Movies that are radical departures of style for the director?

[Sixgun]

I was thinking of how No Country for Old Men is so different from all the other Coen brothers movies (the most similar would be probably Blood Simple) and I wondered if there any more examples of directors which have a certain determined style, and then change it radically with a movie?

[jord2006]

Scorsese - Gangs of New York

Spielberg - Munich

[AndrewDB]

Spielberg - Munich

I was going to say this, but does Spielberg even have a definitive and set style?

[Freddy Krueger]

It cracks me up that Robert Rodriguez has a resume that has horror and action movies like Planet Terror, Sin City, The Faculty, From Dusk Til Dawn, and Desperado; but also has movies like Spy Kids 1, 2, & 3, and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl.

[LordSimen]

I was going to say this, but does Spielberg even have a definitive and set style?

He has two styles. Munich falls into one of them.

One of those styles is his blockbuster films such as Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park, etc.. But then he also has the style he uses when he makes his historical dramas like The Color Purple, Munich and Scheindler's list.

[DarthWade]

Mission To Mars - Brian DePalma.

That was a departure all right...and it was awful. This movie was terrible beyond belief. He's a good director, but this was a total and complete mess.

[therealjohng]

Spielberg has no set style.

[echo_bravo]

There Will Be Blood- PT Anderson

Sure, it had the booming score but it didnt have the whole big cast that he normally has and there was no humor in it(we are all used to PT's dark sense of humor in his previous films). It was more of a character study. And not to mention a period piece.

[Oldskin]

Yes Scorsese is known to switch it up a bit, P.T Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love is quite different from his other directing efforts, very eccentric and the visual style is unique.

[Digifruitella]

You could call Cameron's Titanic pretty radical in the sense that it is a completely different medium than he is used to be working in.

[Le_Big_Mac]

The Bitter Tea of General Yen (Frank Capra)
The Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander Mackendrick)
American Graffiti (George Lucas)
Jack (Francis Ford Coppola)

[Sonny Corleone]

There Will Be Blood- PT Anderson

Sure, it had the booming score but it didnt have the whole big cast that he normally has and there was no humor in it(we are all used to PT's dark sense of humor in his previous films). It was more of a character study. And not to mention a period piece.

Really? There were moments in TWBB where I was laughing out loud.

[therealjohng]

There Will Be Blood- PT Anderson

Sure, it had the booming score but it didnt have the whole big cast that he normally has and there was no humor in it(we are all used to PT's dark sense of humor in his previous films). It was more of a character study. And not to mention a period piece.


I agree that this is a pretty radical departure for him, but I agree with another schmoe that his humor is still there. The final scene of the movie is fucking hilarious. And I mean that in a good way.

[Benj]

I think the most radical departure is David Gordon Green with The Pineapple Express.

If you watch George Washington, Undertow, All The Real Girls and Snow Angels, you'll know why.

[LordSimen]

Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, as well as Tim Burton's Ed Wood. Both are the two movies in his filmography that stick out the most for me as showcasing two completely different styles that Burton normally doesn't use.

[athf1980]

Music of the heart-wes craven

[Powerslave]

Woody Allen's Interiors. That was a huge departure from the comedies he'd been almost exclusively doing, though the triple play of Annie Hall (1977), Interiors (1978), and Manhattan (1979) cumulatively represent a pretty radical shift in the man's career as a whole.

Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night, as well.

Scorsese's After Hours also comes to mind.

And though I haven't yet seen it, as someone else said Pineapple Express seems like it will be an enormous departure from everything else David Gordon Green has done.

[speedbeaver]

Get Rich or Die Tryin'-Jim Sheridan

[bigred760]

Francis Ford Coppola - Jack . . . he goes from the Godfather trilogy, Apocalypse Now The Conversation and Bram Stoker's Dracula to Jack!

?

[the clever guy]

joel schumacher...BF and B & R. not saying hes a great director, but he did some ok movies, and turns up this flashy....and gay.....shit.

brian de palma...mission: impossible. and an old school one which i didn't know he did...carrie. both seemed different from his natural "style"

[Benj]

Well, I'll say... I found nothing homosexual about Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. I did find them to be quite disappointing, however.

