John McTiernan Says He Won't Direct Again

John McTiernan reinvented the action movie in the ‘80s with “Predator,” and “Die Hard.” The ‘90s were fairly prosperous for him as well with “The Hunt For Red October,” “Die Hard With A Vengeance,” “The Last Action Hero,” and “The Thomas Crown Affair.”

However, the aughts weren’t so kind for McTiernan, for a number of reasons, “Basic” and “Rollerball” tanked, but he was also convicted of illegally spying on his “Rollerball” producer and sent to jail in 2013. He was eventually released in 2014 and served the remainder of his sentence under house arrest. He went on to declare bankruptcy on his assets. The term “director’s jail” should have McTiernan’s face firmly planted next to the definition.

In an interview with Toiso, McTiernan is stating that the failures of his last two films (which had scripts he couldn't fix) have convinced him to not get involved with directing again, instead focusing his time on script doctoring:

That’s a lifetime decision. I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m perfectly content with fixing your bad script. I’m going to try to fix your bad script […] It was an appalling experience [working on “Rollerball” and “Basic”] I just didn’t want to make movies again. I don’t want to make bad movies. I don’t want to work with assholes that don’t give a shit about movies and don’t know anything about it, but somehow are in charge of it. Much of what I’ve done since then is as a script doctor. I fix other people’s bad scripts, and I don’t put my name on it. 

Many months ago, McTiernan confessed that he was working on three new scripts, all of which might might never see the light of day, but that he would never quit. He even said that he planned to direct several more films "before I die." So, who really knows that his mindset actually is for the future.

McTiernan still has this fervent fanbase, especially in Europe, where his films are revered, and he is seen as an auteur with a distinct cinematic voice. McTiernan retrospectives happen there all the time, the latest one took place in Finland, where his body of work was celebrated.

McTiernan recently spoke to Finnish outlet Helsingin Sanomat and tackled why he hasn’t directed a film in almost 20 years. He implied that the reason why was the shape-shifting change within the industry. McTiernan claimed that he’s still getting plenty of offers to direct, but none of them are for good films.

He was supposed to shoot “Taut Ceci Foxtrot” in 2022, but something happened and that film was nixed. It was supposed to star Uma Thurman and Laurence Fishburne and tell the story of a group of rebels who set out to kill the oligarchs and military thugs that terrorized a war-torn planet in the remote Tau Ceti solar system. Sounds like “Rebel Moon.”