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Theory about the switch from drama to comedy

posted 14 years ago by AmericanMovieFan
4 replies | jump to latest

He's a child hood friend of Danny McBride, who kinda got in with the Apatow crew and the McKay-Ferrell crew. Just because he made ultra serious films doesn't mean he doesn't possess a funny bone. In fact, the reality of most serious films is that between takes there's a lot of joking around, apparently. Same with horror. Supposedly the genre that takes itself the most serious, at least between takes, are action films.

Anyway, I think maybe he had some deep, dark, serious stories he needed to tell and once he told those stories he wanted to use his skills as a director to do some fun projects and has thusly turned to comedy. I love how involved he is with Eastbound and Down. I think it's an awesome breath of fresh air that basically 3 or 4 guys have made every episode of that series (so far).

Brian Peppers is my Homeboy

[–] FZ-FX 14 years ago

People tend to assume that every single director is a single-minded auteur. For every Wes Anderson there's an Ang Lee. It seems that Green is a big fan of comedy in addition to his more serious stuff. It only makes sense for him to develop more comedy projects while the iron is hot. He'll probably be able to scrounge up funding for a small-scale, low-budget drama since he's an acclaimed director, even if his next three movies bomb. Getting a funding for a big-budget Hollywood film on the other hand would be very difficult after a couple of bombs. So if he likes comedy and studios are willing to throw money at him why not go mainstream for the time being? Hopefully he'll eventually figure out how to balance big-budget, mainstream projects with more personal, artistic fare like Soderbergh manages to do but you've got to do what you've got to do to feed your family. Even if he decides to do nothing but comedies for the rest of his career he'll have my utmost respect and admiration for blessing American cinema with George Washington.

[–] dogstarman1 14 years ago

It's about the money Lebowski

[–] archer1949 13 years ago

I wouldn't mind the genre whiplash if he wasn't so mediocre to awful at comedy.

I haven't seen Eastbound and Down (no cable) but Pineapple Express was mildly amusing at best, while Your Highness was just awful. We're talking Seltzer/Friedberg levels of suck, here. The new one with Jonah (just because you are fat doesn't make you funny) Hill looks even worse.

If he wants to do comedy, they should be, y'know, actually FUNNY.

Jesus is my Best friend, but he still won't loan me money.

[–] GeneticSugarKane 13 years ago

You make a good point.