X-Files Directors
laura capozzola
Spotsy have been in the news recently, I've been wondering what's
become of some of The X-Files directors. I really liked the work of
Tony Wharmby (Via Negativa, Trust No One (direction best thing
about that ep), Dead Alive, 4-D, etc.) and I always liked Kim
Manners work but I just looked them up on the IMDb and Wharmby has
only directed one episode of Without A Trace and Kim Manners hasn't
done much either. Rob Bowman, I know, is working on Elektra but he's
been gone a lot longer (about 6 years).
Why aren't these guys working more?
And considering the next X-Files movie will be a non-mythology
movie, who should direct it? If it's dark like The Gift,
Irresistible and Via Negativa, I think Manners, Nutter or Wharmby
would be my choice over Bowman. Nutter, I suppose, is the only one
with feature film experience but I think any of the 3 would do a
good job.
Do you think CC wants to direct it himself?
Laura
---
Visit: "The Many Roles of Robert Patrick" updated 11/24/04
http://www.lauracapo2000.com
VerlindaH
>From: laura capozzola laur...@erols.com
>Date: 11/28/2004 12:15 PM Central Standard Time
>Message-id:
>And considering the next X-Files movie will be a non-mythology
>movie, who should direct it? If it's dark like The Gift,
>Irresistible and Via Negativa, I think Manners, Nutter or Wharmby
>would be my choice over Bowman.
I'd go for Manners, I think--remind me of what XF eps he directed. Bowman
wouldn't be on my shortlist if we're looking for suspense and not big loud
effects-driven work.
VerlindaH
Alan McHurshman
> Tony Wharmby (Via Negativa, Trust No One (direction best thing
> about that ep), Dead Alive, 4-D, etc.) and I always liked Kim
> Manners work but I just looked them up on the IMDb and Wharmby has
> only directed one episode of Without A Trace and Kim Manners hasn't
> done much either. Rob Bowman, I know, is working on Elektra but he's
> been gone a lot longer (about 6 years).
>
> Why aren't these guys working more?
(1) People like Manners may have made enough
to still be rather pickey about what work
he takes.
(2) Also, after working on the X-Files
it may be hard for some of them to lower
their standards to the level of CSI or L&O.
(3) With all the "reality" junk on TV these
days there is just a lot less work for
directors of TV drama.
(4) Finally, by doing the X-Files some may
have got themselves labelled as scifi types,
and we know how little of that work is available.
> And considering the next X-Files movie will be a non-mythology
> movie, who should direct it? If it's dark like The Gift,
> Irresistible and Via Negativa, I think Manners, Nutter or Wharmby
> would be my choice over Bowman. Nutter, I suppose, is the only one
> with feature film experience but I think any of the 3 would do a
> good job.
Manners. If only for his vocal out takes.
> Do you think CC wants to direct it himself?
Nope. Too much work.
--
Alana H
laura capozzola
>>Subject: X-Files Directors
>>From: laura capozzola laur...@erols.com
>>Date: 11/28/2004 12:15 PM Central Standard Time
>>Message-id:
>
>
>>And considering the next X-Files movie will be a non-mythology
>>movie, who should direct it? If it's dark like The Gift,
>>Irresistible and Via Negativa, I think Manners, Nutter or Wharmby
>>would be my choice over Bowman.
>
>
> I'd go for Manners, I think--remind me of what XF eps he directed.
Well non-mythology ones that I can think of off the top of my head -
Home, The Gift, Release, that snake ep where the guy swallowed the
mouse at the end - it was written by Jeffrey Bell in S7 - I just
can't think of the name, Hellbound, Field Trip, Die Hand Die
Verletz, Humbug, Grotesque, Leonard Betts to name a few. I think
Kim Manners likes to do the dark ones. I loved the mood/tone and
lighting (but not for screen captures ;-D) of The Gift, Grotesque
and Die Hand. I always remember Die Hand because KM was wet and
cold, the weather was miserable and it was his first ep, if I
remember correctly, but then in an episode like The Gift, I still
remember the scene of the sheriff and his men in the moonlight after
they buried Agent Doggett. Very creepy. Very effective. Very
impactful director, too. He's good with shock and surprises.
