David Gordon Green gives advice to directors joining established franchises

After starting off his career by directing independent dramas like George Washington and All the Real Girls, David Gordon Green shifted over to making stoner comedies like Pineapple Express and Your Highness for a while, then made his horror debut by taking the helm of a full trilogy of Halloween sequels: the 2018 Halloween, Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends. That trilogy turned out to be rather divisive – some fans love what Green did with them, others were disappointed with how the story played out. Then he was planning to direct a trilogy of sequels to The Exorcist… but when The Exorcist: Believer was poorly received, he stepped away from that project. He’s currently doing the press rounds for his latest film, the family holiday comedy Nutcrackers, and during an interview with MovieWeb he shared advice and encouragement for directors who have the chance to work on established franchises like he did with Halloween and The Exorcist.

Green told MovieWeb, “I certainly want to encourage people to do it, but it’s challenging because you want the filmmaker to invest all of themselves in that project. When we’re talking about bigger franchises that have legacies and fan bases, that’s a really delicate balance. Because where I can watch Joker 2 and also see a very challenging and artful and passionate movie that’s made, if you’re a different type of fan, you might think, ‘they sabotaged my franchise,’ where I didn’t see anything like that. All I saw was a very specific, unique, one of a kind voice, doing their interpretation of a character. So I have great appreciation for that. I’m always just like, give me the amount of money that says I’m going to do my version of this. It’s responsible, because the budget is, in my case, always limited. But you can take chances, you can take swings, and you can make a passion project that feels very personal to you, even though it might be dabbling in the world of IP.“

It’s interesting to see him show his support for Joker: Folie à Deux there, as Todd Phillips made decisions on that film that really upset some fans, much like Green’s choices on his horror movies (especially Halloween Ends) were upsetting to some fans.

What do you think of what Green had to say about directors working on established franchises – and of the work he did on the Halloween and Exorcist franchises? Let us know by leaving a comment below.