105
votes
Why does "No-one ever get it in the first take"?
So… why can't the actors just get it right the first time?
Well, quite often they can. They are professionals, they do this all day, every day. They have learned how to learn lines, follow direction, ...
- 51.7k
49
votes
What's the point of actors occasionally directing a TV show episode?
David Schwimmer, who gave the following response on the subject in an interview with the A.V Club, really wanted to try it:
The A.V. Club: You directed some episodes of Friends. How did you go from ...
- 6,181
44
votes
Accepted
Why didn't the producers offer Ridley Scott the chance to direct the 2nd Alien movie?
From alienseries, the producer blamed it on availability:
In 1986 Bobbie Wygant asked Aliens producer Gale Anne Hurd if Scott had turned down the opportunity to direct the sequel. “I’m not really ...
- 118k
36
votes
Why didn't the producers offer Ridley Scott the chance to direct the 2nd Alien movie?
We don't know. Gale Anne Hurd said in 1986
I’m not really sure. I know that he was in post-production on Legend at the time we were in pre-production [on Aliens], so perhaps it was a result of his ...
- 11k
33
votes
Accepted
Why didn't J.J. Abrams direct The Last Jedi?
He only planned on directing one. He took over when Collin Trevarrow was fired and presumably asked again.
Rollingstone Magazine - December 6, 2017
J.J. Abrams couldn't resist returning for ...
- 22.7k
33
votes
Accepted
What's the point of actors occasionally directing a TV show episode?
Directors have, ultimately, artistic control over the final product. While acting can be a satisfying endeavor, the true artistic vision of a story comes from a director. There is also a degree of ...
- 9,522
28
votes
Accepted
Who is the highest-grossing debut director?
Note: All information on box office come from BoxOfficeMojo, and was gathered by simply working my way down the list of highest grossing films of all time and checking who directed them, and if they'd ...
- 14.7k
23
votes
Why didn't the producers offer Ridley Scott the chance to direct the 2nd Alien movie?
The heads of Fox (which owned Alien) changed between the two movies. The previous heads didn't believe a sequel would be profitable.
When Fox's interest in a sequel was reborn, they first needed a ...
- 10.6k
23
votes
Accepted
Why did James Cameron decide to give Alita big eyes?
They wanted her to be like manga.
James Cameron's words from Yahoo News:
“I think Robert and I were both always in utter agreement that she should look like the character in the manga,” Cameron ...
- 118k
23
votes
Why does "No-one ever get it in the first take"?
Actors (and the legion of technical staff, as mentioned in Tetsujin's answer) can't "get it right" in one take because there's no singular "it" that they're aiming for. The final ...
- 331
19
votes
Accepted
Why don’t second unit directors tend to become full-fledged directors?
Director is a much bigger role
A film's director is "chief artist" for the entire project
All the other creative roles we audiences pay attention to are under the command of the director, ...
- 3,584
18
votes
Who is the highest-grossing debut director?
As per source for best directional debut, it is Tim Miller who directed Deadpool that grossed over $782.6 million.
Timothy "Tim" Miller is an American film director and visual effects ...
A J♦
- 57.6k
17
votes
Why don’t second unit directors tend to become full-fledged directors?
I've expanded this, because I don't think the accepted answer actually answers the question at all, or if it does, it's from the wrong perspective; that of the audience, not of the industry.
A movie ...
- 51.7k
15
votes
Accepted
Why does George Lucas not direct any more Star Wars movies?
The Walt Disney Company (Disney) bought Lucasfilm Ltd. including its subsidiaries in 2012 for roughly $4 billion USD.
Star Wars was a property owned by Lucasfilm and so is now under control of ...
- 9,265
14
votes
What's the point of actors occasionally directing a TV show episode?
For most actors it's about branching out in their professional lives. Directing can give an actor a different perspective into the way that a show is created and put together, so it could be about ...
- 424
12
votes
Accepted
Why do TV shows use multiple directors and screenwriters?
