Out of the Box: Great First Films by Great Directors
In honor of the First Time Director Director Film Festival in New York this weekend , we are looking at some of the great films that were also the first films of some of our favorite directors. Directorial debuts are always interesting to look back on to see how much of the director’s style was evident in right out of the box. Some directors arrive fully formed but with others there is just a hint of the greatness that will come.
* * *
The Film: Blood Simple
The Director: Joel and Ethan Coen
This 1984 directorial debut of Joel Coen is a modern noir classic filled with double cross after double cross in a small Texas town. Ethan is an uncredited director on the film and both brothers are credited with writing it. It’s also the first role of Frances McDormand in the Coen brothers film and the first major film credit for cinematographer Barry Sonnenfeld. McDormand would go on to play parts in Raising Arizona, Millers Crossing, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Man Who Wasn’t There and Burn After Reading. Blood Simple hinted at the greatness that was to come from the Cohen’s for the next nearly 30 years at this point.
* * *
The Film: Kids
The Director: Larry Clark
Larry Clark’s most popular and well known film was his first, Kids. It made a huge splash when it debuted in 1995, no one could forget it once they saw it. He used real kids of New York City, showing how they actually lived and partied. The MPAA initially gave it a NC-17 rating but was still able to gross over $20 million dollars after getting released unrated. Every scene was scripted, yet Clark made it to look like it was a documentary. While Clark’s next films seemed to keep with subject of young kids in America, it was his first that has the most impact.
* * *
The Film: Being John Malkovich
The Director: Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze made a name for himself directing big budget commercials and music videos at the height of the MTV era. So in 1999 he decided to make his film debut with the Charlie Kaufman written Being John Malkovich. This also turned out to be Kaufman’s screenplay debut. He originally sent the script to Francis Ford Coppola to produce it and Coppola gave the script to Jonze, who was his son-in-law at the time. His directorial debut got him an Oscar nomination for Best Director. This was a wonderful introduction to film for two brilliant artists like Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman.
* * *
The Film: Clerks
The Director: Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith’s debut film, 1994’s Clerks, will be ingrained forever in popular culture. A small black and white film made for $25,000 about a couple of clerks in New Jersey created an entire film universe that’s still going strong today. It launched the career of Kevin Smith and made him an instant star. The success of Clerks instilled hope in countless young film makers that they could make their vision come to life too. Smith’s sharp, hilarious and absurd dialogue was something movie goers hadn’t heard before. His voice was so fresh and new it was impossible not to love.
* * *
The Film: Sling Blade
The Director: Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thorton was a little known character actor when he started writing the script for Sling Blade. It is the story of a mentally disabled man released from an Arkansas mental institution with no place to go. He befriends a 12 old boy and soon becomes his protector. Billy Bob wrote directed and starred in the film and it became an instant classic. Billy Bob won the Oscar for best screenplay and picked up the nickname ‘ Hillbilly Orson Welles.
* * *
The Film: Brothers McMullen
The Director: Ed Burns
Ed Burns was a production assistant for Entertainment tonight . He shot the film for just 28, 000 dollars using his family home. The beauty of Burns’ storytelling is his characters look like us , live like us and have the same problems with family and love that we go through. There are no Hollywood twists or ending in his films. Ed Burns is a working man’s director.
* * *
The Film: Bottle Rocket
The Director: Wes Anderson
Wes Anderson co wrote this with Owen Wilson and it was released in 1996. The film not only was a debut for Wes Anderson as a director but also started the careers of Owen and Luke Wilson who soon became movie stars. So many of Wes Anderson’s trademarks were born in Bottle Rocket, quirky characters and dialogue and a killer soundtrack . Much attention was brought to the film but Marty Scorsesse and Roger Ebert who both called it one of the best films of the 90s.
* * *
The Film: Shaun Of The Dead
The Director: Edgar Wright
Edgar Wright was working in British TV doing Spaced with his friends Simon Pegg and Nick Frost when Wright and Pegg wrote this homage to George Romero. Shaun was an instant hit in England and managed to jump the Atlantic to becomes a cult classic in America, Wright grew up on the Coen Brothers and uses a kinetic style of film making with the the camera landing the punch line to the hilarious script. Pegg has become a movie star and Wright’s films are highly anticipated.
* * *
The Film: Moon
The Director: Duncan Jones
Duncan Jones’s independent film Moon starring Sam Rockwell was a return to the 1970’s version of sci fi. A pre Star Wars time. Less reliance on action and special l effects and more of man’s loneliness in a war dominated by machines. It became a critical hit and Jones is in the short list of directors for every science fiction film project.
* * *
