They are not "vastly" different mediums. They're different, but not "vastly".
Fact is, she has plenty of directing experience.
Joss Whedon never directed a movie before Serenity, and now it's arguably one of the greatest sci fi movies of all time.
Drew Goddard never directed anything but television before Cabin in the Woods, and now it's one of my all time favorites. Granted he did have help from whedon.
Russo brothers directed exclusively for television before Cap 2.
Edgar Wright had only done television before the cornetto trilogy`
Directors like stephan spielberg, brad bird, ridley scott, mel brooks etc ALL began as successful names in Television.
Excellent post. AMC Movie talks about how it's smart hiring directors from the TV medium. It's a good choice no matter how you slice it. Is it going to be a guarantee blockbuster/hit? No, but WB is on the right track.
I think the issue is how much experience someone has before directing a megabudget tentpole franchise film, not about whether they directed at all.
Steven Spielberg wasn't considered a very seasoned director when he got the chance to do Jaws, even with two features to his name - the Sugarland Express and Duel(his expanded TV film got theatrically released in Europe.)
The Russo brothers had made feature films as well as directing for TV before The Winter Soldier; I was just concerned at the time that they seemed to only make comedies (Welcome To Collinwood, You, Me & Dupree) - strangely, something that never entered my mind when Jon Favreau got the assignment to do Iron Man.
Edgar Wright went from directing a cult TV show to small scale cult film comedies, before he got named as Ant-Man's director.
Ridley Scott was an art director for TV before he got into directing commericals. Before Alien, he made his feature debut in the small scale historical drama The Duelists.
Who's one of the few who made their feature debut with a big budget genre film? - David Fincher, going straight from commercials and music videos to directing Alien 3. An experience he regretted.
Did anyone have concerns about Joss Whedon directing Serenity, saying he had feature film screenwriting experience but no feature directing credits? I think we all figured Firefly was his show, he's the one to do it. Did I wonder if that was enough to make him right for the Avengers? A little bit, but he rocked our worlds as it turned out. A little experience is better than none.
So, yes. I'm mildly concerned about Michelle McLaren having no feature length experience, for such a hugely important tentpole franchise film. Even Patty Jenkins had one feature to her credit when she had the assignment to do Thor: The Dark World (before she was eventually relieved of the job.) Alan Taylor stepped in and despite being best known for Game Of Thrones episodes, he had directed features before.
We'll have to see if they will trust her to go through with this film, or whether she's a puppet being controlled by Zack Snyder behind the scenes (just as I'm sure he did to Noam Murro, on the 300 sequel.)
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"I'm not smart so much as I am not dumb." - Harlan Ellison
Valid points. Not having directed a feature film before will certainly be a disadvantage, but if she's truly as talented as she seems it can be overcome.
I personally see nothing to get "over" excited about.
She's clearly directed some great episodes of Tv, but without a proper feature film experience there's nothing to jump up and down about- Joss Whedon had at least done Serenity, and the Russo Brothers had done a few films.
For those wondering about what she's written before, she has 1 writing credit on Imdb for a Tv movie - "A Song from the Heart."
KMC Community Forums
Nov 25th, 2014 07:42 PM
It's not like that at all
