I think it was William Goldman who said that he’s learned, once the script is written and everyone is hired, before even a single frame of film is shot, you’ve determined about 80% of the quality of the final product.
Totally paraphrased, but you get the idea.
Directors, oh yeah. I’ll see anything by Ernst Lubitsch, for example. I didn’t get around to Trouble in Paradise until a few years ago, and I can’t believe I’d denied myself the pleasure for so long. Luis Bunuel, Billy Wilder, James Whale, Kenneth Anger, Powell & Pressburger are all on my “Damn, yeah” list.
I used to work with a lot of authors who also wrote for the moom pitchers, so I’m sensitive to screenwriters too. Evan Hunter was always touchy about references to “Hitchcock’s The Birds.”. “Do they think THAT fat little bastard actually WROTE it?”
It’s the same as albums or books to me:
There is no author whose every book I will read.
There is no band whose every album I will listen to.
There is no actor whose every movie I will watch.
And there is no director, either.
I actually don’t get people who do that, at all. No one is perfect. Not even the most amazing band hits it out of the park every time.
There are a few directors I like and a few I can’t abide, but no one I adore.
I do pay attention to directors, though it’s mostly in the sense of knowing whom to avoid. The fact that Abrams was directing The Force Awakens, for instance, was the primary reason I wasn’t hyped about that movie before its release (when I eventually saw it, I was pleasantly surprised). I think Joss Whedon and Guillermo del Toro are probably the only current directors that would actually increase my desire to see a movie.
I would care about writers, if it were ever actually known who had written a Hollywood movie. But it’s my understanding that they go through so many levels of re-writing and script-doctoring and directorial re-jiggering that the credited screenwriter bears little or no resemblance to who actually did most of the writing.
As an average, non-film person, who goes to movies once in awhile, I can say I don’t pay attention to directors, writers, and–most of the time–actors. Other than Speilberg and Woody Allen, I wouldn’t know who directed any of the movies I’ve seen. (Wait, i think Ron Howard directed Apollo 13)
Director yes, but not particularly the screenwriter. If the film is by Steven Spielberg, Joss Whedon, Guilermo del Toro, Ron Howard, Alfred Hitchcock (I have cathcing up to do)… I’ll see it even if occasionally, it’s a miss. If it’s by Michael Bay, I won’t likely watch more than a few minutes of it on streaming to confirm that it’s terrible. I assume that good directors pick good scripts to direct. I can’t assume that good screenplays will be picked up by competent producers or directors.
JJ Abrams, Joss Whedon = will be completely satisfied
Peter Jackson, Michael Bay = another ruined genre/storyline
I think it only matters to remember them when they are 1) prodigious and 2) excessively good or bad.
M Nights Devil was excellent. Give it a chance.
Any time I see Akiva Goldsman credited as a screenwriter tends to be a red flag for me.
I’ve considered tracking screenwriters, but on the few occasions I’ve checked a movie I liked, the screenwriter’s credits were mostly misses or that was their only film ever.
I used to track directors, but now I mostly don’t pay attention to films, I just watch TV series. And there, I might start watching a show because the showrunner/creator of a different show started it, but that hasn’t been a particularly successful strategy to-date.
Screenwriters yes, directors not as much.
I honestly couldn’t tell you what makes a movie better directed than another one. Other than spearheading most of the essence of the movie, the actual “directing” portion is a bit lost on me.
Writers, on the other hand, I pay attention to because I love writing and scripts and I like to keep track over who writes things that I think are written well.
I will watch literally anything written by Aaron Sorkin and avoid most Paul Thomas Anderson and Cohen Brother scripts
Did I miss it, or has nobody mentioned Tarantino yet?
No, and that’s part of why I never get cast in anything.
This:
How come? I myself didn’t have too many issues with “Magnolia” and “Miller’s Crossing”, among a couple others of theirs.
I unfortunately saw it. Bad acting, boring story, very amateurish directing, about what I expect from him.
To be truthful I’d seen every movie M.Night made up to The Last Airbender (back then I was seeing between 70-80 films in the theater every year.) Since I’ve cut back I finally decided to treat myself right and take his movies off my go see list.
Who? Seriously.
Joss Whedon is the director of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and most notably on the big screen, The Avengers.
I’ll give almost anything Joss Whedon writes a try (I like the whedonesque turns of phrase in his dialog). Aaron Sorkin screenplays are usually worth a view. Christopher McQuarrie, likewise. I’ve enjoyed a lot of what James Cameron has written (and much of what he has directed).
I avoid Paul Greengrass’s directorial efforts (the two Bourne movies that substituted shaky camera for well rehearsed and executed fight scenes turned me off completely - for all I know they may have rehearsed for weeks and executed flawlessly, I was trying not to hurl).
Michael Mann is almost always worth watching, Ron Howard films are always serviceable if not always memorable. Ridley Scott usually delivers a decent film (full disclosure, I haven’t yet watched Prometheus which I understand is a hot mess). Tony Scott was usually watchable even if there were toxic levels of testosterone on the screen. Christopher Nolan seems to have had a solid run of decent movies. I can usually find something to like about whatever Luc Besson is involved in, although for some of that you have look pretty hard to find it.
I’ll often go to a movie without knowing the writer or director, but I’m not surprised when a familiar name pops up during the credits.
-DF
Of course, I’m surprised when people don’t. Beings fans of actors seems kinda of silly, a big actor can have multiple roles in a year, it’s silly to think all will be outstanding. But a director will only make 1 movie every couple years. A selling point, at least in my house, is “hey let’s go see movie B, it was made by the same guy who made movie A”. Don’t know much about writers, but directors…hell yes. Are you a fan of the painter, or the paint??
Sometimes yes, but I wish I was more curious about it- so I could have eloquent conversations with people 