Do You Respect Directors Who Write Their Own Story?

Most people I ask don't even know who the writer is, and never think about this kinda stuff, including an actor who made a low-budget movie (and had it in a local theater), but I certainly do. If it's no good, then it doesn't matter, but for guys like John Cassavetes or Ingmar Bergman to make some amazing movies while writing it is quite amazing.

It seems like the writer has no respect anymore.

__________________
https://www.youtube.com/c/LoyalOpposition

The director has little respect anymore, too. Apart from a few huge names, that is-- most of them overrated.

But back to directors who also write their movies, it's great, more auteur-like. But this is not a requirement. Some of the best directors of all time had their personal writers. Ichikawa had Wada (whom she married), Ozu had Noda (whom he drank with), Mizoguchi had Yoda (no, not that Yoda).

But then you have Yoji Yamada who both writes and directs and he's just incredible.

__________________
Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

When I see a director has also wrote the screenplay I consider that a positive sign. Especially for 20th century films it often means the director was able to get his vision for a story across without it being diluted by outside writers. But that doesn't always equate to great films but sometimes it does pay off.

It can be a mark of quality if they're talented at writing (Even in Woody's worse efforts there's still some semblance of wit present), but it's not a necessity for me to respect them. Clint Eastwood and David Fincher never write their own films, yet there's still an everpresent identity to everything they put out. Clint often revisits themes such as the thin line between hero and villain, feeling out of touch with the rest of the world, important historical events and the complications of justice/reaching closure for example. You'd almost be convinced that he writes most of his own stuff, but he's simply an expert at picking scriptwriters who understand his personality.

That's kind of an odd way of putting it, as this almost suggests, for example, that Peoples wrote Unforgiven for Eastwood, or with him in mind. It's more like Clint picks projects he understands.



I like Eastwood, but there is usually something rather flat about his films. He's meat and potatoes film making.

Not all of the scripts are written with him specifically in mind of course, but when the themes as well as characters he portrays start to share some common similarities, it's easy to conclude that it happens at least some of the time. His protagonist in The Mule is pretty much a toned-down version of Gran Torino.

Fair enough. He's a big enough fish the certainly some scripts have him (or his archetype) in mind. At the end of the day though, Clint will pick the project he understands (and approves of), right?

Is it impressive that some can do both? Ya. Does it matter? No.

Respect is not a concept that would occur to me to apply to directors who direct their own writing. One of the first, and I think best, was Billy Wilder.

It seems to me that director/writers run the risk of not being objective enough to direct what they've written. There's not enough distance, objectivity. That occurs to me when I've seen several modern examples which would likely have been better films had someone else directed what they had written.

Brilliance does not require objectivity so much as it requires singularity of expression, unity of vision. Brilliance is in much shorter supply out there than is objectivity. A hot artist, in their prime, that moment in time when they're tuned into the zeitgeist (e.g., Eddie Murphy in the 1980s), that's a time when they're best off shining. Besides, you have producers and the studio and expert hands on set to help provide feedback. There are always plenty of people around to tell you "No" and to advise "caution." If the director is a true visual artist and they can really write, however, I say turn them loose. Take the risk.

Pure objectivity is for hacks who need a beat sheets, rules, and notes. You either have a muse or you have a method. And a having a muse trumps having an objective method.

i have no respect for such people

__________________
letterboxd
criticker