[dennisv]

Stanley Kubrick - Eyes Wide Shut
George Lucas - Phantom Menace, Clones, Sith.
Scorsese - Cape Fear (Aside from The Departed, I never really see Scorsese doing a remake like Fear.)
Farrelly Brothers - Osmosis Jones

[bigred760]

George Lucas - Phantom Menace, Clones, Sith.


How's this a departure for Lucas? He only directed two other movies, one of them BEING the first Star Wars.

[rilocay]

How's this a departure for Lucas? He only directed two other movies, one of them BEING the first Star Wars.

I think he means in comparison to Star Wars, THX (although i havn't seen this one) & American Graffiti he went from making good movies to pure shit.

But then again i think you could say those same movies i mentioned are a departure because they were actually good? :p

[bigred760]

I think he means in comparison to Star Wars, THX (although i havn't seen this one) & American Graffiti he went from making good movies to pure shit.


If anything, American Grafitti is the departure for Lucas since it's not science fiction.

[the saw is family]

david lynch-the straight story. this is the first one that comes to mind for me. he makes some of the biggest mind-fucks filled with dark characters and events, then presents a nice straight forward touching G-rated movie.

[spacemonkey]

Sam Raimi - For the Love of the Game - From Kandarian demons and demon resurrection passages to a lovey dubbey sports film starring Kevin Costner? What?!

[tbone]

david lynch-the straight story. this is the first one that comes to mind for me. he makes some of the biggest mind-fucks filled with dark characters and events, then presents a nice straight forward touching G-rated movie.

Also perhaps Vanilla Sky for Cameron Crowe

[spacemonkey]

Terry Gilliam - Tideland - Were used to seeing Fantasy themed movies from Gilliam, and yes, Tideland is a fantasy film, but its much more darker in tone, and darker themed, darker everything!

[electriclite]

Scorsese - Gangs of New York

Spielberg - Munich
Oooh close.


Scorsese: The Age of Innocence, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and Kundun

[spacemonkey]

Wachosky Brothers - Speed Racer. Visually speaking, it was a drastic departure, plus its a kiddy movie, theyd never done that before either.

[AndrewDB]

Ridley Scott - Matchstick Men.

[cocksmokinclerk]

swept away - guy ritchie
episodes of the office - jj abram

[deftdelivery]

david lynch-the straight story. this is the first one that comes to mind for me. he makes some of the biggest mind-fucks filled with dark characters and events, then presents a nice straight forward touching G-rated movie.


This one comest to mind immediately. I remember watching this thinking...was the DVD Box just one gigantic typo...what the hell is going on here? Where's the madness? I thought it was coming all at once for one freakish montage that just bursts out of nowhere halfway through the movie. It was like waiting for the ghosty face to pop out and scare you shitless when someone has you play a fake online game with your upmost concentration.

[Bourne101]

Really? There were moments in TWBB where I was laughing out loud.

Yeah, I felt there was quite a bit of dark humor. It worked very well.

[poopontheshoes7]

Frank Darabont-The Mist

Although its a Stephen King adaptation, the style is completely different then his previous films.

[jord2006]

He has two styles. Munich falls into one of them.

One of those styles is his blockbuster films such as Jaws, E.T., Jurassic Park, etc.. But then he also has the style he uses when he makes his historical dramas like The Color Purple, Munich and Scheindler's list.

Heck yes Munich was different for Spielberg. can you imagine the look on Dawson Leary's face when he saw that Spielberg had a sex scene in one of his films

http://www.copons.it/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/dawson-crying.jpg

by the way, i love Munich

[rilocay]

Heck yes Munich was different for Spielberg. can you imagine the look on Dawson Leary's face when he saw that Spielberg had a sex scene in one of his films

http://www.copons.it/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/dawson-crying.jpg

by the way, i love Munich


Man, not only did i forget how bad that dude's hair was, but how big his damn forehead is too!



Sergio Leone's Once upon a time in America i wouldn't say is too radical a departure, but i'm pretty sure it was his only film that wasn't a spaghetti western.

[Reigh Kaufman]

No offence to some posters, but a few of the films are simply a radical departure in genre.

For style, my choice would be Richard Linklater - From 'Slackers' to 'Before Sunrise' to 'Waking Life' to 'School of Rock' to 'A Scanner Darkly'. 'Slackers' was obviously really low-budget, but shares some thematic concerns with, say, 'Waking Life'. (It was the Rotoscope technique which was unexpected and radical, for him, at that time; looking at his body of work, however, he has 'Tape' - which shows he has a certain experimental bent). He reminds me, for better or worse ('School of Rock' is asinine) of The Beastie Boys. Tries different stuff - sometimes shit, mostly good.

