Article
Actors who turn director: what drives on-screen talent behind the camera?
Paddy Considine is the latest actor to turn film-maker, with his highly acclaimed Tyrannosaur. Who else has made the switch?
Director's cut ... Paddy Considine and actor Peter Mullan on the set of Tyrannosaur
Best known for his performances in Shane Meadows-helmed films such as A Room for Romeo Brass and Dead Man's Shoes, Paddy Considine is swapping his acting career – which includes stints in Hollywood in The Bourne Ultimatum and Cinderella Man – for the director's chair. His film Tyrannosaur, which he wrote and directed, was released on 7 October. But Considine isn't the first actor to sign up for a spell behind the camera. What drives other performers to make the switch?
The egoists
The need to take absolute control can be a powerful motivator. Charlie Chaplin began his film career working under the tutelage of Mack Sennett, who laid down the essentials of slapstick comedy, and directors such as Mabel Normand and Henry Lehrman. But pretty soon he was writing scripts, directing and even composing the music for his own productions. David Thomson's The New Biographical Dictionary of Film suggests Chaplin possessed "an instinct [that] lacked artistic intelligence, real human sympathy and even humour. Chaplin's isolation barred him from working with anyone else."
It's not hard to detect similar traits in Orson Welles's directorial persona. Troubled by his own perfectionism, he left behind a long list of unrealised works and an infamous blooper clip in which he combusts while trying to complete a voiceover for a poorly written and directed advert for frozen peas.
The moguls
In the 1980s, Kevin Costner could do no wrong. As one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood, thanks to Bull Durham and The Untouchables, it must have seemed natural for him to work that magic behind the camera as well. When his directorial debut Dances With Wolves scooped seven Oscars, including a best director gong, he seemed set. Sadly, the following $175m flop Waterworld and $80m turkey The Postman rather scotched that idea.
Propelled by a similar belief in his own genius, leavened with a scoop or two of unhinged ranting, fellow 80s icon Mel Gibson managed to pull off a number of coups in his rather more successful directing career. Although he's probably quite chuffed with the five Oscars awarded to Braveheart, he's probably prouder he completed feature films in Aramaic (The Passion of the Christ) and Yucatec Maya (Apocalypto). Presumably he's nursing the desire to try classical Hebrew for a projected film about the Maccabee uprising. Good luck with that one, Mel.
The independents
Sometimes, mainstream films are not enough to satisfy the creative visions of their talent. Unfailingly iconoclastic in his own films, John Cassavetes acted in at least two iconic – for very different reasons – movies: Rosemary's Baby and The Dirty Dozen. Some people say Cassavetes only took on studio roles to finance his own directorial excursions. Either way, his reputation as America's first real indie film-maker is hard to ignore.
Crispin Glover must have been inspired by Cassavetes' work. The Charlie's Angels and Back to the Future star has ploughed an equally (if not even more) wayward furrow in his own career, writing and directing What Is It?, a heady brew of nudity and racism, soundtracked by Charles Manson songs.
The game changers
Playing Monica's schlubby multimillionaire suitor in Friends brought Jon Favreau a certain amount of mainstream recognition after writing and starring in the cult retro film Swingers, but it was his directorial debut Made which really set him on the path to fame and fortune. A spiritual successor to Swingers, the Vince Vaughn-starring gangster movie allowed Favreau to lever his way into the big time. He's since turned a handsome profit with the Iron Man franchise – and reinvigorated Robert Downey Jr's career for the fourth or fifth time in the process.
Similarly, it's possible to argue that Sling Blade saved Billy Bob Thornton's career. Before the Arkansas-set drama was released, Thornton was slogging through roles in flicks such as Chopper Chicks in Zombietown. After his writing and directing debut he became – in the words of Robert Duvall – "the hillbilly Orson Welles". Thanks to some adroit manoeuvring, Miramax was persuaded to pay $10m for the film's distribution rights, thereby changing the shape of the movie industry, as American indies became an extension of the studio system in both budgetary and aesthetic terms.
