12 Great & Not-So-Great Debuts From Screenwriters-Turned-Directors

Frank Darabont — “The Shawshank Redemption”
Ok, so Darabont does have directorial credits prior to “The Shawshank Redemption” (for TV movie “Buried Alive” and short, no-budget “The Woman in the Room,” also based on a Stephen King story). But the period prison movie did mark his feature big-screen debut, after a decade of jobbing as a screenwriter on various horror sequels and remakes (“A Nightmare on Elm Street 3,” “The Blob,” “The Fly 2”) as well as several episodes of both “Tales from the Crypt” and “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.” And it perhaps has to go down as, if not the greatest, then at least the most beloved screenwriter-turned-director debut of all time, since the film itself, though a flop on initial release, now regularly tops viewers polls as their favorite ever. And in fact, screw it, we’re just going to go with “greatest” because mass popularity is in this case completely justified by the film: a lovingly crafted, richly drawn, engrossing story about triumph in adversity and friendship in unlikely places. It’s so goddamn stupidly touching and uplifting that we’re getting a little misty just thinking about it, so yes, “greatest” it is. If you’re one of the five people who haven’t seen it, hey, congratulations on emerging from that 20-year coma and here’s what you have to look forward to: Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is sent to prison for killing his wife, though he maintains his innocence. While inside, suffering under the cruel and corrupt practices of the wardens, he establishes a friendship with Red (Morgan Freeman), and little by little, finds ways to alleviate the horrors and injustices he faces daily, and those of his fellow inmates. Leading to one of the most satisfyingly-earned endings in Hollywood film history and with every single actor from the leads to the supporting cast (William Sadler, Clancy Brown, and Bob Gunton among them) on not just career-best but definitive form, ‘Shawshank’ is simply a masterclass in classic Hollywood storytelling, on every conceivable level.

Subsequent Career: Darabont went back to prison, and to another non-horror Stephen King story for his directorial follow-up in 1999 “The Green Mile,” which is a strong film, if not quite attaining Shawshankian heights in balancing sentimentality with surprise. 2001’s “The Majestic” was a disappointment though, and Darabont didn’t direct again until 2007 when he came roaring back (on to our radars, at least) with the entirely unexpected “The Mist” a beefed-up nasty B-movie that boasts simply one of the most audacious endings to any non-arthouse film that we’ve ever seen — so unbelievably bleak it’s somehow laugh-out-loud funny. But he’s also been busy on the writing front of late; Darabont wrote and ran season 1 of “The Walking Dead,” has written the upcoming “Godzilla” reboot, and already has a 6-episode order from TNT for “Lost Angel” (aka “L.A. Noir“).

Mike White – “Year of the Dog”
Maybe one of the purest expressions of “screenwriter-turned-director” (though he’s also an actor given to appearing in character roles in some of his films) Mike White had, in years leading to 2007, carved out quite a distinctive place for himself as an indie screenwriter dealing more in low-key human dramedy than some of the more bombastic Shane Black-types, or more mainstream Steve Zaillian-types on our list. But after TV stints on “Dawson’s Creek,” “Freaks and Geeks” and the short-lived “Pasadena” and screenplays for “Dead Man on Campus,” “Chuck and Buck,” “Orange County” and “The Good Girl,” White really stepped up a league when his screenplay for “The School of Rock” became the endearing and successful Richard Linklater picture. After penning “Nacho Libre” for “School of Rock” star Jack Black, White took his own first turn behind the camera, with the self-penned “Year of the Dog.” The film didn’t do much on release, and it’s not hard to see why — starting out as a sweet quirky comedy and devolving into something with a much sourer heart and quite the pessimistic streak (at least as far as humans are concerned) it’s a film that is difficult to categorize, and therefore sell, without disappointing the audiences who show up expecting something a bit more straightforward. However, leaving genre expectation aside, it’s really kind of a great little picture, in which “SNL” regular Molly Shannon, a dog lover grieving the death of her beloved beagle goes through, essentially, a slow breakdown that may see her end up a less likable, supportive friend, sister, employee and aunt than she once was, but perhaps a more true-to-herself person instead. The film kind of got it in the ear from all sides: pet lovers expecting a sort of “Marley and Me” sweetness were unhappy with the very dark turn the film takes, while many others were put off by a perceived “pro-PETA agenda,” and still others found the tonal shift from comedy to near-tragedy just too big a stretch. But we see in it a great, if tiny and hyper-stylized, character study of a woman struggling against and finally accepting her own marginalization from the mainstream. In which it’s a good primer for White’s underrated and now sadly cancelled TV show “Enlightened.”

Subsequent career: Well, aside from the Laura Dern-starring “Enlightened,” and leaving the perenially empty director’s chair on “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” White has recently signed on to adapt “The Good Luck of Right Now” the forthcoming book from “Silver Linings Playbook” novelist Matthew Quick.

4 Not-So-Great Debuts

Dustin Lance Black – “Virginia”
Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black shot into prominence fast, winning a WGA award for his work on “Big Love” and then an Academy Award for Gus Van Sant’s Harvey Milk story, “Milk.” When you hit it big this early on, you can usually do whatever you want and so Black used that cachet to score funding for his directorial debut, “Virginia” (originally known as “What’s Wrong with Virginia”). Penned by Black and starring a strong ensemble cast of Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Emma Roberts, Carrie Preston, and Toby Jones, “Virginia” had everything going for it, but whatever anticipative buzz it had going for it slammed dead in its tracks when it debuted at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival to unintentional laughs and scattered applause and coughs at best. About too many damn things at once, the movie followed a psychologically disturbed woman (Connelly) with whom the local sheriff (Harris) has engaged in a two-decade-long affair. But it’s also a coming-of-age tale that centers on her son Harrison Gilbertson who begins to date the sheriff’s daughter (Roberts) which begins to affect his state senate bid. A quirked-up tonally mangled mess of a movie, with kooky comedy sitting next to drama, audiences actually didn’t know whether it was meant to be funny or not. And while Black did try and salvage it with an overhaul, retitling it “Virginia” and finally releasing it two years later in 2012, the movie was only marginally better and anyway, by then the damage had been done.

Subsequent Career: Dustin Lance Black’s screenwriting career doesn’t seem to be in any jeopardy, however. He was hired to write Clint Eastwood’s “J. Edgar” and he also wrote an adaptation of Tom Wolfe‘s book “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test” for Gus Van Sant to direct which hasn’t been made yet. Journeyman film and TV guy Paris Barclay was slated to direct his screenplay “A Life Like Mine” at one point and he probably has no shortage of work. Yet, we’d be surprised if he got behind the camera again any time soon if only because the critical sting of “Virginia” probably hasn’t quite gone away yet.