The thing is CC said it would be a standalone but that doesn't mean
it will be a dark spooky one.
Bowman
> wouldn't be on my shortlist if we're looking for suspense and not big loud
> effects-driven work.
>
> VerlindaH
No, mine either.
pam
> but I just looked them up on the IMDb and Wharmby has
> only directed one episode of Without A Trace and Kim
> Manners hasn't done much either.
I wonder how long it takes to film an 8-hour miniseries??
(and from the names in the cast, it sounds like they
probably shot it in Italy or something ...
laura capozzola
> laura capozzola wrote:
>
>> Tony Wharmby (Via Negativa, Trust No One (direction best thing
>>about that ep), Dead Alive, 4-D, etc.) and I always liked Kim
>>Manners work but I just looked them up on the IMDb and Wharmby has
>>only directed one episode of Without A Trace and Kim Manners hasn't
>>done much either. Rob Bowman, I know, is working on Elektra but he's
>>been gone a lot longer (about 6 years).
>>
>>Why aren't these guys working more?
>
>
> (1) People like Manners may have made enough
> to still be rather pickey about what work
> he takes.
He's doing some miniseries called Empire or maybe that has aired
already.
> (2) Also, after working on the X-Files
> it may be hard for some of them to lower
> their standards to the level of CSI or L&O.
I don't think those shows would be lowering your standards, I just
don't see what's in them that would interest a director like Kim
Manners. It seems to me that for a director it would be pretty much
the same thing every week which doesn't seem like a good Manners
fit. You know, direction-wise he'd be bored.
> (3) With all the "reality" junk on TV these
> days there is just a lot less work for
> directors of TV drama.
Yeah, that's true.
> (4) Finally, by doing the X-Files some may
> have got themselves labelled as scifi types,
> and we know how little of that work is available.
Well, that I don't believe for Kim Manners. The guy cut his
director teeth on Charlie's Angels. I remember he directed The
Commish and 21 Jump Street. He's been around the TV block enough
before The X-Files to get all kinds of work. But now that I think
about it, if I remember correctly he had some kind of big producer
title during the last couple of years on The X-Files. Maybe he
doesn't want to take a pay cut or a have reduction of power. You
know in movies, the directors have more power than the writers but
in TV, I think the opposite is true so when one gets the kind of
power Manners had on The X-Files, maybe he doesn't want to give up
that status and creative power on a project to go back to just plain
directing.
Brian Manning
> Since we mentioned James Cameron in another thread and both CC and
> Spotsy have been in the news recently, I've been wondering what's become
> of some of The X-Files directors. I really liked the work of Tony
> Wharmby (Via Negativa, Trust No One (direction best thing about that
> ep), Dead Alive, 4-D, etc.) and I always liked Kim Manners work but I
> just looked them up on the IMDb and Wharmby has only directed one
> episode of Without A Trace and Kim Manners hasn't done much either. Rob
> Bowman, I know, is working on Elektra but he's been gone a lot longer
> (about 6 years).
>
> Why aren't these guys working more?
This has mentioned already, but I'm starting to believe what I'm hearing
from these guys in the DVD commentaries/featurettes. I think all of
them realize they were part of a unique cultural phenomenon and creative
atmosphere--one that they will never likely repeat. I think it's
probably very hard to summon the strength to start something new,
particularly given what they've already done.
Also, the climate hasn't swung back around toward serious television
yet. Perhaps it never will. Until that time, I can't see 1013 or a
significant subset of these guys getting back in the game. Maybe
Carter's next series (if there is one) will be on HBO.
> And considering the next X-Files movie will be a non-mythology movie,
> who should direct it? If it's dark like The Gift, Irresistible and Via
> Negativa, I think Manners, Nutter or Wharmby would be my choice over
> Bowman. Nutter, I suppose, is the only one with feature film experience
> but I think any of the 3 would do a good job.
