Six Film Directors Who Should Act a Lot More Often

SCREEN

By Matt Prigge

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Oct. 17, 2007

Michael Clayton

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Wes Anderson: Rushmore et al. are driven not only by their delicate, borderline-OCD frames, but by the expert comedic timing of the ever-growing Anderson ensemble. Anderson might think of adding himself to it one day. In his brilliant self-parodic ad for American Express, Anderson plays the pompous film director type to the hilt, absolutely killing lines like, "Cut! Not enough smoke, and the snow was too loud."

Ron Howard: Howard made narration cool again on Arrested Development--at the same time he was directing The Da Vinci Code. Priorities, please!

Mike Nichols: Like Howard, Nichols (The Graduate, Closer) began his career as a performer, as one-half of Nichols & (Elaine) May. Ten years ago, to sadly little notice, he made a too-brief comeback in the screen version of Wallace Shawn's play The Designated Mourner.

Sydney Pollack: Pollack actually does act a good deal, holding his own in Husbands and Wives, Eyes Wide Shut, Michael Clayton and even his own Tootsie. But he should do it even more--and not only because it'd keep him from directing movies.

Eric Rohmer: The French New Wavers were no strangers to acting; Fran�ois Truffaut even scored second billing in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The gabbiest of the lot, the about-to-retire Rohmer has done only a handful of cameos--most memorably as the befuddled foil to mute Jean-Pierre L�aud in Jacques Rivette's Out 1--but he's hilarious enough to wish he'd directed maybe one film cycle less.

Steven Soderbergh: Quentin Tarantino--the actor, not the director--can't seem to take a hint. Meanwhile Steven Soderbergh, who actually does have acting skills (and a hilariously narcotic monotone, as his commentary track listeners know), has acted all of once: in his bizarre 1996 indie Schizopolis. Playing multiple roles, the director at one point says to a dentist fond of cutesy one-liners: "I may vote Republican, but I'm a firm believer in gum control."