Here's a new edition of "Directors at the Box Office", which seeks to explore the directors' trajectory at the box office and analyze their hits and bombs. I already talked about a few, and as I promised, it's Guillermo del Toro's turn.
When del Toro was about eight years old, he began experimenting with his father's Super 8 camera, making short films with Planet of the Apes toys and other objects. One short focused on a "serial killer potato" with ambitions of world domination; it murdered del Toro's mother and brothers before stepping outside and being crushed by a car. Del Toro studied special effects and make-up with special-effects artist Dick Smith. He spent 10 years as a special-effects make-up designer and formed his own company, Necropia. Eventually, he would get his chance to direct films.
From a box office perspective, how reliable was he to deliver a box office hit?
That's the point of this post. To analyze his career.
Cronos (1992)
"An ancient device. A modern discovery. A terrifying tale of the eternal."
His directorial debut. The film stars Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook, Margarita Isabel and Tamara Shanath. A mysterious device designed to provide its owner with eternal life resurfaces after four hundred years, leaving a trail of destruction in its path.
The film struggled at the box office, as there wasn't a lot of support for a Mexican film back then. But del Toro made a very good impression with critics, helping him launch into cult cinema.
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Budget: $2,000,000.
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Domestic gross: $621,392.
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Worldwide gross: $621,392.
Mimic (1997)
"For thousands of years, man has been evolution's greatest creation... until now."
His second film. Based on the short story by Donald A. Wollheim, it stars Mira Sorvino, Jeremy Northam, Josh Brolin, Charles S. Dutton, Giancarlo Giannini and F. Murray Abraham. Three years ago, entomologist Dr. Susan Tyler genetically created an insect to kill cockroaches carrying a virulent disease. Now, the insects are out to destroy their only predator, mankind.
While del Toro was excited over working on his first American project, he had a very rough time dealing with Miramax. When Harvey Weinstein saw early footage, there were fights between him and del Toro regarding the tone, with Weinstein claiming the film was not scary enough. It has been reported that one day Weinstein was so infuriated with del Toro that he stormed onto the Toronto set and attempted to instruct del Toro on "how to direct a movie". Weinstein would eventually try to get del Toro fired. Following an intervention from lead actress Mira Sorvino, Weinstein backed down, and principal photography would be completed with del Toro as director in early 1997. However, Weinstein still insisted on having control over the final cut. Producer B.J. Rack later compared making the film to "being a prisoner of a war camp", as del Toro was not given final cut privilege.
While the film had the backing of a big American studio, the film failed to recoup its $30 million budget. The film also received mixed reviews, who noted problems with the story and pacing. Del Toro has expressed his disappointment with the film, calling it "a horrible, horrible, horrible experience."
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Budget: $30,000,000.
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Domestic gross: $25,480,490.
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Worldwide gross: $25,480,803.
The Devil's Backbone (2001)
"What's a ghost?"
His third film. It stars Marisa Paredes, Eduardo Noriega, Federico Luppi, Irene Visedo, Fernando Tielve, and Íñigo Garcés. Set in Spain, 1939, during the final year of the Spanish Civil War, the film follows a boy who is left in an orphanage operated by Republican loyalists and haunted by the ghost of a recently-deceased boy.
Del Toro wrote the first draft before writing Cronos. This "very different" version was set in the Mexican Revolution and focused not on a child's ghost but a "Christ with three arms". According to del Toro, and as drawn in his notebooks, there were many iterations of the story, some of which included antagonists who were a "doddering ... old man with a needle," a "desiccated" ghost with black eyes as a caretaker (instead of the living Jacinto who terrorizes the orphans), and "beings who are red from head to foot."
The film received highly positive reviews, who noted as his best film yet. While the film wasn't exactly a megahit, it made a very good amount of money in Mexico.
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Budget: $4,500,000.
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Domestic gross: $755,249.
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Worldwide gross: $6,582,065.
Blade II (2002)
"Faster. Sharper. Deadlier."
His fourth film. The sequel to Blade, it stars Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson, Ron Perlman, Leonor Varela, Norman Reedus and Luke Goss. The film follows the human-vampire hybrid Blade in his continuing effort to protect humans from vampires, finding himself in a fierce battle against a group of mutant vampires who seek to commit global genocide of both vampire and human races. Blade and his human allies are coerced into joining forces with a special elite group of vampires.
