The 7 greatest film directors who fell from grace

Even before the rise of cancel culture, some Hollywood filmmakers and stars were as well known for their downfalls as they were for their greatest critical and box office successes. The most famous filmmakers are Roman Polanski and Woody Allen, who will certainly be mentioned, but they are not the only ones who have fallen from grace. Do they still release films? Sure, but certainly not within the studio system. And quite often not even within the United States.

The careers of those who followed them were either significantly compromised or destroyed entirely. There are many writers (and popcorn movie directors) who have faced varying degrees of controversy, but the names that followed them experienced significant Controversy. Note that if they are one of those who still release films, it will be mentioned how they manage to do so.

7 Brett Ratner

He is known more as a bookable director with reliable box office success than as an artist with a unique vision. Brett Ratner was a favorite of the studio boss for a while. He is best known for directing the Rush hour Ratner’s The Woman of Death trilogy came under scrutiny in 2017 when many women came forward with allegations of sexual assault and sexual assault. He has not produced or directed a Hollywood film since then and emigrated to Israel in 2023.

(E)X Director

His rejection seems to be final. After being fired by Warner Bros. in 2017, he didn’t direct anything for years and wasn’t even in talks. This almost changed in 2021 with a Milli Vanilli biopic, but that never came to fruition either. It’s best to leave it at that.

6 Bryan Singer

Bryan Singer made his breakthrough when he published The usual suspects (with the also canceled Kevin Spacey), which immediately put his name at the top of the watch lists of most major studios. And it wasn’t long before one of those studios, 20th Century Fox, snapped him up to join their X-Men Franchise. And after my return for X2he left Warner Bros. over Superman returns.

Another (E)X director

But after taking the lead in the World War II thriller, Valkyriethe box office flop Jack the Giant Killera return to Mutantland via X-Men: Days of Future Past And X-Men: Apocalypsehe got his first real chance at Oscar gold with Bohemian RhapsodyBut his alleged bad behavior on set led to his firing and replacement by Dexter Fletcher.

But his emotional and often physical distance from the production of the film was the last straw and caused Hollywood to break up with Singer. Specifically, in 1997, he was sued for asking minors to film a shower scene naked in order to Suitable studenta 2014 civil suit accusing Singer of drugging and raping actor and model Michael Egan III (as well as another suit that same year in which he allegedly did the same to another person, according to Vox), and a 2017 suit in which Cesar Sanchez-Guzman claimed he was sexually abused by the director in 2003 at the age of 17 (Forbes). When more allegations emerged in 2019, Singer was removed from all projects he was involved in, including a remake of Red Sonja.

5 John McTiernan

Long after he had made three of the absolute best action films of all time, namely in 1987 Predator1988s Die Hardand 1990s The Hunt for Red October, John McTiernan got into legal trouble with a film that can at best be described as inferior: Rollerball pen. Why? He lied to the FBI when he claimed he had hired private investigator Anthony Pellicano to wiretap two people.

The prison will do that

This included Charles Roven, one of the Rollerball penbecause McTiernan felt Roven was sabotaging the project. He only served a 12-month prison sentence, but to this day 2003 basic was and remains his last film. During his imprisonment, McTiernan filed for bankruptcy and has been officially retired since then.

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4 Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson was one of the most successful Hollywood stars of the 80s and especially the 90s. From the Mad Max and that Deadly weapon franchises to his revered directing work on Brave heartit almost seemed as if he could do no wrong. And this star status even lasted until the early noughties, with Chicken race, The Patriot, What women WantAnd Sign everyone finds levels of success.

He is still active, but his influence is undoubtedly weakened

But in 2006, the actor was arrested for driving under the influence, after which he went on an anti-Semitic tirade. In 2010, his brief relationship with Oksana Grigorieva ended in flames when he was recorded leaving her a particularly horrific phone message and was subsequently banned from contacting her or their daughter due to a domestic violence restraining order. At that point, Hollywood seemed to be done with Gibson, if only to a certain extent.