My sense is that good directors are good directors, so I'm going to
stick with Bowman no matter what type of subgenre we're talking about.
Personally, I think he was the best XF director from a technical
standpoint (though R.W. Goodwin was very good, too). FTF, I believe,
was very well done, and I think Bowman deserves another shot at it. My
sentimental choice would be Manners, because I think he's a great guy
and was the workhorse of the show's final years.
> Do you think CC wants to direct it himself?
I don't believe he could be seriously considering it. My sense is that
he would try to enlist Kim to do it, and I think that would be a wise
choice. Let Chris manage the writing, the business, etc. There will be
enough of that stuff to keep him going twenty hours a day...if they ever
do another film (which I sort of doubt).
--
**********************************
Brian Manning
reply to bmanning at bcmss dot com
**********************************
Alan McHurshman
> Alan McHurshman wrote:
> > (2) Also, after working on the X-Files
> > it may be hard for some of them to lower
> > their standards to the level of CSI or L&O.
>
> I don't think those shows would be lowering your standards,
Oh, I think it would be a lowering experience
for me. The scripts are mindless. The mystery
and drama are about at the level of "Murder
She Wrote". No thought needed.
--
AlanH
Alan McHurshman
Yup. Carter or anyone else wanting to do serious
TV needs to look seriously at going the cable
network route. They may not have as many dollars
per episode to spend as FOX does. But then the
X-Files did not start out with a huge budget.
--
Alan
Alan McHurshman
> Alan McHurshman wrote:
> > have got themselves labelled as scifi types,
> > and we know how little of that work is available.
>
> Well, that I don't believe for Kim Manners. The guy cut his
I left out a possible #5. Cameron just
did not have an idea he thought good
enough to follow up on.
--
AlanH
WG...@webtv.net
something completely new, instead of the same old X-FIle thing. Not
that, that is a bad thing, but they were getting pretty bad towards the
end of the series. A lot of the season 9 episodes were badly written,
and badly directed. JMO
Sean Carroll
> And considering the next X-Files movie will be a non-mythology
> movie, who should direct it? If it's dark like The Gift,
> Irresistible and Via Negativa, I think Manners, Nutter or Wharmby
> would be my choice over Bowman. Nutter, I suppose, is the only one
> with feature film experience but I think any of the 3 would do a
> good job.
I would actually really love to see it directed by Nutter, though I'm
not very convinced it's likely to happen. Nutter was the first great
XF director, most definitely. He was the first one to have vision,
understanding of the show, personal creative style, and enough
artistic courage and integrity to make crucial and central aspects of
the show as much a product of his mind as of CC's. (The only crew
members who might have had all that before him, IMO, were the twin
teams of Morgan-Wong and Gansa-Gordon, but they were writers, not
directors. Well, now that I think of it, John Bartley may also fall
into that category, but again, he wasn't a director. Nutter was
definitely the first top-notch *director* of XF.)
Then in season 3, he just dropped out and disappeared. Though there
have been many other great directors who have come and gone since, I
definitely have always felt the lack of Nutter ever since he left. It
would be sweet to have him come back and make one more great big
contribution to the XF franchise. Not that he *needs* to -- he's
definitely already created a place for himself among the most
brilliant and important minds involved with the XF throughout its
history with the body of work he directed in the first 3 seasons --
but it would be cool.
> Do you think CC wants to direct it himself?
Probably. But I hope he doesn't, personally. CC has directed some
great episodes, and I'm not trying to say he's a bad director or
anything, but I just think that the kind of slant that the next movie
needs right now is the kind that comes from someone like Nutter or
Manners or Bowman. (The only reason I don't vote for Bowman to do it
is because he did the first one. It's time to let someone else take a
crack at it. ;D)
--
--Sean
http://www.livejournal.com/users/spclsd223/
'Nothing happens in contradiction to Nature. Only in contradiction to
what we know of it.' --Dana Scully, 1996
'I'd love to turn you on.' --John Lennon and Paul McCartney, 1967
'Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various
ways; the point is to change it.' --Karl Marx, 1845
SamPiper
>Date: 11/28/04
NOVEMBER 28TH!