After the success of the original film, New Line Cinema and Marvel quickly commissioned a sequel. David S. Goyer had planned to use Morbius but Marvel wanted to keep the character for a franchise of his own. When Stephen Norrington turned down the offer to return, Goyer personally asked del Toro, as he admired his previous films. Del Toro was a big comic book fan, and decided to accept the offer.
Del Toro was tired of the romantic concept of "vampires being tortured Victorian heroes" and wanted vampires to be scary again. Del Toro chose not to alter the script too much from the ideas created by Goyer and Snipes. According to del Toro: "I wanted the movie to have a feeling of both a comic book and Japanese animation. I resurrected those sources and viewed them again. I dissected most of the dailies from the first movie; I literally grabbed about four boxes of tapes and one by one saw every single tape from beginning to end until I perfectly understood where the language of the first film came from. I studied the style of the first one and I think Norrington used a tremendous narrative style. His work is very elegant". Del Toro usually consulted with Snipes on the script, as he believed he was the best person who knew the character.
The film was highly anticipated, and it delivered by earning $155 million worldwide, del Toro's first film to pass the $100 million milestone. But critical reception was mixed; while the action was praised, others criticized the story and lack of character development.
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Budget: $54,000,000.
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Domestic gross: $82,348,319.
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Worldwide gross: $155,010,032.
Hellboy (2004)
"Here to protect."
His fifth film. Based on the Dark Horse Comics character created by Mike Mignola, it stars Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, Karel Roden, Rupert Evans, and John Hurt. In the film, a charismatic demon-turned-investigator named "Hellboy" works with the secretive Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense to suppress paranormal threats, but a resurrected sorcerer seeks to make Hellboy fulfill his destiny by triggering the apocalypse.
Despite working heavily with Mignola, del Toro struggled in finding studios interested, as they disliked the title, script and Perlman's casting. Vin Diesel was linked to the role when the film was being proposed at Universal Pictures, and Jeremy Renner was offered the "title role" but turned it down due to having no attachment to the source material. David Hyde Pierce was hired to provide the voice for Abe Sapien due to Pierce being a "bigger name" and having a "more recognizable sound". Pierce refused to take credit, perform press tours, or attend the premiere out of respect for Doug Jones.
The film received a great response, particularly for del Toro's style. But that didn't translate at the box office; it hit almost $100 million, which was far below its needed break-even point. As a consolation, however, the film was a massive hit on DVD.
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Budget: $66,000,000.
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Domestic gross: $59,623,958.
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Worldwide gross: $99,378,985.
Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
"What happens when make-believe believes it's real?"
His sixth film. It stars Ivana Baquero, Sergi López, Maribel Verdú, Doug Jones, and Ariadna Gil. The story takes place in Spain in the summer of 1944, during the early Francoist period, five years after the Spanish Civil War. The narrative intertwines this real world with a mythical world centered on an overgrown, abandoned labyrinth and a mysterious faun creature, with whom the main character, Ofelia, interacts.
For 20 years, del Toro had a notebook with doodles, ideas, drawings and plot bits for an unspecified film. At one point during production, he left the notebook in a taxi in London and was distraught, but the cabbie returned it to him two days later. Del Toro got the idea of the faun from childhood experiences with "lucid dreaming"; every midnight, he would wake up, and a faun would gradually step out from behind the grandfather's clock.
The film employs some computer-generated imagery in its effects, but it mostly uses complex make-up and animatronics. Del Toro himself performed the noises for the toad. The mandrake root is a combination of animatronics and CGI. Del Toro wanted the fairies "to look like little monkeys, like dirty fairies", but the animation company had the idea to give them wings made of leaves. Disappointed with the subitles for Devil's Backbone, del Toro himself decided to make the subtitles. While the film is titled Pan's Labyrinth in North America, del Toro said the faun is not Pan.
When the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, it was met with a record 22-minute standing ovation. It received del Toro's greatest reviews and was quickly named as one of the best films of the century, and of all time. The language barrier didn't stop it from finding an audience: it earned $83 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest numbers for a Mexican/Spanish film. It received 6 Oscar nominations, with del Toro achieving his first nomination for Best Original Screenplay. It won for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Makeup.
