Firmly cementing his "sensation" status by following up his acclaimed first season of "True Detective" with the grim, but well received child soldier drama "Beasts Of No Nation," landing on Netflix in just a couple of weeks, it would seem every opportunity is available to Cary Fukunaga at the moment. But one thing you won’t see him do is return to the HBO series that broke him out, at least not in a directing capacity.
"I’m always involved as an [executive producer]. Am I directing it? No." the filmmaker told Vulture about his role in the not yet announced third season. As for the widely criticized second season, Fukunaga, who had his name on every episode in that aforementioned producer role, says he hasn’t seen it yet.
"They didn’t give me DVDs ahead of time, so I gotta watch it like everyone else would," Fukunaga said. "…they finished it right when we started [‘Beasts Of No Nation’ press and premiere duties], so I haven’t had time to sit down and watch it. I like to binge-watch." Moreover, he adds that he had no influence on the second season at all because "[Nic Pizzolatto] had a second season, he has his own directors, he didn’t need any input from me." Being an executive producer sounds like a pretty sweet gig…
Meanwhile, though you might think the man behind movies like "Sin Nombre," "Jane Eyre," and "Beasts Of No Nation" might have something of an aversion for doing a big Hollywood production, that’s not quite true. Fukunaga teases that he’s in talks for some things he can’t reveal yet and adds that there are still places in the studio system to make big budget fare on your own terms. And it turns out there’s a Marvel movie he’s a fan of too.
"I do think there’s a place to make intelligent, big films. It depends on sensibility, too. I loved ‘Guardians of the Galaxy.’ That’s a comic-book movie. It felt really refreshing and different," he said. "Then you also look at people like Chris Nolan, who are making original content that’s also on the big screen. ‘Interstellar‘ and ‘Inception‘ weren’t based on anything other than something he wrote with his brother. It’s pretty amazing to have original content be on an IMAX screen or be a tentpole film."
As for what’s on the horizon, Fukunaga has options — "I’ve got like 12 things in development. Some are shows, some are movies." — but ‘Beasts’ arrives first on October 16th.
First time I find myself disagreeing with Doris on this site.
Let me correct you Doris."this guy does incredibly work"
That\’s just because you haven\’t watched his stuff on VHS yet.
this guy does incredibly boring work
Sorry, Jim but you\’re incorrect.
Fukunaga has said since the end of season 1 that he would have no direct involvement with season 2. The continual EP credit was/is given as part of his agreement to do season 1. Just like Harrelson and ole JK Livin\’, or Walter Hill on the Alien movies. Like Jonathan said, it\’s all about getting a piece of that action for as long the show is being made.
That\’s just smart bitness.
I find it funny that he didn\’t go around disclaiming he had anything to do with Season 2 until after it came out and people didn\’t like it. Before it came out, he had no problem suggesting he was still involved with the show even though it\’s clear that he had nothing to do with it. Executive producer credits are like honorary degrees….given to someone for doing nothing.
Basically means he just gets a big check every so often for doing nothing. "True Detective" obviously isn\’t "The Simpsons" in terms of popularity, but I remember Sam Simon or someone else saying Simon — who only worked on the first season or two as co-creator and executive producer — basically got like a $20 million check every year from "The Simpsons" for doing, essentially, nothing. It might have been more frequent too. Like every other quarter. I don\’t remember. Imagine that: working for two years and getting a $20 million check for the rest of your life.