The oddballs
Sometimes there's no discernible reason for an actor to get behind the camera. Always a watchable actor, Dennis Hopper overextended the freewheeling directorial style displayed in Easy Rider when he made The Last Movie. Given $1m by studio heads baffled by the success of Easy Rider, Hopper turned in a film fuelled by copious amounts of cocaine and beer. It bombed.
Slightly less dramatic, Elaine May's film-directing career came about via the stage and screenwriting. While directing Cassavetes and Peter Falk in Mikey and Nicky, she annoyed her crew by shooting 1.4m feet of film – three times as much as Gone With the Wind. One scene ended with Falk and Cassavetes running off in different directions down an alleyway – May insisted that the cameras keep rolling, even after they left the set, since "they might come back". She didn't direct for 12 years after that. Unfortunately her 1987 comeback film turned out to be Ishtar, a film so execrable it wasn't given an American DVD release until January this year.
Related Content
User Comments
shodfather
10 October 2011 4:47PM
Paddy C wanted to be a director first, and actor second, i'm glad he's getting his chance to make films because Tyrannosaur was excellent.
FoolishEarthling
10 October 2011 5:22PM
On a similar note to Pagey, what about Ben Affleck? Both Gone Baby Gone and The Town were very good movies, well-handed. They're hardly vanity projects or bazillion-dollar Costner style epics.
I'm sure there must be another bunch who switch simply because they've learnt enough of the craft and want to be able tell stories their way instead of playing a small part in a bigger wheel.
PhelimONeill
10 October 2011 5:27PM
@Haigin88 - I've seen A New Leaf many times, it's such a great funny movie. Well worth hunting down through whatever means are at your disposal. I'm a bit of a fan, there are plenty of examples of May's comedy duo work with Mike Nichols on Youtube.
I also wouldn't call Ishtar execrable, far from it. I reckon the opening 20 minutes are sheer brilliance, stuffed with lines like: "It takes a lot of nerve to have nothing at your age, don't you understand that? Most guys'd be ashamed, but you've got the guts to just say 'to hell with it'. You say that you'd rather have nothing than settle for less, understand?" It's sharper and funnier in its opening than most films are in their entirety, the rest of it isn't without charm.
As we're talking about actors turned directors, what about Charles Laughton? He directed one absolute classic, The Night Of The Hunter, then never directed again.
MattThomas
10 October 2011 6:12PM
Maybe excerable might have been a bit strong... And in all honesty I suppose you can hardly blame May for all its faults. Beatty has to shoulder some of the blame there.
Night of the Hunter, definitely a stone-cold killer classic. Reasons of space etc etc.
Pagey
10 October 2011 7:36PM
On a similar note to Pagey, what about Ben Affleck? Both Gone Baby Gone and The Town were very good movies, well-handed. They're hardly vanity projects or bazillion-dollar Costner style epics.
Agreed - and don't forget he co-wrote Good Will Hunting.
busterkino
10 October 2011 8:08PM
And speaking about British actors turned directors... what about your very own Timo Roth with War Zone and - especially - Gary Oldman, whose Nil By Mouth is so great I'm still reeling... And actually ordered a DVD of it, which came last weekend!
What a great film, and what a subtle ending - just gorgeous!
Unfortunately Oldman hasn't directed since.
JohnCooperClarke
10 October 2011 8:35PM
Another vote for Elaine May here. She may have shot more stock than was used for Gone with the Wind, but Mikey and Nicky is a hell of a lot better than that crappy epic.
Also, re Crispin Glover - is it possible that this writer, just maybe, hasn't seen any of his films? I mean, they're very difficult to get to see - Glover keeps the prints under lock and key, and won't allow digital copies of any sort to be made. As a result he's made enough money from his personal screenings at film festivals to build his own mini studio in Eastern Europe. I've seen one of them, and with its Down's Syndrome actors and screaming snails, it's a lot more than the 'brew of nudity and racism' described above.
finnyfish
10 October 2011 9:50PM
What about Robert Redford? Actor, director and producer, but arguably his greatest influence in the film industry has been as founder of the Sundance film festival.