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Budget: $19,000,000.
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Domestic gross: $37,646,380.
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Worldwide gross: $83,863,565.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
"Believe it or not, he's the good guy."
His seventh film. The sequel to Hellboy, it stars Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Doug Jones, Jeffrey Tambor, and John Hurt. In the film, Hellboy and the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense must battle a mythical prince who plans to reclaim the world for his magical kindred.
While Hellboy wasn't a box office success, it earned a huge amount of renue through DVD sales. This convinced the producers that there was enough interest for a sequel. After Sony chose to pass on the project, Universal picked it up. Del Toro and Mignola started considering what comics to adapt, before deciding that a completely original idea seemed best for the project. Thanks to Pan's Labyrinth, del Toro didn't struggle in getting the film made on his own terms.
The film received great reviews, and some noted it as an improvement over the original. The film's hype really seemed on point, as the film opened with $34.5 million on its opening weekend, far bigger than the original. However, the arrival of a small indie flick called The Dark Knight on its second weekend heavily damaged its legs. It went from #1 to #5 on just one weekend, falling a disastrous 71%. It never recovered, and closed with $75 million domestically and $160 million worldwide, failing to recoup its $85 million budget. Like the original, it performed quite well on home media. While del Toro and Perlman were insistent that a third film would happen, it was eventually scrapped.
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Budget: $85,000,000.
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Domestic gross: $75,986,503.
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Worldwide gross: $160,388,063.
Pacific Rim (2013)
"Go big or go extinct."
His eighth film. It stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Robert Kazinsky, Max Martini, and Ron Perlman. The film is set in the not-too-distant future, when Earth is at war with the Kaijus, colossal sea monsters which have emerged from an interdimensional portal on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. To combat the monsters, humanity unites to create the Jaegers, gigantic humanoid mechas, each controlled by two co-pilots whose minds are joined by a mental link. Focusing on the war's later days, the story follows Raleigh Becket, a washed-up Jaeger pilot called out of retirement and teamed with rookie pilot Mako Mori as part of a last-ditch effort to defeat the Kaiju and their secret masters once and for all.
While walking on the beach near Santa Monica Pier, Travis Beacham imagined a giant robot and a giant monster fighting to the death. He then came up with the concept of the robots being controlled by two pilots, wondering what would happen if one dies. Legendary Pictures bought his script, and del Toro was fascinated by the concept. When one of his projects was cancelled, del Toro decided to focus on Pacific Rim. He introduced ideas he had always wished to see in the genre, such as a Kaiju birth and a Kaiju attack seen from a child's perspective. At $180 million, it was his most expensive film. He cast many actors based on his familiarity with other projects. For example, he cast Charlie Day because he liked his performance in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. In return, the show got del Toro to play Pappy McPoyle in 2 episodes.
The film received great reviews, particularly for its special effects and action sequences. Although that didn't exactly translate into a box office hit. The film had a modest performance in North America and other territories, which was quite bad considering its budget. And so China came to the rescue; it grossed a huge $111 million in the market, becoming the biggest territory for the film and allowing it to pass $400 million worldwide. So not a bomb, but not exactly a huge hit as expected. Too bad there were was no sequel.
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Budget: $180,000,000.
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Domestic gross: $101,802,906.
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Worldwide gross: $411,002,906.
Crimson Peak (2015)
"Beware."
His ninth film. It stars Mia Wasikowska, Tom Hiddleston, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam, and Jim Beaver. The story, set in Edwardian-era England, follows an aspiring author who travels to a remote Gothic mansion in Cumberland, England with her new husband and his sister. There, she must decipher the mystery behind the ghostly visions that haunt her new home.
Del Toro convinced Universal in greenlighting Crimson Peak, as they kept in touch during the making of Pacific Rim. He said he wanted the film to take the horror genre to its roots, "I think people are getting used to horror subjects done as found footage or B-value budgets. I wanted this to feel like a throwback." He wanted to create a large-scale horror film in the tradition of those he grew up watching, such as The Omen, The Exorcist, and The Shining.
The film fared solid, but not great reviews. While the film was praised for its visual style, it was also criticized for its thin story and weak characters. It also struggled at the box office; it made just $74 million against its $55 million budget. Ouch.