Another one, for me at least, is Sean Penn's 'Into the Wild'. Sean Penn seemed to be a capable director, but one who was far more concerned with capturing the performance. By introducing a wildlife cinematographer and adding more light - as well as a surprisingly humorous (considering it's Sean "Buzzkill" Penn) sense of fun to his script - he managed to create something that all but disproved auteur theory.

Next up: Wes Anderson and 'The Fantastic Mr. Fox' and Spike Jonze and 'Where the Wild Things Are'.

[corran horn]

joel schumacher...BF and B & R. not saying hes a great director, but he did some ok movies, and turns up this flashy....and gay.....shit.

brian de palma...mission: impossible. and an old school one which i didn't know he did...carrie. both seemed different from his natural "style"

And then, Schumacher goes on to make Tigerland, perhaps his best film of all.

Well, I'll say... I found nothing homosexual about Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. I did find them to be quite disappointing, however.

Well, there are some honking examples of homoeroticism: giant naked statues, batnipples, flashy neon colors, Batmobile complete with disco globe, closeups of Bats' and Robin's rears and crotches as they dress...*shudder*

[JackD.Ripper]

David Lynch is the best example so far but...

How about Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers? Salvador, Wall Street, Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Talk Radio, Heaven and Earth and JFK(which showed some style) were all pretty straight forward and then all of a sudden he goes bat-shit crazy(in an awesome way) with the super-stylish NBK. U-Turn which came later was similar but felt like he just wanted to go for some crazy fun again.

[Orson-Cockart]

Leone: departing from the Western genre to make Once Upon a Time in America.

edit: and also within the Western genre, Leone leaving behind the fast pace of the Dollars trilogy to make the slower paced (but better) Once Upon a Time in the West.

[darknite125]

Tim Burton-Planet of the Apes
Joel Schumacher-Batman and Robin
Oliver Stone-Natural Born Killers

[Potzer! 37]

Scorsese directing a movie about Asian cluture seems like the biggest genre change.

Technique/style wise, I'm always amazed by the change that happened between "Love and Death" and "Annie Hall". As someone said, Interiors was the big tonal change, but just as far as technique goes, Annie Hall was leaps and bounds aside from his earlier stuff.

Speaking into the camera, long locked off shots, out of sequence structure, split screens, animation and I'm sure a lot more...huge change.

Also...Kevin Smith was Clerks II...the script was the standard stuff...but the direction was a huge change. Crane shots, 360 degree shots of conversations, mini crane stuff...a big change from the more still style he had before.

[bigred760]

Heck yes Munich was different for Spielberg. can you imagine the look on Dawson Leary's face when he saw that Spielberg had a sex scene in one of his films


Schindler's List had a sex scene.

[hoojib127]

I think the most radical departure is David Gordon Green with The Pineapple Express.

If you watch George Washington, Undertow, All The Real Girls and Snow Angels, you'll know why.

....which is why I hope he's not totally selling out (his next project is said to be in the same vein).

[ManBearPig]

Genre wise at the time Starman was a strange movie for John Carpenter to make. After the critical bashings the thing and christine got you can't blame him for doing something different.

[Scarface98.9]

I don't see why Munich would be seen as a big radical change. Spielberg had already made Schindler's List and The Color Purple, completely different from his usual type of movie, so it'd be another step IMO

[Cinexcellence]

Age of Innocence (Scorsese)

[tunedinlive]

I was thinking of how No Country for Old Men is so different from all the other Coen brothers movies (the most similar would be probably Blood Simple) and I wondered if there any more examples of directors which have a certain determined style, and then change it radically with a movie?

I thought No Country For Old Men had the same feel to it as Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing and Fargo so I'm not sure I agree completely. The only thing that set No Country apart from the others was that it had no music (If I remember correctly) and had next to no humor.

Sam Raimi - Spider-Man
Stanley Kubrick - Dr. Strangelove
Joel Schumacher - Batman & Robin

What about Francis Ford Coppola with Jack? What the fuck was all that about?

[franky4fingerz]

woody allen- match point

[therealjohng]

The only thing that set No Country apart from the others was that it had no music (If I remember correctly)


It had some music, but so little it would just be semantics to argue about it.