MattThomas
10 October 2011 10:06PM
Hi JohnCooperClarke,
I was lucky enough to see What Is It? at ATP back in 2009 it must have been now. A hard film to precis, I think you'll agree, which may account for our differing recollections.
pretzelberg
10 October 2011 11:23PM
Among the more unlikely must be Ron Howard - from Richie in Happy Days to Oscar winning (?) director.
And as for Mel Gibson doing a film about the Maccabee uprising: please, mate. Don't.
YourGeneticDestiny
11 October 2011 1:55AM
pretzelberg
Among the more unlikely must be Ron Howard - from Richie in Happy Days to Oscar winning (?) director.
Quite right. Without him we might never have had the film adaptations of Dan Brown's books.
BigbadD
11 October 2011 10:00AM
Er, Peter Mullan?
He's in the bloody picture at the top of the article!
Notable mentions go to Clint Eastwood and Woody Allen surely? Not to mention the likes of Gary Oldman and Tim Roth who, though neither are particularly well known for their directing, both made superb films from behind the camera.
alias43
11 October 2011 10:50AM
Peter Mullans' 'Neds', Samantha Morton's 'The Unloved' and Paddy Considine's 'Tyrannosaur' are established actors directorial features which I believe make a interesting triptych of modern neo realist features.
The most underrated of the above I believe to be Sam Morton's feature, which she said was her first and last, a film which I believe to be visually superior to 'Fish Tank' which in some ways is thematically very similar (Fish Tank followed it however...)
Crispin Glover's features have a HUGE cult appeal and attraction but they quite simply are near enough impossible to see. On a recent interview on Mayo/Kermode's film review show at the end it was stated Glover was genuinely the strangest guest Mayo had come across in all his years in interview lead radio...
alias43
11 October 2011 11:09AM
One more
Sean Penn.
His film 'The Pledge' is a superior film in every way to Chris Nolan's 'Insomnia' (both came out at almost exactly the same time and have exactly the same plot) and 'Into the Wild' isn't too bad...
ChinofJim
11 October 2011 12:18PM
I'm not sure if this counts, and how the directing duties were split, but Gene Kelly co-directed Singing in the Rain with Stanley Donen
ChinofJim
11 October 2011 12:22PM
He also directed Invitation to the Dance, and collaborated with Donen again on Its Always Fair Weather
ChinofJim
11 October 2011 12:23PM
@alias43
I agree on the Pledge. One of the best American movies from the last twenty years in my opinion
dravot
11 October 2011 12:30PM
Ed Harris has made two excellent films which he also acted in, the biopic Pollock and the western Appaloosa. Talking of westerns, while Kevin Costner blew it with Waterworld and The Postman, Open Range was a superb return to form.
ChinofJim
11 October 2011 12:34PM
yeah Open Range was terrific. I think it gets ignored becuase it is completely old school good guys versus bad guys
jeromeknewton
11 October 2011 3:04PM
With no disrespect to Ms Coppola, but I think the world is greatful she declined to pursue her "acting" career for directing.
Mario Van Peebles' New Jack City was a pretty good effort I thought.
Hopper might have been responsible for the excesses of Easy Rider and The Last Movie, but I have plenty of time for Out of the Blue.
Steve Buscemi also made an enjoyable Drano-guzzler debut with Trees Lounge, though I can take or leave Lonesome Jim.
Haigin88
10 October 2011 4:34PM
Has anyone ever seen Elaine May's 'A New Leaf'? It's impossible to get on DVD but it's supposed to be real buried treasure (supposedly May's final cut was three hours long before Robert Evans got busy with the scissors).