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Budget: $55,000,000.
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Domestic gross: $31,090,320.
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Worldwide gross: $74,679,822.
The Shape of Water (2017)
"A fairy tale for troubled times."
His tenth film. It stars Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Octavia Spencer. Set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, the film follows a mute custodian at a high-security government laboratory who falls in love with a captured humanoid amphibian creature, and decides to help him escape from death at the hands of an evil colonel.
The project was primarily inspired by del Toro's childhood memories of seeing Creature from the Black Lagoon and wanting to see the Gill-man and Kay Lawrence succeed in their romance. After failing to convince the Universal executives in accepting his pitch, Searchlight Pictures got involved. Del Toro cast Sally Hawkins after watching Fingersmith and Happy-Go-Lucky, wanting her to emulate Stan Laurel's performances. He also wanted Ian McKellen to play Giles, as he based the character on his performance in Gods and Monsters. Unfortunately, McKellen was unavailable and Richard Jenkins was cast instead.
The film received critical acclaim, quickly named as one of del Toro's best films. And despite the weird premise, it was a huge success for del Toro, as it earned almost $200 million worldwide, becoming one of Searchlight's biggest films. After winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, it received 13 Oscar nominations. It won Best Production Design and Best Score, and del Toro would finally get his first Oscar for Best Director and Best Picture.
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Budget: $20,000,000.
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Domestic gross: $63,859,435.
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Worldwide gross: $195,243,464.
Nightmare Alley (2021)
"Man or beast."
His 11th film. Based on the novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham, it stars Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Willem Dafoe, Richard Jenkins, Rooney Mara, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen, and David Strathairn. It follows a charming and ambitious carnival worker with a mysterious past who takes big risks to boost his career.
The film was a huge deviation from del Toro's works, as it features no supernatural or fantasy elements. The novel was previously adapted in 1947, but del Toro was more interested in making a more faithful adaptation. Leonardo DiCaprio was eyed to star in the film, but Bradley Cooper replaced him. Del Toro stated that he and Cooper quickly connected with each other when del Toro met Cooper in the latter's house to discuss the role.
The film received a solid response, although some criticized its length and story. Despite a $60 million budget, the film didn't find an audience, earning just $39 million. Despite that, the film still received 4 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.
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Budget: $60,000,000.
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Domestic gross: $11,338,107.
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Worldwide gross: $39,629,195.
Pinocchio (2022)
"Love will give you life."
His 12th film. Based on The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, it stars Gregory Mann, David Bradley, Ewan McGregor, Burn Gorman, Ron Perlman, John Turturro, Finn Wolfhard, Cate Blanchett, Tim Blake Nelson, Christoph Waltz, and Tilda Swinton. Set in Fascist Italy during the interwar period, it follows Pinocchio's life as he adventures the world.
The film was a lifelong passion project for del Toro, who watched the 1940 Disney version when he was a kid. He loved it, and by his teenage years, yearned to make his own dark version. In 2003, he discovered Gris Grimly's illustrations for the 2002 edition of Carlo Collodi's book, portraying Pinocchio as a puppet with a long, pointed nose and spindly limbs, with gestures that del Toro felt captured the energy of an unruly but otherwise goodhearted puppet. This was the vision that del Toro wanted to create, but he wasn't getting support from the studios in greenlighting the stop-motion project. Fortunately, Netflix saved the project in 2018, allowing him to fulfill his dream.
The film was acclaimed by critics and audiences, particularly for its dark tone. As it was a Netflix original film, there are no box office numbers available. Over its first seven days of digital release, the film logged over 10.91 million hours viewed worldwide. Del Toro won his third Oscar, now for Best Animated Film.
The Future
He's currently filming his new film, Frankenstein, for Netflix. It will star Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Lars Mikkelsen, David Bradley, Christian Convery, Charles Dance, and Christoph Waltz.
Other Projects
He has written some films that he never directed, such as The Hobbit films, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and The Witches.
He is also an executive producer on films like Megamind, Puss in Boots, Kung Fu Panda 2 and Kung Fu Panda 3. He was also a producer on Rudo y Cursi, The Book of Life, Pacific Rim: Uprising and Antlers.
