The No Longer Mighty Patty Jenkins
Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 1:11PM Hi folks, Glenn here wanting to discuss the troublesome case of Patty Jenkins.
As you may have heard, the Monster director was all set to take over the director’s chair for Marvel’s Thor 2, but things got derailed within the last 24 hours and now Jenkins is out citing that old chestnut of “creative differences” and will be replaced by somebody else, presumably quick smart since the film has a release date of November 2013.
As much as I adored Thor, the fate of its sequel is far from the biggest concern to come out of this news. No, I am more worried about what will happen to Patty Jenkins, the woman who broke through in 2003 and helped win Charlize Theron an Academy Award. Since directing Monster, Jenkins hasn’t made a single feature film and has seemingly fallen prey to the terrible female director curse that also afflicted Kimberley Peirce (Boys Don't Cry... 9 years between films) and Courtney Hunt (Frozen River... 4 years and counting). Why can’t these breakthrough indie women who were responsible for providing Oscar wins and nominations not get secondary projects up and running? Oh sure, Jenkins directed some TV recently – Emmy nominated for The Killing – but Thor 2, as strange as it sounds, was to be her return to films and I was mighty excited.
An even more disappointing angle to the story is that Jenkins’ appointment was a significant notch in the ever-fluid trajectory of the plight of female directors in Hollywood. Not since Mimi Leder and Deep Impact has a woman been given the job of directing such a big property (or none that I can think of) and now with Jenkins out of the game, I wonder where that leaves her. “Creative differences” tends to be code for “difficult to work with”, doesn’t it? I have no worry that Marvel will find a suitable replacement for Thor 2, but wasn’t the idea of a Jenkins-helmed Thor sequel just curious and curiouser? While Sofia Coppola is making movies about Hollywood thieves, Julia Leigh is caressing controversy with Sleeping Beauty (my review), Phyllida Lloyd paints beige portraits of Margaret Thatcher, and Kathryn Bigelow does everything but give James Cameron a run for his money, it was nice to know someone of Jenkins’ status could be given the keys to such an important vehicle. What could have been will now never be realised.
I do wonder, however, what other left of centre female director choice could Marvel make for Thor 2. Maybe Mimi Leder could be brought back to big budget blockbusters? Perhaps Lisa Cholodenko is secretly just biding her time to direct a superhero movie? And you just know Gillian Armstrong has nothing to do right now.
Who would you like to see direct Thor 2 if only they’d be given the chance?
Directors, Patty Jenkins, Thor, sequels, superheroes
Reader Comments (7)
I wish Streep who seems so insistent on working with female directors would give Jenkins (or generally better directors than Lloyd) a chance.
Imagine a Monster-level vehicle for Streep?
DOn't forget Catehrine Hardwicke, who was entrusted with the first Twilight (and, in retrospect, made the best installment in that series, except maybe the latest one by Bill Condon, which might edge it out due to his sheer wilingness to be appropriately tacky and over-the-top) (I know I may be damning with faint praise here, but still).
BeRightBack: Twilight. Once you're old enough, you can't take it seriously. The thing about Hardwicke: She's trying to build money for that Hamlet movie. Right now, it supposedly has supernatural elements. Great, she's taking the best Shakespeare and ignoring the ambiguity as to whether the ghost was real, which is it's best element.
I thought about Hardwicke, but I think the first Twilight movie was low budget comparatively. They dumped her and moved on male directors ever since. The idea of Jenkins working with a $150mil budget was just eye-popping.
Amir, I actually wrote about Streep's seeming hesitance to work with more auteur directors, and it is disappointing that somebody with no real skill such as Lloyd is given the keys to a Meryl Streep led Thatcher biopic when someone like Patty Jenkins is left to whittle her thumbs.
Another name I didn't mention was Mary Harron. She makes films at a more regular pace ("regular"), but hasn't had anything of substance to work with since "American Psycho" (although, "Bettie Page" had its virtues).
Until we get a female auteur (as I've defined: auteur means director with a fairly consistent set of themes across their films) working at the same pace the fastest equivalent males do (Scorsese, Coens, Allen), getting out 7-10 films in a fifteen year span, I don't think we'll see female directors working on a movie that costs more than, at the most, $70 million.
volvagia -- maybe the consistency is the problem. I mean Jane Campion looked SO promising to be that and then she just stopped making films for awhile. Same with Kathryn Bigelow but so glad she's back.HOping it doesn't happen to Sofia Coppola who is the closest thing we've got to a regularly productive female auteur
how about karyn kusama? all of her three films were flawed, but she sure knows about action... niki caro is another female director i'd like to see more of. same goes for australia's cate shortland, whose "somersault" is now over 7 years old (her germany set new film might debut at the berlin film festival in february).