His public fall from grace was slowly repaired, and celebrities such as Robert Downey Jr. (whom Gibson had supported in his public distress) stood by him. But it was a slow process. After Sign (2002), Gibson did not have a leading role in a film until Edge of Darkness in 2010, and since then he has been seen more and more frequently in films, not to mention his Oscar-nominated directing work on Hacksaw Ridge.

And yet there is little doubt that the quality of these roles has declined considerably, because the role of the villain in Machete kills or The Expendables 3 is a different caliber than the co-leadership Deadly weapon.

3 Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski He has an Oscar and a rape conviction to his name, although the latter is probably more responsible for his notoriety (he was also the husband of Sharon Tate, the Manson family’s most famous victim).

After leading the highly respected Knife in the water And rejection as well as the equally respected Hollywood films Rosemary’s Baby And Chinatownhe got into big trouble with the US government. Specifically, he was arrested in 1977 for drugging and raping a minor, and after fleeing the US to Europe, he was banned from making a film in the country to this day.

At least canceled in the States

It was therefore cancelled in the USA. And yet Hollywood has not stopped releasing his films, nor have prominent stars stopped appearing in his films.

On the one hand, many consider him to be one of the most talented filmmakers of all time, so it may not be entirely fair to openly criticize Johnny Depp for working with him on The ninth gateAdrien Brody about The pianistor Christoph Waltz, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly and Jodie Foster about the underrated Bloodbath. It is quite strange, however, that there are few artists who have condemned him as openly as Gibson; Michael Douglas is the only prominent example.

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2 Victoria Salva

As a filmmaker Victoria Salva is best known for the creation of the Jeepers Creepers franchise, in which he directed the first three parts. And if it weren’t for his actions behind the scenes of his debut film, Clown House (featuring a very early appearance by Sam Rockwell) there’s a good chance that Salva would be better known today.

Why? Because not only the opening credits of the original Jeepers Creepers fantastic, but his powder has its fans and Clown House is certainly an effective thriller (though not often for the right reasons, considering that there is a scene in which the young protagonist is playing a carnival game and Salva is standing behind him as an extra, looking down suspiciously).

However, his options were limited due to his 1988 conviction for sexually abusing the 12-year-old lead actress in the 1989 film.

The rejection has finally caught up with him

How Salva managed any Films (including Clown House) is a mystery … until you learn that he was a protégé of Francis Ford Coppola. Apparently the conviction did little to Godfather The director’s opinion about Salva, as he has been in all three of his Jeepers Creepers Movies.

In fact, according to The Los Angeles TimesSalva spoke to Coppola and claimed the experience “would be valuable,” to which Coppola reportedly replied, “It will make you a better artist.” That’s the power of an established auteur’s influence, but fortunately the industry as a whole has refused to work with Salva.

1 Woody Allen

Woody Allen is one of the most iconic and respected filmmakers of his generation or any other. But as a man he is quite far from being respected on a macro level and in terms of his iconic personality he has no particularly good reason for this. In particular, the The Urban Neurotic The director married Soon-Yi Previn.

Previn was the adopted child of Mia Farrow and André Previn (they adopted her in 1977). Allen had contact with Previn between then and his marriage to Farrow in 1980, and by the early 1990s Allen and Previn had only grown closer.

He is still working, but is better known for his controversies than for his newer films

But it was closer than Farrow (and the cinema audience) had expected, because the Rosemary’s Baby Actress discovered nude photos of Previn in Allen’s house in 1992. According to The New York TimesAllen told Farrow that he and Previn, who was in her early 20s at the time, had begun a sexual relationship just two weeks earlier.

Allen told the press he was neither Previn’s father nor her stepfather, but suffice it to say that the vast majority of people thought it was close enough. Even if he hadn’t married Previn (to whom he is still married to this day), Hannah and her sisters The author would be known as much for his relationship with Previn as for his Oscar wins and nominations.