Posted by sean at threshold7n.jpmorgan.com on January 28, 2002 at 14:46:48:
In Reply to: Writers directing their work *NT* posted by Jaice on January 28, 2002 at 14:22:58:
I think that a big problem with movies right now is people trying to do too much. Writers who try to direct, directors who try to write, generally speaking, these are not good things. It's not that writers can't direct (though oftentimes, people who are primarily writers aren't as visually oriented when making films ... Woody Allen, pre-"Strike Back" Kevin, Todd Solondz), though sometimes they can't (I don't think David Mamet does as good when he directs). It's more the other way, that many directors generally can't write. For god's sake, Stanley Kubrick wrote nearly every film he ever made with a co-writer, and *did* at least have source material before he started. A few years back, I remember being shocked by how badly written some movies were ... "Ripley", which was discussed down the board, I thought was really good, but having another writer could have curtailed a few of its tendencies, especially towards the beginning, to establish and re-establish things ad nauseum. [How many times is it enforced that Jude Law likes jazz in the first half hour of that movie?] Most of Scorsese's best work has been from other people's scripts (and, on the other hand, I think everything Schrader has directed that I've seen has been indulgent and boring), and even as far back as "It's Not Just You, Murray" he had a co-writer. Spielberg only actually wrote one script (despite the credit on "Close Encounters"), and look how bad a script that actually was once you remove all the amazing production value.
That's my little diatribe. There are great writer directors out there, but I think most of them can be summed up as great writers first, great with actors second, and camerawork is a definite third to those two.
Can somebody remind me, does Lars von Trier write his own scripts now? I know he didn't do "Element of Crime" alone, but I've forgotten whether he has a co-writer or not.