I don’t think it really matters much. For example, Chloé Zhao doesn’t seem to be having trouble getting big names to line up to fund or star in her next project (a dramatized tragic moment in the life of William Shakespeare). I suspect most blame the failure of The Eternals on other factors (like the terrible script), not her. I further suspect that the house it probably paid for is more than enough to make up for any twinge of disappointment she has that it didn’t please the fans.
Comment on Is ‘Mickey 17’ the latest victim of the Oscars’ newest curse?
Emperor@feddit.uk 4 days ago
There’s a lot of reasons there:
- Oscar winning directors get too much of a free hand on budget and runtime - Mikey 17 was really good but with that budget it was doomed to, at best, break even.
- They get offered big projects they may be unsuited for - there was nothing about Nomadland that said Chloé Zhao was ready to direct a blockbuster Marvel movie and it just felt like a cynical exercise to get a bit of indie cred. I doubt she had much creative freedom on The Eternals and would be interested to hear her story about that project when enough time has passed.
- They decide it is a good time to get that passion project greenlit and out when it stood a better chance of finding an audience - I’m a big GdT fan but his Nightmare Alley didn’t do much for me. I like all.of his films but would rank that somewhere towards the bottom.
The ones who go against this trend have won for bigger budget films and then dial it back and make smaller, more personal films which can get done on a lower budget but will get extra eyeballs because of the Oscar win and so can turn a profit.
That said, the “curse” may be no bad thing. I suspect Bong knew Mickey 17 wouldn’t cover the costs but felt like this was his chance to get an expensive film made on the studio’s dime. He may even have enjoyed the idea of an anticapitalist film getting a great reception but costing a big American studio money. He’ll not have any problem getting future projects funded because of this, they may just have a more modest budget.
xyzzy@lemm.ee 3 days ago
tiramichu@lemm.ee 4 days ago
Totally. I feel like winning Best Director is your one-time free pass to get a risky project greenlit that normally you could never.
And if those movies don’t smash the box office then maybe, in part, it’s because the director quietly never intended them to be the kind of movie that would.