'One Hit Wonder' directors?
 

What are the biggest one hit wonder directors out there?

Please post their "one hit" film with the name, it'll help me with this :D Thank you!

Re: 'One Hit Wonder' directors?
 

First one that comes to mind is Richard Kelly, who directed Donnie Darko.

Re: 'One Hit Wonder' directors?
 

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, directed The Lives of Others then made The Tourist.

Charles Laughton only directed Night of the Hunter so I'm not sure if he counts.

I think there's a thread on this around here somewhere, at least similar.

Re: 'One Hit Wonder' directors?
 

It depends what "one hit" means.

Re: 'One Hit Wonder' directors?
 

Paul WS Anderson with Event Horizon.


The rest is dodgy at best yet he still gets gigs.

Re: 'One Hit Wonder' directors?
 

Richard Kelly for Donnie Darko
James McTeigue for V For Vendetta
Sam Mendes for American Beauty

Up to you posting that I thought the Wachowski's directed V. Mendes has some good flicks. I don't even think American Beauty is his best.

From the looks of it, it appears to be about filmmakers who have only made one good film while the rest have all been...not good. At least, that is my understanding and Cole can clarify if it he wants to.

That being said, I had that exact idea for a thread ages ago but obviously never got around to posting a thread (oh, well). My two main candidates for the "one good film" stipulation are Bruce Robinson and Alex Cox on the basis of Withnail & I and Repo Man respectively.

If a director's only known success is one movie and one movie only.

Re: 'One Hit Wonder' directors?
 

Guy Ritchie for Snatch

Re: 'One Hit Wonder' directors?
 

What about Billy Bob Thornton with Sling Blade.

Re: 'One Hit Wonder' directors?
 

Judy Berlin (1999) by Eric Mendelsohn.

Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was great too. But then he went to sh*t, so we agree post Snatch.

LSaTSB was a mini-snatch! :p

Re: 'One Hit Wonder' directors?
 

A few of these really don't count.

Even if you don't like any of Guy Ritchie's movies other than Snatch, he made truckloads of money with the Sherlock Holmes films. Even if American Beauty is the only Mendes film you enjoy, he made the 11th highest grossing film of all time...

That does narrow it down an awful lot. I think Bruce Robinson would still count because Withnail & I is a cult success, while everything else he's directed hasn't matched up (not even The Rum Diary). Alex Cox might be different because I'm sure plenty of people will care more about Sid and Nancy than about Repo Man.

Re: 'One Hit Wonder' directors?
 

Peter Jackson with LOTR Trilogy.


The Hobbit trilogy isn't a patch on LOTR, King Kong is overblown and has little rewatch value. The rest of his stuff before LOTR is highly amateur and the stuff since LOTR has been bloated and full of hot air with little payoff.

Re: 'One Hit Wonder' directors?
 

Be interesting to see which directors are the opposite of a One Hit Wonder.


As in, every movie they've made has been gold, except for just one.

I wouldnt say gold, but Fincher's movies minus Alien3 are all good.

Re: 'One Hit Wonder' directors?
 

Tony Kaye - American History X
Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez - Blair Witch Project