Oh, for pete's sake! (and just who the hell is 'pete' anyway) It's 4am on the
30th now. THIS SUCKS!
Damn AOheL.
At any rate --
>that snake ep where the guy swallowed the
>mouse at the end - it was written by Jeffrey Bell in S7
Signs and Wonders.
and I'm almost postive at least 2 of the now 42! posts that are not showing up
have said the same thing.
Sam
E Pluribus e Moose-us
laura capozzola
> Yup. Carter or anyone else wanting to do serious
> TV needs to look seriously at going the cable
> network route. They may not have as many dollars
> per episode to spend as FOX does. But then the
> X-Files did not start out with a huge budget.
>
> --
> Alan
I think if I was an executive producer, in addition to the creative
freedom, the appeal of original series on pay TV (like HBO) would be
13 episode seasons. Also, it seems to me that original series on
HBO start whenever they feel like starting. The burnout factor is
lower plus there is plenty of time to take on other projects if you
choose to do that. Also, no advertising means less pressure to put
those 16 year olds in your show.
But cable TV --- I don't know. I think the only difference between
regular cable and broadcast TV these days is cable seeks out the
audience regular TV disenfranchises -- like me -- only because they
can't compete numbers wise with broadcast TV so their advertising
dollars are smaller. But since there is still pressure on them to
get ratings, they are very similar to broadcast TV. They just have
smaller budgets. They seem to have reality show (cheap, cheap)
fever now, too.
laura capozzola
> Why not go with a totaly new director? If they did that we might get
> something completely new, instead of the same old X-FIle thing.
Because a lot of fans can't handle change. Even if it was good they
would be whining that it's not like the old show so it can't be any
good.
A lot of the season 9 episodes were badly written,
> and badly directed. JMO
How were they badly directed?
I think a really bad story like Trust No 1 was somewhat redeemed
with innovative directing by Wharmby who also wowed on Via Negativa
in Season 8. Ditto ep John Doe. I even think there was some smart
moves by first time director John Shiban in his Underneath episode.
I know it was rumored to be a problem ep but I liked his use of
shadows and light and the way one particular memorable scene was
effectively shot - that would be the one where Doggett and Reyes
converse about a case in the foreground while Scully observes and
eavesdrops in the background. Spotsy's direction on Daemonicus had
some interestingly shot scenes, too - the floor tiles and chessboard
visual from high up, for one emphasizing the whole game aspect of
the story. And I liked Kim Manners work in Release and Hellbound
although I think he had a better year in Season 8 because The Gift,
for one, was just such an outstandingly done episode in look, mood,
and action. I just think he achieved the same thing he achieved
with Grotesque with that episode.
Alan McHurshman
> Alan McHurshman wrote:
> > Yup. Carter or anyone else wanting to do serious
> > TV needs to look seriously at going the cable
> > network route. They may not have as many dollars
> > per episode to spend as FOX does. But then the
> > X-Files did not start out with a huge budget.
>
> freedom, the appeal of original series on pay TV (like HBO) would be
> 13 episode seasons.
Yup. In Canada and Britian series have shorter runs
because of the economies of smaller markets. But
just compare DaVinci Inquest to any of the CSIs.
DaVinci is a better show if only because the writing
is far more thoughtful.
> Also, it seems to me that original series on
> HBO start whenever they feel like starting. The burnout factor is
> lower plus there is plenty of time to take on other projects if you
> choose to do that. Also, no advertising means less pressure to put
> those 16 year olds in your show.
Yup. Cable is developing into the adult medium for people
who are willing to pay. I wich that would happen with
the scifi channels.
--
AlanH
Alan McHurshman
> WG...@webtv.net wrote:
> A lot of the season 9 episodes were badly written,
> > and badly directed. JMO
>
> How were they badly directed?
There was nothing wrong with the directing.
The story arc was weak because of the now-
you-see-it, now-you-don't Mulder crap and
Mommy Scully with Baby Watzit.
--
AlanH