I can’t tell you how many times I get an email asking about what happened to this or that director. There are so many great filmmakers who haven’t released a film in 10+ years, for one reason or another, mostly due to financing issues.
I’m still waiting on news of a new Michael Haneke project. His ambitious TV series — “Kelvin’s Book” — fell apart, due to financing, during the pandemic. The Austrian filmmaker, 81, hasn’t released anything since 2017’s “Happy End, which, if it were to be his final film, would be a fitting meta conclusion to an incredible career. Isabelle Huppert, who has starred in four Hanekes, recently said that she’s been pushing him to come back for one more film.
Sadly, there are too many talented hermits out there. Of course, you have filmmakers who are purposely inactive — I wouldn’t be surprised if we never again hear from the likes of Haneke, Weir, Carpenter and Darabont.
This decade has been difficult for many talented directors to get their projects going. Hollywood’s been stuck in a risk-averse mindset. There’s been far less of an emphasis on investing in filmmaker-oriented films. It’s more about the bottom line, and that means IP product is king.
These are just some of the filmmakers who haven’t released anything in a very long time:
Kathryn Bigelow, David Lynch, Michael Haneke, Bennett Miller, Kenneth Lonergan, Peter Weir, Spike Jonze, Richard Kelly, Mark Romanek, John Carpenter, Frank Darabont, Peter Jackson, Shane Carruth, John Waters, Todd Solondz, Charles Burnett, Terry Zwigoff, Tony Kaye, Cameron Crowe, Wong Kar-Wai, Maren Ade, Derek Cianfrance, John McTiernan, Alex Proyas, Shane Black, Carl Franklin, Brad Bird, John Sayles, Vincent Gallo, Martin Brest, Lisa Cholodenko, Joe Dante.
The good news is that Bigelow, Solondz, Crowe, Cianfrance, Bird, Black, Dante and Proyas all have films that have been shot or are set to be shooting this year.
Peter Weir claims that he’s retired. I recently reported that Brian De Palma can’t get insured due to health issues. Terry Zwigoff (“Ghost World”) recently made a pitch for his first film in over 18 years. There’s also David Lynch who recently had two projects rejected by Netflix, and now has to deal with illness (emphysema).
These days Bennett Miller seems more into AI-generated photography. He did mention having spent the last ten years working on a documentary tackling AI, which might also be the topic of his next narrative feature, which is currently being written.
Frank Darabont (“The Shashank Redemption”) recently “un-retired” to direct a few episodes for the last season of “Stranger Things.” Will he finally direct a new feature? He hasn’t given us anything since 2007’s “The Mist.” That “Walking Dead” lawsuit made him filthy rich, he doesn’t need the money, but we’d love for him to finally make his long-gestating U.S. civil war epic.
Meanwhile, Richard Kelly is still clinging to the belief that he can find funding for his “Southland Tales” prequel. He hasn’t directed a film since 2009’s “The Box.” Kelly is working on an assortment of other projects, but can’t seem to kickstart anything into pre-production.
Spike Jonze, who hasn’t released a movie since 2013’s “Her,” is currently working on an ambitious sci-fi limited series for Netflix. It was supposed to star Joaquin Phoenix, but he’s been replaced by another unknown actor. There is currently a writer’s room for the project, so it might, hopefully, soon enter production.
Meanwhile, John Carpenter is enjoying life by playing video games morning through night. I’m not kidding. He also obsessively watching the NBA on his television set. Carpenter has mentioned the possibility of suiting up for one last feature film. He hasn’t directed anything since 2010’s “The Ward.”
We’re likely never again going to watch a new film “Upstream Color” and “Primer” director Shane Carruth. He was arrested for domestic violence in 2022, and it’s not the first time that’s happened. He was supposed to direct a film called “The Modern Ocean,” but it’s now been forever shelved — he leaked the script online. Carruth is now back to being a computer engineer in Texas.
Martin Brest has been justly scarred by “Gigli.” I wouldn’t be surprised if he still gets nightmares from that movie. Last we heard from Brest, he was still complaing about “Gigli” and refused to refer it by name (“that G-movie”).
Back in 2019, the great Charles Burnett (“Killer of Sheep,” “To Sleep With Anger”) signed on for an Amazon slavery drama. The pandemic seems to have delayed momentum on that project and now Burnett is saying that the entire thing is in “development hell.”
Peter Jackson has been exclusively making documentaries since his ‘Hobbit’ trilogy, and a few of them have been really great. Ask Andy Serkis, and he’ll tell you that Jackson is still very much directing the ‘Tintin’ sequel, which has been in development for over 13 years. We’ll believe it when we see it.
At least John Waters knows what his next film is going to be: “Liarmouth”, based on his own novel. It's his first film in almost 20 years, and Aubrey Plaza has been confirmed as the lead. The problem is that, according to Waters, “nobody wants to fund” the film. We’ll hopefully be getting a positive update about that one soon.