John Sayles stands as one of the foundational figures of American independent cinema—a true rarity in the industry. His debut feature, “Return of the Secaucus Seven” (1980), ignited the modern indie movement nearly a decade before “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” (1989). Made on a shoestring budget of $60,000, it went on to gross $2M at the box office, and just three years later, Hollywood remade it as “The Big Chill.”
Over the past four decades, Sayles has carved out a reputation for creating intelligent, uncompromising, character-driven films, including “Lone Star,” “Eight Men Out,” “Baby It’s You,” and “Matewan.” Yet, it has now been 13 years since he last directed a feature.
In an interview with Boston Magazine, Sayles attributes his absence to a simple but frustrating reality: financiers are no longer interested. He has two screenplays ready—a Western, starring Chris Cooper, and a drama about the 1968 Democratic National Convention—that he’s been eager to bring to the screen:
The Western that Chris Cooper would have a big part in — that’s fallen apart at the last minute twice now. It’s a really hard time to get a standalone feature made. If it’s an independent movie and you don’t have Timothée Chalamet — which, he’s a good actor, and it would be a good thing to have him — but, he’ll get a movie made. There’s not that many people where they’ll just say, “If he’s in it, we’ll make it.”
Does Sayles think he’ll ever direct again?
Boy, if I can get the money to make a movie, I’d like to. But it’s: Stand in line. An awful lot of good directors I know haven’t directed in 5, 10, 15 years.
He’s right— a ton of talented filmmakers haven’t helmed a film in over a decade, he’s certainly one of them, so are Bennett Miller, Kenneth Lonergan, Spike Jonze, Brian De Palma, John Carpenter, John Waters, Todd Solondz, Frank Darabont, Mark Romanek, Charles Burnett, Terry Zwigoff, Carl Franklin, Joe Dante.
At 75, Sayles has hardly been idle. Beyond directing, he has earned a reputation as a highly sought-after script doctor and has published several novels. Still, the film world would sure welcome at least one more Sayles-directed feature.