David Gordon Green Wants Action, Wanted A ‘Top Gun Maverick,’ Meeting But Didn’t Expect The Job

As noted in this intro to a “Happy Sad Confused” conversation with David Gordon Green, the filmmaker behind “The Exorcist: Believer,” the director’s career is confusing to many. He began as an indie arthouse filmmaker (“All The Real Girls,” “Undertow“); then started directing studio comedies, many of which were produced by Judd Apatow (“Your Highness,” “The Sitter“), and then, of course, he’s gone off on his recent horror detour which has included a “Halloween” trilogy that started in 2018 and what’s intended to be a new “Exorcist” trilogy that started this year with “Believer.”

The Lost, Unmade & Abandoned Projects Of Director David Gordon Green

The reality is that from the very beginning, Green claims he was a cinematic omnivore who looked at Steven Soderbergh, a filmmaker who’s tackled every genre under the sun, as his guiding light model. But one genre that has alluded the director thus far, aside from some elements of “Pineapple Express,” and that’s the action genre. It’s not for a lack of trying, though. In a new conversation for the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, Green said he still hasn’t given up on an old action screenplay he wrote called “One In The Chamber” (it’s a script we mentioned in our The Lost, Unmade & Abandoned Projects Of Director David Gordon Green feature from way back when, he has dozens of unmade film scripts, ideas and intentions). And if Green gets his way, he’ll eventually make it.

“I’ve tried [making an action movie], I wrote a script one time with my buddy Darius [Shahmir], we wrote a movie called “One In The Chamber,” said Green. “It still circulates, every year we’ll dust it off and say ‘who’s the guy that can do this? Who’s the guy who can kick ass, that has the testosterone…” The screenplay follows an ex-marine who finds himself deep in the jungles of Asia searching for his son who’s been taken hostage by the most dangerous man in Cambodia. “One In The Chamber” was first announced back in 2017 with funding but never received the green light.

If the unmade film’s plot sounds basic, that’s exactly what Green is going for. In the conversation, he likens “One In The Chamber” to “Top Gun: Maverick” and recent Liam Neeson actioners that, according to the director, “feel formulaic in the right way.” And ironically enough, when Green found out Tom Cruise was going to make “Top Gun: Maverick,” he asked his agent to get him a meeting about directing it. “When the title for “Top Gun: Maverick” was circulating, I raised my hand loud to my agent and I said, ‘just get me the meeting,'” said Green. “But that meeting did not happen. I did not get the meeting.”

With “The Exorcist: Believer” doing poorly with critics and audiences, it’s unclear how involved Green will be creatively in Blumhouse Production‘s already-announced sequels. If Blumhouse doesn’t make a new “Exorcist” trilogy, or if Green distances himself from them, maybe he’ll do a simple, unpretentious actioner like “One In The Chamber” next? Or maybe Green will surprise moviegoers with another unexpected pivot in his career. “The Exorcist: Believer” is in theaters now, and you may listen to Green’s “Happy Sad Confused” conversation below.