If “Funny People” comes anywhere close to matching the greatness of either “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” or “Knocked Up,” writer/director Judd Apatow has pulled off a pretty neat trick.
How many directors can say their first three films were insta-classics?
Some of today’s most notable directors took a circuitous route to fame and fortune, while others hit the ground running with their first three features.
- Martin Scorsese is a modern-day genius to many, but he didn’t score his first major film – 1973’s “Mean Streets” – until he shot seven previous movies.
- Wes Anderson’s first film, the overrated “Bottle Rocket,” paved the way for “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.” Anderson hasn’t been the same since, but what a nice way to kick off a career.
- Steven Spielberg gave us “The Sugarland Express,” “Jaws” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” after laboring for years on television projects.
- The Coen Brothers win the triple crown, delivering “Blood Simple,” “Raising Arizona” and “Miller’s Crossing,” in the earliest days of their career.
WWTW isn’t necessarily comparing Apatow to the aforementioned directors, who work in far more prestigious genres. But if you’re gonna make film comedies for a living, it’s hard to imagine a better one-two punch than “Virgin” and “Knocked Up.”
(Photo: Adam Sandler plays a comic superstar diagnosed with a fatal illness in “Funny People”/Universal Pictures)
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
George Lucas’s 1st three features: “THX 1138″, “American Graffiti” and “Star Wars”. He didn’t direct again until the prequels…
Or an even better choice: Tarantino. “Reservoir Dogs”, “Pulp Fiction” and “Jackie Brown”.
Good choices, all … in each case the director has yet to match that early blaze of glory. I fear Apatow will fall into that trap.
Rob Reiner: Spinal Tap, Sure Thing, Stand by Me, Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally before going more serious with more serious one-two punch of Misery and A Few Good Men. I’m one of the few who likes North, but admit it’s nowhere in the league of his first seven. Haven’t seen a Reiner movie since then, though.
I think John McTiernan directed “Predator,” “Die Hard” and “The Hunt for Red October” right out of the gate. And yes, I would categorize all three as “great” movies in the JohnFN realm.
Predator was actually John McTiernan’s second feature. His first was Nomads, which I’d never heard of before I looked up McTiernan’s filmography on the IMDb about five minutes ago.
So three out of four ain’t bad.
Nomads could be a lost classic, the equal of Predator or Die Hard. I wouldn’t count on it, but you never know…
Whit Stillman…. ‘Metropolitan’, ‘Barcelona’ and ‘The Last Days of Disco’ all great films