Youth Without Youth

[Emma Raducanu]

So Francis Ford Coppola's new film is due for release and I for one am pretty excited about that because it's been some 10 years since the man last directed a film?

So this got me thinking about which film-makers, who appear to direct less frequently than most, I wished did more. Obviously it's just a wish rather than criticism but in 12 years Tod Solondz has made only four films, which I imagine is due more in part because of lack of funding. Lynne Ramsay is a fantastic director but in eight years has made just a couple of films. Both these people write their own scripts so a large amount of their time may be spent writing, I don't know. How long does it typically take to write a script?

And while I'm aware he's involved a fair bit in TV, Frank Darabont needs to direct another film for my liking.

[Abergavenny Thursdays]

I dearly wish that Stanley Kubrick'd get a move on and rectify the bad taste that still lingers after Eyes Wide Shut.  

Malick would be an obvious one I guess, while Woody Allen is the antithesis of this thread with his one-a-year production line churning out unsurprisingly mediocore half-fims.  He's the best argument I can think of for encouraging directors to take as long as they need to draft through their films and crystalise their vision rather than fall prey to industry impatience and/or their Hollywood billboard-sized egos.

[Funcrusher]

I think there's a happy medium between too many and two few projects. In the case of Coppola I think he just spends too much time dicking around around and has lost any momentum he had creatively, so I've not got great expectations for his new film. Often filmakers who aren't that commercial spend a long time trying to get funding, or have projects that don't get off the ground. I like Lynn Ramsey a lot as well, and notice that there's nothing listed on IMDB as upcoming from her - I think she was due to direct 'The Lovely Bones' at one point, but obviously the powers that be preferred the idea of Peter Jackson doing it. The guys who directured 'Suture' had a huge gap, 1993-2001, before they managed to get another film made, with some projects collapsing along the way I think.

Woody could do with taking a break (Match Point is probably one of the worst films I've ever seen), although he's probably a lost cause. Scorcese has just been moving straight from one naked attempt at an Oscar winner to another - guess it finally worked.

[Ciarán2]

I dearly wish that Stanley Kubrick'd get a move on and rectify the bad taste that still lingers after Eyes Wide Shut.

He died in 1999, in case you didn't know. :-/

[Abergavenny Thursdays]

I dearly wish that Stanley Kubrick'd get a move on and rectify the bad taste that still lingers after Eyes Wide Shut.

He died in 1999, in case you didn't know. :-/

Damn.  Well, Robert Atlman in that case.  Where's your much vaunted prolificism now Bobby, eh, eh??

[Backstage With Slowdive]

It's a shame he never did that film version of The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch.

[Suttonpubcrawl]

I dearly wish that Stanley Kubrick'd get a move on and rectify the bad taste that still lingers after Eyes Wide Shut.

He died in 1999, in case you didn't know. :-/

Damn.  Well, Robert Atlman in that case.  Where's your much vaunted prolificism now Bobby, eh, eh??

Wait, you really didn't know that he was dead? You weren't just joking?

[Small Man Big Horse]

I think the Coens are a perfect example of film-makers who went from making absolute gems of films over a varied period of time to suddenly making too many too quickly and them turning out to be rather disappointing lacklustre affairs. I hope the recent break they've had has refreshed them, and that their new film coming out soon is a return to form.

Lynch seems to have always taken his time with films, but then of late he's been involved in a lot of other projects, including the transcedental meditation thing he's in too, which ties in with the foundation he's set up. I find it all a little questionable to be honest, but well, as long he manages to turn out the odd film every few years I don't mind too much. I know he's now turned his back on conventional film-making, but I would love to see him tackle something akin to Twin Peaks or The Straight Story from time to time, I love it when he gets his teeth in to small town Americana.

I've liked some of Woody's more recent efforts - Sweet and Lowdown especially - but like pretty much everyone else I wish he'd slow down and take more time with the scripts.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

James Cameron has been away for far too long. Even though his last couple of films were balls, I'd still rather see a dumb popcorn movie by him than by Michael Bay or Paul W.S. Anderson.

[Seymour Clufley]

Damn.  Well, Robert Atlman in that case.  Where's your much vaunted prolificism now Bobby, eh, eh??

Robert Altman is dead too.

[Seymour Clufley]

Damn.  Well, Robert Atlman in that case.  Where's your much vaunted prolificism now Bobby, eh, eh??

Robert Altman is dead too.

[Abergavenny Thursdays]

What little humour your correction had has just evapourated in a mist of double-post incompetence.

[Seymour Clufley]

Gosh, you're right too! I didn't realise Bobby meant Robert. Damn my eyes!

[Seymour Clufley]

Gosh, you're right too! I didn't realise Bobby meant Robert. Damn my eyes!

[Alberon]

James Cameron has been away for far too long. Even though his last couple of films were balls, I'd still rather see a dumb popcorn movie by him than by Michael Bay or Paul W.S. Anderson.

I always liked his film, The Abyss, which I thought was underrated. Cameron has finally stopped mucking around with sunken cruise liners and tombs of messiahs and is working on a new film. He's currently working on Avatar which is apparently due for release in almost exactly two years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_%28film%29

He's still talking about doing an adaptation of Battle Angel Alita after that.