Five directors who don’t deserve to make another movie
Hollywood is a landscape that is notoriously hard to get into, and for many, it’s a dream that remains just that – a fantasy that never comes to fruition. It feels harder than ever to get a foot in the door these days if you don’t have a nepotistic connection or lots of money, and even then, you’re not guaranteed success due to the extreme competition from pre-established names.
The thing is, if a filmmaker has repeatedly shown themselves to be financially successful, they’re more likely to be given funding and the chance to make more potential box-office hits. The sad reality of Hollywood is that it relies on money rather than creativity as its driving force, meaning many budding filmmakers with genuinely artistic ideas will never get the chance to make a movie.
Instead, we see the same figures given opportunities over and over, with many living off the legacies that they established decades prior. Yet, it was much easier for filmmakers to make movies in the 1960s and the 1970s, and it’s this luck that has carried many directors through years of artistic decline.
From Francis Ford Coppola to Woody Allen, here are five directors who really don’t deserve to make yet another film.
Five directors who don’t deserve another movie:
Wes Anderson
For years, Wes Anderson has been a beloved figure in the film industry, blurring the lines between indie darling and mainstream icon with his twee and offbeat pictures featuring well-known stars like Bill Murray and Gene Hackman. The director earned his place in the industry with movies like The Royal Tenenbaums and Fantastic Mr Fox, with his style becoming so distinctive and beloved that you can easily identify an Anderson film by his use of symmetry, saturated colours, and how he places his actors within a shot.
While Anderson still has a dedicated fan base, it’s arguable that his work is significantly declining in quality and originality. His last few efforts, like Asteroid City and The Phoenician Scheme, rehash similar casts, cinematography and themes from his other films, and it feels as though he’s running out of fresh ideas. It’s a shame, because he has made some genuinely great movies, but it now feels like he is simply becoming a parody of himself.
Sam Levinson
As the son of Barry Levinson, it was nepotism that certainly helped Sam Levinson to break into the industry. While filmmakers like Sofia Coppola have proved that nepotism can still result in some great movies, Levinson has consistently made work that he really has no business making. He tried his hand at exploring race as a tool to vent his own frustrations with being a (white) artist in Malcolm & Marie, which was a clunky and boring film, while his series The Idol was widely criticised for being objectifying and misogynistic.
Sure, he made the hit series Euphoria, but that has its own issues, too, what with its controversial and rather explicit depictions of teenage characters. Levinson has since written the screenplay for the poorly-received Deep Water and is also credited with writing some of Borderlands, one of 2024’s worst films. If Levinson left the industry now, we highly doubt many people would feel his absence.
Ridley Scott
Once upon a time, Ridley Scott was rewriting the sci-fi rulebook, delivering classics like Alien and Blade Runner to great acclaim. He then went on to make some more hits, like Thelma and Louise, Gladiator, and Black Hawk Down, but in the past few years, his output has been much more mixed. Exodus: Gods and Kings and House of Gucci felt like a far cry from the Scott we once knew, while his most recent efforts, Napoleon and Gladiator II felt rather rushed, receiving mixed reviews from critics as a result.
With accusations of being difficult to work with and his Gladiator II cinematographer John Mathieson even calling him “lazy”, it feels as though Scott’s time in the industry has run its course. He isn’t producing anything very original these days, yet he keeps being handed massive budgets regardless. It would be much more interesting to see up-and-coming filmmakers with genuinely exciting ideas be given the kinds of opportunities that Scott is blindly handed.
Woody Allen
With Woody Allen’s slew of sexual assault allegations and the fact that he married Soon-Yi Previn, his former partner Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter, it’s a wonder that any actors would still want to work with him. Sadly, many great stars have collaborated with the filmmaker in the years since his reputation became disgraced, allowing him to make successful films as recently as 2016 with Cafe Society.
Allen has had an undeniable influence on cinema, with his brand of self-deprecating comedy inspiring many filmmakers who have cited movies like Annie Hall and Manhattan as major influences. Yet, in the years since his very alarming behaviour has come to light, why is he still being allowed to make films? With A Rainy Day in New York, he proved that he certainly didn’t need to churn out another New York-based quirky rom-com, yet he’s made two more movies since then. It’s time he stopped.
Francis Ford Coppola
Like Ridley Scott, Francis Ford Coppola was once a truly respected artist. During the 1970s, he enjoyed a consistent run of successes in the form of The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, and Apocalypse Now, making him one of the most heralded filmmakers of the New Hollywood era. Yet, from the 1980s onwards, Coppola has experienced more cinematic lows than highs, culminating in his most recent flop, Megalopolis.
The film saw him spend $120 million of his own money, but it was pulled apart by critics and audiences alike, suggesting that Coppola’s tenure as a filmmaker should’ve ended long ago. Where is the genius who defined The Godfather, a film that changed cinema forever? Clearly unable to use his money wisely or come up with any interesting ideas (or at least execute them well), Coppola really doesn’t need to make another movie.