In television, he created two shows. The first is The Strain, which is based on a book he wrote with Chuck Hogan, and he directed the first episode. The other is Trollhunters, which is based on his novel.
The Unrealized Films
Well, you couldn't make a post on del Toro without bringing up the projects he never got to make. So let's delve into a few of them.
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Exorcist: Chapter 4 Verse I: Del Toro pitched a fourth Exorcist film to Morgan Creek, which would have seen Father Merrin brought in to investigate the murder of a priest by a possessed child in the Vatican during World War II. Del Toro said that Morgan Creek liked the story, but they didn't want a single exorcism in the film. Oh the irony.
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Creature from the Black Lagoon: A longtime fan of the 1954 film, del Toro talked with Universal over directing a remake. He envisioned a film which would focus more on the creature's perspective, where the Gill-man ends up together with the female lead. The studio would reject this pitch, although del Toro would use these elements for The Shape of Water.
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The Wind in the Willows: Del Toro started working with Disney on an animated film adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's novel. The film would have been animated using CGI animation, but the project was abandoned following many delays. He said why he left; "It was a beautiful book, and then I went to meet with the executives and they said, 'Could you give Toad a skateboard and make him say, "radical dude" things?' and that's when I said, 'It's been a pleasure...'"
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Halo: Del Toro started working with Peter Jackson on a Halo adaptation, with del Toro writing the script with D.B. Weiss. His project envisioned a brother vs. brother story between the character Master Chief and his twin, who sides with the villain. Del Toro would leave to focus on Hellboy II: The Golden Army.
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Doctor Strange: Del Toro and Neil Gaiman pitched a film to Marvel Studios, wherein Gaiman wrote the script and del Toro would direct. This version would have seen the character as an alcoholic, disbarred physician in the late 1920s/1930s living in Greenwich Village for 90 years without aging. It would have also been heavily inspired by the art of Steve Ditko. Gaiman was especially interested in including the character Clea, but the studio was not interested.
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The Hobbit: In 2008, it was reported that del Toro would direct a two-part film adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel. Del Toro envisioned the first film as a direct adaptation of the novel, with the second bridging the gap between The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings films. After spending two years in New Zealand working on pre-production, del Toro left the project due to ongoing delays and was replaced by Peter Jackson. The films were expanded to a trilogy during production, with del Toro still credited as co-writer of all three.
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Hellboy III: Del Toro has been trying to get a final film made, but is stuck in development hell. His film "was to have Hellboy finally come to terms with the fact that his destiny, his inevitable destiny, is to become the beast of the Apocalypse, and having him and Liz face the sort of, that part of his nature, and he has to do it, in order to be able to ironically vanquish the foe that he has to face in the third film. He has to become the beast of the Apocalypse to be able to defend humanity, but at the same time, he becomes a much darker being." Del Toro said that the project is unlikely to happen, as studios are not interested and also listed the decline of DVD sales (which got the sequel greenlit) as a big reason why.
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Thor: In 2008, del Toro entered talks with Marvel Studios to direct an adaptation of the character. He said that he loved the character of Loki, and wished to incorporate more original Norse mythology into the film; including a "really dingy Valhalla, Vikings and mud". He would leave the project to focus on The Hobbit.
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Slaughterhouse-Five: Del Toro planned "a more literal interpretation" of the Kurt Vonnegut novel than shown in the 1972 film adaptation. In July 2013, del Toro revealed that he and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman had planned how they had wanted to adapt the work, though del Toro joked; "How can I commit to it being my next movie until there's a screenplay? Charlie Kaufman is a very expensive writer!"
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Van Helsing: Del Toro worked on a reimagining, with Tom Cruise attached to star and produce.
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The Haunted Mansion: In 2010, del Toro confirmed he would make a new version of the Disney theme park ride. He said he didn't want it to be a comedy, emphasizing that he wanted it to be scary and fun. After del Toro submitted the script, Disney liked it, but considered it too scary for kids. Eventually, his version would be scrapped and a new version would be released in 2023, becoming a critical and commercial bomb.
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Dark Universe: Del Toro got involved in a Justice League Dark adaptation. This version would feature appearances by John Constantine, Swamp Thing, The Spectre, Deadman and others. Del Toro wanted Matt Ryan to play Constantine, feeling the movie and TV show could co-exist. By 2015, he left the project.
