10 Directors Who Bounced Back With A Vengeance After Failed Movies

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.