I believe it's mainly because of time constraints. TV shows produce a lot of content in a fairly small amount of time. By having multiple screenwriters and directors, they can prepare more content ...
- 2,428
10
votes
Accepted
What does a guest director do?
Tarantino was invited to direct a scene in "Sin City" (2005) by his friend and the film's co-director, Robert Rodriguez. As Tarantino generally has no interest in the use of digital cinematography, ...
- 7,915
8
votes
Accepted
Why didn't James Cameron direct further movies of 'Terminator' franchise after 'Terminator 2'?
There are two reasons. Both are discussed in this article about Cameron and the Terminator franchise
The first is that he says he's creatively finished with the franchise.
I've moved on creatively ...
- 6,230
8
votes
Accepted
Original script details of Flesh and Blood
Translated from a Dutch website:
The original story was written by both Soeteman and Verhoeven shortly after the finishing of the series called 'Floris, which was made in 1969. It was originally ...
- 1,862
8
votes
Why is Stanley Kubrick classed as one of the greatest directors?
A brief summary of Stanley Kubrick's Films:
Sparatcus (1960)
Nominated for 6 Academy awards, winner of 4.
96% on Rotten Tomatoes
Lolita (1962)
4 Golden Globe award nominations
1 BAFTA award ...
- 22.2k
8
votes
What is the adequate naming treatment when a film's director comes out as transgender?
Unlike academia, the movie industry doesn't appear to have any definitive "rules" or "best practices" in place to handle this type of situation; I expect that the Wachowski sisters are going to be ...
- 35.3k
7
votes
Accepted
Who is the highest-grossing female director?
Box Office Mojo has a more comprehensive list of directors that you can sort by box office gross.
As of this writing, The Wachowskis are the top-grossing female co-directors, since they both now ...
- 10.4k
7
votes
Accepted
Does James Cameron work with/for NASA?
Yes he does work with NASA, Since 2005, see this article for more infos:
Two years ago, not long after the Columbia accident claimed the lives
of seven astronauts, Cameron attended his first ...
- 4,577
7
votes
What is the reason for the many directors used in the Game of Thrones series?
Game of Thrones is actually three separate TV shows filmed and shot simultaneously, in different locations. There are three completely separate crews and teams known as "units".
Many big films have ...
- 71
7
votes
Where do the directors who didn't go to film school actually learn filmmaking?
Many of the generation of the original Star Wars trilogy learned largely by watching "making of" videos and using Super 8 and newly introduced consumer video cameras to hone their craft. Kevin Smith ...
- 6,889
7
votes
Accepted
Was Michael Moore a second unit director on "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade"?
That was a different Michael Moore (Mickey Moore, Michael D. Moore), born Dennis Michael Sheffield (1914 to 2013).
From his wikipedia page:
In the 1980s, Steven Spielberg hired Moore as second unit ...
7
votes
Accepted
What was the first film project to have double directors?
The first film ever projected - L'Arrivee d'un Train a La Ciotat (1895) - is sometimes credited as being directed by both Louis and Auguest Lumière. Other sources, however, only list Louis. As far as ...
- 790
6
votes
How did Peter Jackson get the rights of the Lord of the Rings?
After a simple google search, There are some details in the wiki:
Director Peter Jackson first came into contact with The Lord of the Rings when he saw Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film The Lord of ...
- 14.5k
6
votes
Accepted
Is there a specific term or name for Tim Burton's Gothic dark comedic style?
It doesn't answer your question directly and with a single term but I guess it couldn't/shouldn't be answered as such, too. "German Expressionism", "Gothic Suburbia" seem to be likely terms to ...
- 2,222
6
votes
Why is Stanley Kubrick classed as one of the greatest directors?
Few if any directors controlled their sets, props, lighting and cameras like Kubrick - I honestly don't think anyone would be allowed to do that to the extents he went to on a modern film. Watch 'Room ...
- 2,728
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible