Where Are the Next Great Film Directors? - James Ivory

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/08/05/James_Ivory_of_Merchant_Ivory_Productions

Director James Ivory says the current state of advanced cinematic technology would allow for creation of great films on par with the "great Russian novels." However, he recognizes no currently active directors with the potential to craft films of that caliber.

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The film company Merchant Ivory Productions, founded in 1961 by Ivory, Merchant and Jhabvala, is best known for its period pieces and the range of locations in which its movies have been shot: Delhi, Bombay, and Benares; London, Paris and Florence; New York, New England and Texas. Merchant Ivory films have been praised for their visual beauty, mature and intelligent themes, and the shrewd casting and fine acting from which they derive their unique power.

Ivory was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Direction for A Room with a View (1985), Howard's End (1992), and Remains of the Day (1993). He has also directed six different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Vanessa Redgrave, Denholm Elliot, Maggie Smith, Emma Thompson, Joanne Woodward and Anthony Hopkins. - Chautauqua Institution

James Ivory is an award-winning American film director, best known for the results of his long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, which included both Indian-born producer Ismail Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Their films won six Academy Awards.

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[ApocalypticMetalHead]

Films of late have gone to hell, it's the marketplace that forces the many great directors we have to make these big budget stinkers to please the dumb masses. In the last 5+ years, the less-funded independent film industry has come out with better films than our current giants! What does that say? It says profit comes before film. Somebody please name a big budget film of late that didn't have BULLSHIT written all over it. And Slumdog Millionaire doesn't count because I haven't seen it.

[wimscheers]

The problem is rather the corporations and public then the directors. You don't get a big budget when you try to tell the tail of an old fisherman strugling with a fish, you get it when a hot chick bends over with huge fighting robots in the background.

[kenm31388]

@ApocalypticMetalHead The new Star Trek was a decent film. But I know what you mean. It's the buisness-minded studios execs who don't want to risk losing their jobs that are to blame. They keep churning out lame sequels, comic book adaptations and remakes.

[timothyj1966]

AGREED - with all our technology... if we don't have great directors, and creativity with beautiful, well acted stories.... movies these days all seem like blockbuster bores... bring back the Merchant Ivory production kind of pieces....exquisite stories - sets- top craft actors- stunning attention to detail and amazing screenplays...now that all makes a BLOCKBUSTER - so sick of America saves the World Summer Blockbusters..... " just saying':.....

[ANASTASIACHAVEZVLOG]

How about the directors that didn't get there by way of nepotism?

[Edhunter665]

@stefaa18

Alfonso Cuaron, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kevin Smith, after seeing The Town, I would even mention Ben Affleck. And of course Guillermo del Toro, whose masterful Pan's Labyrinth is a testament to art unlike the world of cinema has seen in years. It is this moment in cinema when I actually see it moving forward, with much more depth and edge, the likes of which neither Ivory, nor de Mille, and not even Ford or Altman could have imagined.

[RonAlmeida]

The fact is that every body who's after fame and fortune has got on to the band wagon. For them film is not an art, just cheap entertainment for the masses. So they target the lowest common denominator. The real directors find it difficult to find financiers, for they want to make a lot and not loose money. Money does not only make the world go round but also turns it into a cesspool of mediocrity at best.

[stefaa18]

Darren Aronofsky, David Fincher, Sopphia Coppola, Christopher Nolan, whats wrong with them

[Edhunter665]

Let me get this straight. The man who directed a series of excruciatingly boring movies, with Picasso in between, is criticising the directors of today for not making the same boring movies as he did? Talk about hypocrisy. Or self-awareness. He is simply absolete, and young directors(like Shane Meadows) could wipe the floor with this guy. Even his speech pattern is boring.

[TheTypicalGirl]

Great to hear that his mind is as sharp as ever. Means much more work from him. I love everything he's been a part of.

[delta2ish]

i think the great directer who can use the stuff these days is here christopher nolan

[cineasta71]

You are not saying much...