Honorable Mentions
Narrowly missing out on a spot on the list was Zach Braff‘s debut “Garden State,” because whatever one thinks of him more recently (and yes, his Kickstarter campaign got up a lot of noses), the film itself is a charming three-hander that is unfairly damned in retrospect for having captured the indie zeitgeist so well at the time. Charles Dance‘s “Ladies in Lavender” (sunk, we have to believe, by that terribly fusty name) is actually a weird and well-crafted drama featuring great performances, while Clark Gregg‘s “Choke,” Dustin Hoffmann‘s “Quartet,” and Vera Farmiga‘s “Higher Ground” also provide some strong acting showcases, but perhaps fall just a little too flat elsewhere for us to get super excited about.
John Krasinski‘s “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men” has an absolutely amazing cast (amongst whom Bobby Cannavale and Christopher Meloni are particularly memorable) but its talky, Neil LaBute-lite take on the David Foster Wallace short story collection lacks real punch, while Luke and Andrew Wilson‘s debut “The Wendell Baker Story” is almost parodically Wilsonian (it stars Luke and Owen) in its likability, but so insubstantial as to be completely forgettable. And this writer has a soft spot for Drew Barrymore‘s roller derby movie “Whip It,” but we can’t make any particular claims for its greatness.
And the rest
Some others we excluded on the grounds of the directors not being hugely well known as actors, at least Stateside, prior to directing: Richard Ayoade‘s “Submarine” and Andrea Arnold‘s “Red Road” were both not listed for this reason, despite both being definite favorites of ours. Lena Dunham technically qualifies, but again, we don’t feel she was fully established as an actress prior to becoming a writer/director, just as someone like Madonna was not best known as an actress before directing and, let’s face it, “W.E.” wouldn’t have got within shouting distance of our top ten anyway. Hyphenated hyphenate James Franco‘s debut according to his IMDb page is something called “Fool’s Gold” (2005) but it’s unavailable, so we did our duty and watch the same year’s “The Ape” instead, which is time we’ll never get back: suffice to say as exhausting as it is to keep up with Franco’s output, he’s come a long, long way as a filmmaker.
But if Lake Bell is right now the most recent example of an actor taking the reins, she’s not going to be for long. Ryan Gosling‘s “How to Catch a Monster” is due in 2014, Keanu Reeves‘ “Man of Tai Chi” is still awaiting a U.S. release (as is Jean Dujardin‘s “The Players“) and Jason Bateman‘s “Bad Words” will premiere at TIFF 2013. Who have we missed? Who do you think made the leap most successfully and who do you wish would stay on the other side of the camera? Tell us below. — Jessica Kiang and Rodrigo Perez
