Robert Zemeckis names the one movie genre America is “embarrassed” to like
With an impressive résumé filled with classics, Robert Zemeckis is not only one of the most courageous and successful directors of the last five decades, but the most versatile, where it’s truly amazing how many different genres he has managed to tackle.
It’s often surprising to remember that a sci-fi adventure like Back to the Future, a mixed-media satire like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a light-hearted crowdpleaser like Forrest Gump, a brutal historical drama like Flight, and several unusual CGI animated films were all directed by the same person, standing more clued in to what moviegoers want than anyone else, which is one of the reasons for his success.
Even films that received negative reviews, such as The Polar Express, were successful at the box office because Zemeckis could tell that they would appeal to children, but he has said he has become wary of certain types of films because audiences are “embarrassed” to like them.
“People love black comedies, but they will never admit it,” Zemeckis said, “It is a guilty pleasure. People feel embarrassed to say they laughed at that kind of a movie. You can’t generate word of mouth when you do a black comedy because everyone is ashamed to admit they really thought it was funny. So you have to make black comedies for very little money. People really enjoy them, but they’re afraid to say that they did.”
Zemeckis has often worked with studios that test films with audiences, which he admitted “is kind of a ridiculous thing to do in the first place”; however, he said that he is often baffled when audiences’ reactions don’t match the feedback that they eventually give.
“You’re sitting in a theatre testing your film, and people are howling, screaming, and laughing,” he explained, “Then the scores come back, and they are all like average and below average because people will say they are not going to admit it was excellent. They’ll say it was just OK. They cannot admit they were laughing at such despicable characters and subject matter.”
Zemeckis said that he experienced this first-hand when one of his most ambitious films, a dark comedy, was criticised by American audiences, despite having been expected to do well, pointing to Death Becomes Her, which “has been suggested that I was taking a shot at Hollywood’s vanity, because Hollywood is always the extreme. I think it’s everywhere. I think it’s this generation’s obsession with ageing. It’s sort of what I was hoping for.”
Death Becomes Her was a success, but it wasn’t received as warmly and didn’t reach the same box office heights as some of Zemeckis’ previous films, as he had just been coming off the massive success of the two Back to the Future sequels. Admirably, he has managed to avoid completely folding over and making films solely for the audience, as he still continues to make interesting work into the later stages of his career.
There’s no better example of this than Here, an experimental family drama that explored the passage of time as it related to a single home, and while the initial reaction was negative and the film was a flop, it seems more than likely that Here will be reclaimed as a misunderstood masterpiece in the years to come.
