10 Directors Who Bounced Back With A Vengeance After Failed Movies

You have to feel a little sorry for Josh Trank. Seemingly destined for great things after breaking out with 2012's Chronicle, it would now appear that director's career has spectacularly stalled thanks to his Fantastic Four reboot proving to be a disaster both creatively and financially. If scathing reviews and reports of a conflict-heavy shoot weren't enough to tar Trank's reputation, his film has committed the ultimate Hollywood sin and failed to ignite the box office. As a result, Trank's prospects as a director now look decidedly bleak. That said, he needn't give up all hope just yet - he's just one of many, many filmmakers who have over the years delivered failed movies, or fallen into the trap of an uncontrollable production. And sometimes, those filmmakers - as if spurred on by the disaster of their previous effort - have bounced back with great, generation-defining movies. Here, then, are ten directors who returned with a vengeance after some significant cinematic failures. 10) Martin Scorsese: From New York, New York To Raging Bull The Failure Looking at it now, New York, New York isn't the unmitigated failure its reputation would suggest. But neither is it vintage Scorsese, and at the time, the film went down like a ton of bricks. It failed to make back its $14 million budget and was rounded upon by critics, while tales of Scorsese going way over budget and indulging in cocaine binges during the lengthening shoot was enough to leave Hollywood much cooler towards the Taxi Driver director. The Comeback After New York, New York, Scorsese made a couple of successful documentaries, but his first true-blue fiction feature didn't come until Raging Bull three years after, in 1980. Now classed as one of the greatest of all-time, Raging Bull was immediately embraced as a film made at the peak of Marty's creative powers. It won two Oscars, and was nominated for six more; now it ranks alongside Citizen Kane as an influential, epochal masterwork. 9) David Fincher: From Alien 3 To Seven The Failure Alien 3, by all accounts, was a trial by fire for David Fincher. Coming into his first feature film after years spent making music videos, Fincher was saddled with a half-finished script, an unrealistic release date, a then-hefty $50 million budget, and a cast and crew with no idea what they were doing. Predictably, the film turned out to be a mess; critics hated it, Fincher disowned it, and the latest reports suggest Neill Blomkamp's Alien 5 will forget the film happened altogether. The Comeback Fincher can't take all the blame for Alien 3 - according to those involved in its making, the director hardly had any control over how the film turned out anyway. When he was finally given some autonomy for his next project, Fincher produced Seven, an intense gothic mystery, and the ultimate in detective dramas. The film was unexpectedly huge at the box office, and confirmed the arrival of a major new talent. Some even argue Fincher has yet to top it. 8) George Miller: From Happy Feet Two To Mad Max: Fury Road The Failure Seeing Mad Max: Fury Road this year, or re-watching the original Mad Max trilogy, it's hard to believe the man responsible for those was also the chap behind two Happy Feet films and a Babe sequel. Such is the impressive dexterity of writer-director George Miller, able to shift from post-apocalyptic revenge movies to kids' films and back again. On Happy Feet Two, however, Miller was not so lucky: having failed to charm critics or connect with audiences (the film bombed), Miller said "shoot me" regarding the prospect of a Happy Feet Three. The Comeback Mad Max: Fury Road isn't just one of the greatest action films ever made - it's also one of the best and most unexpected comebacks ever. Having apparently abandoned the kind of mature moviemaking that made his name back in the early '90s, even Miller probably didn't expect Fury Road to turn out as great as it was. After a long development period, Fury Road finally arrived as Miller's ultimate masterpiece - and paved the way for an exhilarating new franchise. 7) Steven Spielberg: From 1941 To Raiders of the Lost Ark The Failure Ever wonder why Steven Spielberg - with all his crowd-pleasing credentials - doesn't make more comedies? Well, with 1941 you have your answer. An ill-advised mix of slapstick, big blockbuster antics, and WWII-era nostalgia, 1941 is the bloated result of Spielberg at the height of an ego trip. It's epic, technically impressive, but crucially, hardly ever funny. Spielberg looks back on the film with little fondness, and the same goes for the few who actually paid to see it. The Comeback After 1941, Spielberg's went from perhaps his worst film to quite possibly his best: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Now regarded as one of the great action/adventure movies, the film spawned a lucrative franchise, confirmed the megastar status of Harrison Ford, and returned Spielberg to his blockbuster roots. Nowadays, there's no measuring the cultural impact of Raiders, easily one of the most iconic, quotable films ever made. 6) Ridley Scott: From GI Jane To Gladiator The Failure Though some do consider 1997's GI Jane to be the nadir of Ridley Scott's career, truthfully, the director had spent almost a whole decade in the wilderness before he returned to fame and glory. Between 1991's Thelma & Louise and 2000's Gladiator, Scott made 1492: Conquest of Paradise, White Squall and Jane - all of which were received with indifference at best, and critical venom at worst. The Comeback If we have one movie to thank for putting Ridley Scott back on the map, it's Gladiator. The goodwill fans and critics alike feel towards it is one of the reasons Scott is still such a Hollywood darling today, making high-profile films even though he hasn't had a real hit in years. It's understandable that this would be the film: so impeccably acted, lensed, scored, and told is Gladiator that it already felt like a classic in the year it was released. Five Oscars and a $457 million box office was its - and Scott's - reward. 