that you can recommend a certain movie only to girls and "some boys" and then say it's not all that. The implications... oy
Dennis Cozzalio's "faces I love" column. Interesting look at actors
Empire Ridley Scott to take on the Gucci empire? What a glitzy art directed biopic that could be
NewNowNext Katharine Heigl thinks Knocked Up is "a little sexist" ... maybe I should reconsider a little Katharine Heigl

Yahoo has the first five minutes of The Golden Compass online. The "first (however many) minutes" movement in web sneaks is a good one I think, but it's not for every film. I'm not sure this will help this particular movie, since there's lots of exposition you have to get through early on. I remember when Dune came out in the 80s (god I'm old. sigh) and when I arrived at the theater (I had never read the book) they actually passed out a glossary sheet of terms you should know from the books. I was worried immediately... "I have to study before it starts?!?" The Golden Compass, I fear, might be impenetrable to newbies.

American Gangster Cop

Late to the party here, but I thought I'd throw this out there: I would've liked American Gangster better had it been titled American Cop.

"I thought this was Denzel's movie! Where the hell did he go?"

Much to my surprise Denzel Washington (an actor I love) bored me as Frank Lucas, drug kingpin extraordinaire, while Russell Crowe kept me in the moment, his performance bristling with drive and conflict. This is a problem since the movie probably shouldn't be about Crowe's cop. Supporting characters like Josh Brolin's crooked Detective Trupo and Ruby Dee's Lucas matriarch are scene stealers but they don't have much competition. In scene after scene Denzel stares vacantly from his handsome movie star face telling me nothing about the character that isn't evident from scene one. It's a letdown after his electric Training Day performance and his lively star turn in last year's Inside Man. The material does insist that this performance be more muted (Frank doesn't like showing off) but did he have to remain so vaguely drawn as a character? You can be restrained and still reveal oodles. The examples are numerous... [name your favorite quiet unhistrionic but potent performance in the comments]

American Gangster is solidly made and easy to watch. But it lacks specificity and spark and a strong point of view. Ridley Scott is always a competent 'man behind the curtain' but he seems as personality-free as Denzel this time. When I exited I noticed that Blade Runner was playing in the very next theater. Now there's the auteur at work.

It's disappointing for a drama lover like me to realize that this is the only adult-oriented dramatic film that's catching on this year. It's #24 overall box office wise for 2007, the only true drama that's in the top 50 of the year (unless you want to count 3:10 to Yuma as a drama rather than as an action or a western --the rest of the year's 50 best performers are comedies, action flicks, thrillers and genre spectacles).

Hovering just outside of the top 50 are the dramas that are seen as mild successes or disappointments (depending on budget): The Brave One, Freedom Writers, Michael Clayton and Zodiac. Why weren't there sell out crowds for Zodiac? That's a superior procedural to Gangster... though it's less traditional in that audience friendly protagonist/antagonist way (never mind I just answered my own question), Michael Clayton has ardent fans but it's not truly "popular". Frustrating. American Gangster could learn a lot from that film. It's willing to dig deep into its conflicted character studies.

This is all a long way of saying that I will be disappointed if Oscar chooses a crime procedural for Best Picture and the title is American Gangster rather than Zodiac. I will be disappointed if Oscar chooses a star driven drama for Best Picture and it's Gangster, not Clayton. I gotta go. So much preparing for disappointment to do and so little time to do it in.

But Who Will Play "The Boot"?

Weirdest movie news since Ron Howard thought he was the ideal candidate to remake Caché: Ridley Scott to make a "Monopoly" movie. My thoughts over @ Zoom In

Ridley Scott To Become George Lucas

Director Ridley Scott and I have had our differences in the past (his filmography is more than a little uneven) but he has directed a few truly extraordinary films. My three favorites from his filmography are Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982) and Thelma & Louise (1991).

Recently I read news of reshoots to Blade Runner (1982) and my whole body went shivery. Not in the good way. The reshoots in question involve changes to a fairly early scene wherein the title character (Harrison Ford) kills a runaway replicant named Zhora (Joanna Cassidy). But if there's one scene being reshot whose to say there aren't more? Apparently these reshoots are for another "director's cut" DVD release of the classic. If you're scratching your head thinking you've stumbled on a post written before The Film Experience even existed, that's understandable. Blade Runner has already received directors cut treatment. That version was much preferrable to the original primarily because it strengthened the ending and removed narration that the studio had forced on the picture in 1982 when they were worried that audiences would find it hard to follow (Yeah, this problem is a classic: it never goes away). Those revisions netted the influential sci-fi film an awesome theatrical rerelease in the 90s. But there is no reason to reshoot and change the film at this point in time. It is now twenty-five years old and it's still more exciting to watch and more impressive looking than many sci-fi blockbusters that are just hitting their opening weekends.

We've already been through this 'can't-let-go' fever once recently with George Lucas. Obsessive tinkering tends to deflate original intent. Han Solo shot first and all that... I'm thrilled for 61 year-old Joanna Cassidy that she can still fit into her amazing and barely existent Zhora costumes but save that admirable triumph of fitness for sci-fi convention appearances, please. Classics are classics. Why can't filmmakers leave their work alone? You don't see painters adding strokes to a masterpiece a quarter of a century after the painting hit the galleries.