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Silent Hills: In 2014, del Toro was confirmed to work with Hideo Kojima on the ninth installment in the Silent Hill video game franchise. However, the video game was cancelled the following year. Del Toro has since said that he does not plan to work in the video game industry ever again.
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At the Mountains of Madness: An adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's novella, it has been stuck in development hell for the past 20 years. Originally set up at DreamWorks, it passed to Universal when del Toro had a first-look deal with them. After delays, it was finally announced on 2010 that the film would be in 3D and that James Cameron would produce. Subsequently, he had Tom Cruise signed as the lead. However, Universal shelved the project when del Toro wanted a $150 million budget and R rating. No progress ever since. Del Toro says he hopes to eventually make it, although he is unsure if Cruise will still be part of it due to his age.
MOVIES (FROM HIGHEST GROSSING TO LEAST GROSSING)
| No. | Movie | Year | Studio | Domestic Total | Overseas Total | Worldwide Total | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pacific Rim | 2013 | Warner Bros. | $101,802,906 | $309,200,000 | $411,002,906 | $180M |
| 2 | The Shape of Water | 2017 | Searchlight | $63,859,435 | $131,384,029 | $195,243,464 | $20M |
| 3 | Hellboy II: The Golden Army | 2008 | Universal | $75,986,503 | $84,401,560 | $160,388,063 | $85M |
| 4 | Blade II | 2002 | New Line Cinema | $82,348,319 | $72,661,713 | $155,010,032 | $54M |
| 5 | Hellboy | 2004 | Sony | $59,623,958 | $39,755,027 | $99,378,985 | $66M |
| 6 | Pan's Labyrinth | 2006 | Warner Bros. | $37,646,380 | $46,215,652 | $83,863,565 | $19M |
| 7 | Crimson Peak | 2015 | Universal | $31,090,320 | $43,589,502 | $74,679,822 | $55M |
| 8 | Nightmare Alley | 2021 | Searchlight | $11,338,107 | $28,291,088 | $39,629,195 | $60M |
| 9 | Mimic | 1997 | Miramax | $25,480,490 | $313 | $25,480,803 | $30M |
| 10 | The Devil's Backbone | 2001 | Warner Bros. | $755,249 | $5,826,816 | $6,582,065 | $4.5M |
| 11 | Cronos | 1992 | October Films | $621,392 | $0 | $621,392 | $2M |
He made 12 films, but only 11 went to theaters. Across those 11 films, he has made $1,251,880,292 worldwide. That's $113,807,299 per film.
The Verdict
Inconsistent.
Del Toro has crafted an impressive resume. Even his weaker works still have their charms. The problem is that he has been struggling with the budgets, and that in turn prevents his films from breaking even. As he said, DVD sales were the reason Hellboy II was greenlit, but it was the decline of that market that made it more difficult to get a third film made. And that's before we even get to the amount of unrealized projects. A unique director that simply struggled in having the box office success he deserves. And that's a shame, as you can tell he is very passionate about his work.
Hope you liked this edition. You can find this and more in the wiki for this section.
The next director will be Todd Phillips. Very fitting, considering we just had a teaser trailer for Joker: Folie à Deux.
I asked you to choose who else should be in the run and the comment with the most upvotes would be chosen. Well, we'll later talk about... Wes Craven. A horror legend.
This is the schedule for the following four:
| Week | Director | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| April 15-21 | Todd Phillips | Who's laughing now? |
| April 22-28 | John Carpenter | Is that really it? No more films? |
| April 29-May 5 | Danny Boyle | It was a long wait, but 28 Years Later is finally happening. |
| May 6-12 | Wes Craven | A horror legend. |
Who should be next after Craven? That's up to you. But for that week, we have a theme.
And the theme is: Actor-directors. And I'm not talking about directors that occassionally act, some just in cameos. I'm talking celebrities more known for acting, that regularly direct. So there are two requirements here: the director must have a prominent acting career, and he must have directed at least 5 films. That means actors like Kevin Costner, Bradley Cooper, Greta Gerwig, John Krasinski and Jordan Peele are ineligible here.
So what actor-director should be?
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