[Benj]

....which is why I hope he's not totally selling out (his next project is said to be in the same vein).

He definitely isn't. He wants to remake Suspiria and make a big action movie... His love of movies has led him to want to do all the unexpected movies, not the paycheck!

[normanbates3]

Spike Lee- Inside Man
http://movieoppinionsandtheories.today.com/

[bigred760]

I don't see why Munich would be seen as a big radical change. Spielberg had already made Schindler's List and The Color Purple, completely different from his usual type of movie, so it'd be another step IMO

Does Spielberg have a "usual type of movie?" He went from Sugarland Express to Jaws to Close Encounters of the Third Kind to 1941 to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Throw in Hook, Empire of the Sun, Amistad and Minority Report and you've got a wide ass range in his filmography.

The man has no norm. That's what makes him so good.

[ScaryFreak1827]

Wachosky Brothers - Speed Racer. Visually speaking, it was a drastic departure, plus its a kiddy movie, theyd never done that before either.

You beat me to it. Compared to the Matrix and even Bound it's definately a radical departure.

[Le_Big_Mac]

I can't believe no one's mentioned Fanny and Alexander for Ingmar Bergman. All of his other movies are so dark and lacking in vibrant visuals.

[a7xfan]

brian singer going from 'the usual suspects' and 'apt pupil' onto 'x-men'

but i guess he has sustained that type of film, with x2 and superman.

[EBastard]

Sam Raimi - Spider-Man

Joel Schumacher - Batman & Robin

Not exactly a departure either.

For Raimi it'd make sense if you mentioned The Gift (2000, 6/10) and A Simple Plan (1998, 9/10, but being that you mentioned Spider-Man (2002, 9/10), it's still falls under the genre of Action/Fantasy which is really no different from what he did 9 years previous with Army of Darkness (1993, 9/10) or 3 years before that with Darkman (1990, 7/10).

and Schumaker, it's pretty much the same thing because he did The Lost Boys (1987, 10/10) years ago as well.



SHIVER ME TIMBERS...

THE BASTARD RETURNS.

[Monotreme]

Richard Linklater is one of my favourite directors, and I love pretty much all of his movies... although I have to admit, The Bad News Bears seems kind of disconnected from the rest of his filmography. I mean, even his other mainstream work, School of Rock, features a similar visual style (floating-camera long-take shots) to his other works, not to mention the classic rock... but other than baseball, I really don't see any connection the pointless Bad News Bears re-make he made has with anything.

Another major departure worth mentioning is Ridley Scott's 1492: Conquest of Paradise, that huge Christopher Columbus movie he made in the early 90's that I think most people haven't even heard of... seriously, what the fuck was UP with that?!

[john_rambo]

I thought No Country For Old Men had the same feel to it as Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing and Fargo so I'm not sure I agree completely. The only thing that set No Country apart from the others was that it had no music (If I remember correctly) and had next to no humor.

Sam Raimi - Spider-Man
Stanley Kubrick - Dr. Strangelove
Joel Schumacher - Batman & Robin

What about Francis Ford Coppola with Jack? What the fuck was all that about?

I for one put Jack in the same Genre as Apocalypse Now and The Godfather Trilogy I don't know how a movie with robin williams as a 40 year old 10 year old is that much different than two of the most important films in the history of the industry. I mean come on, The horse head scene, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning", and Bill Cosby farting in a tree house really all have their historic marks in cinema(yes it is sarcasm)

Jack has actually always been a guilty pleasure of mine... but I can't believe its coppola.

[bigred760]

Just realized that The Last of the Mohicans was a bit different than what we're used to from Michael Mann. It's still a kickass movie, I mean c'mon - it's Daniel Day Lewis, but Mann usually does L.A. crime stories not adaptations of movies set in the 1700s.

[HoboJoeBob]

Surprised no one's mentioned Peter Jackson.

At first, he did grotesquely violent, low-budget horror movies and dark comedies like Bad Taste, Dead-Alive, Meet the Feebles and The Frighteners. And now, he's doing massive-budget, large-scale fantasy epics like the LOTR trilogy, and King Kong.


Also Bob Clark directed Porky's II and A Christmas Story in the same year. Before that he did Porky's and three horror movies including Black Christmas.