AVQ&A: What’s your favorite debut feature from an actor turned director?
Dev Patel blew us away with Monkey Man, following in the footsteps of these actors who nailed it the first time they stepped behind the camera
Film Features Michael McKean
Clockwise left to right: Get Out (Universal Pictures), This Is Spinal Tap (MGM Home Entertainment), That Thing You Do! (20th Century Studios), Lady Bird (A24) Graphic: The A.V. Club
It’s always neat when someone you’ve admired shows off a hidden talent that makes you see them in a different light. We already knew that Dev Patel was a talented actor with tons of charisma, but now that we’ve seen Monkey Man—which he directed, co-wrote, and stars in—it’s apparent that his talents go far beyond his screen presence. His India-set revenge thriller is a triumph of vision that establishes him not only as a compelling leading man and action star, but as a filmmaker to watch. It got us thinking about the other actors who have proved themselves behind the cameras, so we posed this question to The A.V. Club staff: What’s your favorite feature debut by an actor turned director? Here are our answers, in order of release date.
29 Comments
Sarah Polley’s debut Away From Her is up there for me. Really lovely, haunting movie.
Bill Paxton’s FRAILTY (2001) is one of my favorite underrated/forgotten gems.
More people definitely need to see it!
That film was such an unexpected surprise; very disturbing.
So good
Definitely! Paxton was so good
Sofia Coppola with The Virgin Suicides.
That’s a good one, since she doesn’t really come to mind as “Actor.”(I’m not being snarky, by the way. She’s only been in two Godfathers, once as a baby, right? — or has she done other acting? I guess I could look it up.)
She has had little bit parts here and there.
I was recently reading a book about Siskel & Ebert, and it reminded me of the odd array of movies I was convinced to see (and I convinced at least one friend to join me to see) in the movie theater in my teenage years because of their good reviews. This Is Spinal Tap was one of them. My friend’s mom came with us and I don’t think she was impressed, but my friend & I loved it.That Thing You Do is great too. What’s better than the One-ders hearing the song on the radio for the first time?
This Is Spinal Tap is one of my dad’s favorite movies, so I had the far less cool experience of having him show it to me. It went completely over my head the first couple times I saw it, but it only got better as I grew up. That Thing You Do was one of my other choices for this Q&A. Such a joyful little movie.
I watched Play Misty For Me the other month, and it totally holds up. It’s a lot better than you’d think it would be.
I think the issue there is Eastwood went on to make so many good movies that it falls into the lesser half of his filmography.
That’s an excellent point. I last saw it decades ago, but it’s kind of forgotten given his films since. And actually my first thought when I read the question posed, I would’ve said High Plains Drifter was Eastwood’s first.
With a debut this strong, people just might forget [Todd Field] ever did anything else.I’m one of them. Really? He was the friend in Eyes Wide Shut? Huh.Does the actor have to have been a capital-s Star when they directed? If not, I’ll throw Cassavetes’ Shadows in here as an Honorable Mention.
He looks so familiar that I went to his IMDB to figure out what I’d seen him in and EWS (he’s the piano player) is probably his most recognizable credit other than Twister. Maybe it’s because he looks like a cross between Ed Norton and Robert Patrick? I dunno.
No “A Bronx Tale” (Robert Deniro)?You know what that means A.V. Club.
Love that movie
That’s a great movie.
There’s always that Citizen Kane movie.
Zach Braff, Garden State.
Trees Lounge. Buscemi wrote and directed. Fantastic film.
Peter Lorre directed the German language film, Der Verlorene (The Lost One) in 1951. It’s a great noir.
Charles Laughton, The Night of the Hunter.
I took a look at Robert Redford. Almost you know. Depends on how you feel about his #1… “Ordinary People.” Numbers 3 & 4 are all-time greats, though: “A River Runs Through It” and “Quiz Show.”
Booksmart would definitely be my pick. Before that, I’d say Ben Affleck probably impressed me most with Gone Baby Gone
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, directed by the actor turned director duo Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam.
I think you’re being a little hard on Don’t Worry Darling, I didn’t really like the twist about what was really going on, but it’s still a good movie.
“Sam Rockwell ‘biopic’”A biopic about Sam Rockwell?