Six Unexpectedly Awesome Filmmakers
Cornel Wilde: After a career as a beefcake actor in the ’40s and ’50s, the Leave Her to Heaven star revealed himself to be a sui generis auteur with The Naked Prey —a lean, elemental, near-abstract adventure featuring him running, scantily clad, from African tribesmen. He followed with Beach Red, an experimental WWII movie.
Vincent Gallo: The onetime Calvin Klein model has dabbled in everything from painting to acting to semen- selling. But it’s his two art films— Buffalo ’66 and the almost-as-terrific The Brown Bunny— that should render his other endeavors forgivable.
Sofia Coppola: Just as daddy’s directing career flatlined, in came his daughter—a walking punchline after her nepotism-tastic turn in The Godfather III —and made The Virgin Suicides, the most exciting film by a Coppola since 1979. Also: Lost in Translation is the disappointing follow-up, not Marie Antoinette.
Scott Caan: Quick! Name the acting son of an actor who’d make a great director. Did you name Jake Busey before the son of James Caan? Did you even know Scott Caan directed a film? He’s directed two, the first one, Dallas 362, a peculiar and confidently made drama about reckless youth and a pot-smoking Jeff Goldblum.
Rob Zombie: After a rocky start ( House of 1,000 Corpses), the heavy metalist earned his cult status with The Devil’s Rejects (and the first hour, at least, of his Halloween resuscitation), which combines violence that hurts without being “fun” with a constantly shifting moral allegiance. Also, he cast “Weird Al” in Halloween II. That’s what they call genius.
Bobcat Goldthwait: No, really: the indie comedy by Zed from Police Academy about a woman who once blew her dog is an insightful commentary on the impossibility of true intimacy. And his World’s Greatest Dad , starring Robin Williams, is intelligent and hilarious, too. Seriously!
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1. puppetDoug said... on Sep 14, 2009 at 02:51PM
“I would also add Ben Affleck to this list for "Gone Baby Gone", which made me want him to quit acting altogether, direct, and let his little brother Casey do all the roles he wants to be in.”