John Scalzi - Ten Directors Who Really Need to Make a SciFi Movie
Last week I was noting the uphill climb scifi will have in winning the "Best Picture" Academy Award, but it's worth also noting that while it's hard for scifi to nab that prize, Oscar-winning directors don't have any problems directing science fiction. Last year's Best Director, Danny Boyle, made 28 Days Later, a science fictional look at zombies, while Ang Lee (who won the 2005 statue) tried his hand at Hulk. Peter Jackson has Bad Taste in his background, and Steven Soderbergh attempted a remake of Solaris. Other Oscar winners who directed scifi include James Cameron, Robert Zemeckis and of course, Steven Spielberg.
That said, there are a number of interesting and influential directors who have yet to direct in the genre. Which naturally made me think of a column. Below you'll find my list of the ten directors I really think should make a scifi movie. In no particular order:
Martin Scorsese
He's the ultimate gritty urban portraitist, which makes him an unconventional choice, but also remember that Scorsese has some surprising works in his canon: The Last Temptation of Christ, The Age of Innocence and Kundun all suggest he's not afraid to stretch out and surprise viewers and critics. I literally cannot imagine what a Scorsese scifi would be like, which is the best possible reason for him to try one.
Clint Eastwood
Eastwood came tantalizingly close to scifi with 2000's Space Cowboys (I disqualify it because the science of the movie is contemporary, not futuristic), so it's not a huge leap to having him in the genre. Eastwood would likely prize character struggle over technology and make a scifi flick grownups could love.
Quentin Tarantino
Doesn't it feel like Tarantino ought to already have a science fiction movie under his belt? (It probably has to do with Robert Rodriguez's half of Grindhouse being scifi-horror.) But he doesn't, and I think that should be corrected Real Soon Now. Tarantino's video store past, love of pulp violence, and gabby character building would make his science fiction either rocking or unwatchable. I'd risk it.
Paul Greengrass
The director of two-thirds of the Bourne series has a masterful way with action and the handheld camera, and also a documentarian's eye for the human moment (see his Oscar-nominated work on United 93). Give him a genuinely compelling military scifi script, and I think he'd have to work hard for it not to be great.
Jason Reitman
Science fiction is in Reitman's blood (dad Ivan directed Evolution and the scifi-adjacent Ghostbuster movies), but Reitman's own talents of finding offbeat humor would make him an interesting choice for a low-key, light look at the future. I can't help but wonder what his version of Idiocracy might be like.
Spike Jonze
Here's another director who has come close to the territory (with Being John Malkovich and Where the Wild Things Are) without quite crossing over. I say, have Charlie Kaufman (who won an Oscar for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) write him a science fiction script and then let him go to town. There's an excellent chance what comes out would be something most people don't get, but I'm not sure how that would be my problem.
Michael Mann
The cerebral action director, with movies like Public Enemies, Heat and Manhunter to his name (and, yes, all right, Miami Vice), could do an absolutely terrific version of the Sean Connery movie Outland, or perhaps another movie with the same themes.
Atom Egoyan
No offense to Steven Soderbergh, but if anyone was going to remake Solaris -- and that's really a question we could argue about for years -- it should have been Egoyan. The Adoration director's version would have quite possibly been even less financially successful, and also I suspect brilliant.
Sally Potter
Yes, I know: Who? Look, go watch Orlando and then you'll understand. Her science fiction movie would be arty, no doubt deeply opaque and possibly one of the best quietly emotional experiences of the year. Hey, it's my list. I get to pick who I want.
Bill Duke
And since it's my list, I'm going to bring in a director from left field: Duke is best known as an actor (you remember him as "Mac" from Predator), but he's also a smart, savvy director who directed one of my favorite moviess of 1992: the fantastic crime drama Deep Cover. Since then most of his output has been small urban dramas. I say, someone get him a scifi script and let him crank up his action side again. I'm up for it.
Have a director you want to attempt science fiction? That's what the comments are for, my friends.
Winner of the Hugo Award and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, John Scalzi is the author of The Rough Guide to Sci-Fi Movies and the novels Old Man's War and Zoe's Tale. He's also Creative Consultant for the upcoming Stargate: Universe television series. His column appears every Thursday.
I would say that Clint Eastwood has made an SF film, Firefox from 1982. The Tech of that plane did not and still does not exist and without the tech of that plane the plot falls apart.