5) Roman Polanski: From The Ninth Gate To The Pianist The Failure Roman Polanski has had some highs and lows throughout his career (for this article, we'll stick exclusively to the high and low points of his working life). After a barnstorming '60s and '70s, Polanski lost his cinematic spark somewhat in the '80s and '90s. Pirates is one particular disaster, but not much better is 1999's tepid Johnny Depp-headling horror The Ninth Gate, which drew a shrug from critics and little more from audiences. The Comeback There are many great films in the Roman Polanski collection, but two tower above all others: 1974's Chinatown, and 2002's The Pianist. The latter came as a shock partly because Polanski hadn't displayed such passion in years, but more importantly because the director had never made anything so nakedly personal, wrenching and powerful. One of the quintessential movies for understanding the Holocaust, The Pianist wowed critics and garnered three Oscars. 4) Ang Lee: From The Hulk To Brokeback Mountain The Failure Frequently cited as one of the most ill-advised pairings of director and material in recent times, Ang Lee and Hulk didn't seem like a great fit from the start. You have a filmmaker with a measured, deliberate pace and adult interests on the one hand, and a comic book character who turns green and swells in size when he gets angry in the other. Perhaps predictably, the result - The Hulk - received a perplexed response from critics, and did only average business at the box office. The Comeback Often referred to at the time simply as "that gay cowboy movie," Brokeback Mountain now looks like Ang Lee's definitive cinematic statement. It's a rich, aching romance, a small, intimate film (it cost just $14 million to make) that feels epic and that recalls some of cinema's great tragedies. The film won three Oscars, including Best Director for Lee, and continues to be at the forefront of the conversation about sexuality in Hollywood movies. 3) Danny Boyle: From The Beach To 28 Days Later The Failure Before Leonardo DiCaprio learnt how to do no wrong, there were films like The Beach. With the studio seeking to capitalize on the actor's recently minted superstar status, Danny Boyle was forced to fire original lead Ewan McGregor and bring in DiCaprio instead. That would be the first sign of trouble, which ultimately proved to be the least of Boyle's worries - the film's shoot was uneasy to say the least, and the final product ended up bombing with the critics. The Comeback Going back to basics is the best thing Danny Boyle ever did. Not only did the digicam-shot 28 Days Later cleanse Boyle's palette after the expensive, unwieldy The Beach, but it encouraged the director to experiment. The film looks like a Dogme '95-inspired horror movie, one for which the lo-fi trappings only increase the sense of urgency and terror. 28 Days made the zombie movie popular again, but it stands most proudly as the film that put Danny Boyle back on the right track. 2) The Coen Brothers: From The Ladykillers To No Country For Old Men The Failure Joel and Ethan Coen have a pretty solid record. Between them, they've been responsible for some of the best movies of the past 30 years; one could even argue they've only ever made one bad film. For many, that would be The Ladykillers, the most glaring misfire in the Coens' back catalogue; and, almost as though they'd been waiting for the Coens to blink, critics pounced on The Ladykillers back in 2004 and savaged it. Some would say it was a just response. The Comeback You can't throw too many superlatives at No Country for Old Men, a film that almost feels like a reinvention for the Coens after The Ladykillers. Less wordy than any Coens movie before or since, No Country is proof that two of the best writers of dialogue in the land also know their way around a set-piece, and then some. The film won four Oscars, including Best Picture, and put the Coens back in everyone's good books, where they've remained ever since. 1) Michael Mann: From The Keep To Manhunter The Failure Though The Keep has its defenders, few will argue that it's one of the least likely auteur movies out there. From Michael Mann, a crime guy usually only interested in pared-back action and characters grounded in the real world, comes this occult horror, featuring Nazis battling supernatural forces in WWII-era Europe. The film bombed hard and largely baffled critics, so it's no surprise that it's never even been made available on DVD or Blu-ray. The Comeback Though lately Mann has fallen out of favour with audiences and critics alike, post-The Keep he was looking to claw back any goodwill by getting back to what he did best. Manhunter was what he came up with, the original and best Hannibal Lecter (here spelled Lecktor) movie, and one of the most unsettling crime thrillers ever conceived. While the film's business was almost as bad as The Keep's, Manhunter has since gone on to attain true classic status.