Of course I am wacky and look up The hunt For Red October and The Manchurian Candidate as SF as well.
I'll nominate John Milius unless you count Red Dawn as scifi or don't think Rome makes up for... well, for Red Dawn.
I would nominate Alex Cox, but...
Anything by the Coen brothers would be interesting - and likely deeply uncomfortable for science fiction fans (including this one) if they really sink their teeth into the genre's more hidebound tropes.
Still, unless you're George Washington a little bloodletting never hurt. And maybe beneath all their cynicism is an unspoken, innocent desire to make a straight adaptation of some Heinlein juvie they picked up from the Henneipin County Library back in St. Louis Park.
Sophia Copolla. I adore her movies. I'd love to see a movie based on "Fragments of a Hologram Rose" by William Gibson. Maybe she could do that. I don't know, a science fiction romantic drama is something I'd like to see.
Whoa, I think my comment got eated.
Sophia Copolla. She's awesome, and I'd like to see what she'd do. Personally I'd like to see a movie based on "Fragments of a Hologram Rose" by William Gibson, and I think it would be great with her style.
And (this is really not meant to be and ego stroke) - I think OMW would be great for Scorsese and vice versa.
I would say the door is open for this question - John, do you have someone in mind for your "ultimate" director of any book adaptations of your works if you could get anyone in the world? I'm not asking you to name names, but I am curious if you've ever had that conversation with yourself and settled on an answer.
@roflcopter - I don't think it's you - I think it is taking a while for the comments to work their way through whatever moderation process they're going through
Scorsese needs to direct Altered Carbon.
Man, shipman really wants Scorsese to direct Altered Carbon. I'll, um, 4th that.
Bless you for putting Sally Potter on the list. Love it.
There was a rumor years ago that Scorcese was going to do Hyperion. That would've been awesome. Seeing him tackle something from Banks' Culture stories (Consider Phlebas or Use of Weapons) would be just as awesome.
I'd love to see QT do something SF and wild. He probably would've made an awesome Lobo. (I know it's a comic but still.) Maybe Altered Carbon?
I'm gonna say Paul Greengrass should try something like Jonathan Lethem's Amnesia Moon.
Also, I know David Fincher directed Alien 3, but I'd really love to see him take another shot at SF.
I kept thinking of people who'd already directed sf--John Sayles, Wong Kar-Wai (2046 sort of counts)--then came up with a list of five, only to discover one has already directed an sf movie (totally forgot Fernando Meirelles did Blindness) and another has two sf projects in development (they finally dragged Gore Verbinski away from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise--he's attached to remakes of The Host and Heavy Metal).
The three left who aren't on your list already--and BTW, Scorsese would have headed my list too--are:
1) Pedro Almodóvar, who's so good at what he does that he doesn't necessarily need sf for his films to be wondrous; nonetheless, I'd be first in line to see an Almodóvar sf project.
2) Todd Haynes, whose sf film would probably be as far beyond the ken of most filmgoers as Spike Jonze's would.
3) Jonathan Demme could probably helm an sf thriller like nobody else's (unless the remake of The Manchurian Candidate counts as sf).
I'd love a Wes Anderson sf film. It would be amazing to see how his uncomfortable silences would enhance Heinlein's Glory Road. Or (a bit OT) Zelazny's Amber series. (Yes, I know it's fantasy, but it has some sf elements.)
Science fiction films are often speculative in nature, and often include key supporting elements of science and technology. There are growing numbers of sci movie which really attract the viewers. Anyway, If you are considering to provide a good education for you children maybe it's appropriate for most parents to secure a 529 saving plan, it is a savings fund (kind of like a 401) that gets contributed to over time, with limits on maximum donations, withdrawals and so forth. However, since many use mutual funds and other market investments, the stock market crash has crippled some of their values. State 529 plans are understood to be more valuable at this point than broker 529s. That said, a 529 saving plan for your heirs would be worth some quick cash to start – remember, one day they'll pick your nursing home!
I'd like to see Tarantino do something based on Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat series.
(Hmph. Whatever moderation they have in this thread isn't good at weeding out either duplicates or spam!)
Given his love of comic books, I'm surprised Kevin Smith has never tried his hand in SF.
I'd like to see what Rob Reiner could do with a good SF script...
Sam Mendes!
Something like "Roadside Picnic".
He can certainly do the gritty, dramatic bits (Jarhead, Cold Mountain) and the existential strains of the story are pretty much his forte.
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