James Gray isn’t afraid of taking big risks. Hell, his most recent feature, “Ad Astra,” is a family drama disguised as a space epic starring Brad Pitt. But “Ad Astra” isn’t your typical blockbuster (which might explain the low box office). Judging by recent comments, it’s clear why Gray isn’t the type of filmmaker that is going to settle for just creating some sort of popcorn movie. And he’s damn sure not going to make a superhero film anytime soon.
Speaking in a recent issue of Les Cahiers du Cinema (via Premier), where he was talking about Francis Ford Coppola and how filmmakers of the ’70s were pushing the boundaries of cinema, Gray talked about his “generation” of filmmakers and how they feel pressured into taking certain types of jobs to pay the bills. Mainly, he sees the biggest problem with filmmakers is risk-taking. He doesn’t like that many directors aren’t willing to take risks in their careers.
“Every filmmaker I know and was in film school with thinks, ‘I have to do this comic book adaptation or I won’t work,’” Gray said. “Okay, for starters, this is a cowardly position! You have to take risks! If you just want to make a lot of money or not take a risk, don’t become a filmmaker, make a career at Wall Street instead!”
So, if filmmakers are too scared to take risks, how do you fix the industry? Well, one of the ways that Gray believes things can improve is at the studio level. He thinks studios need to take big risks too, at least with two mid-budget films a year. Just to try to keep cinema alive.
“If the studios were smart, they would each produce two films a year for $60 million to $70 million and that aren’t built to make money,” he said. “Two films to take risks. Many would certainly be bad, but others would be very good and, whether they make money or not, they would allow cinema to remain the preeminent language of culture. “
Honestly, no matter what you think about what Gray said about superhero films, he’s not necessarily wrong about how studios should try to make a couple of films that aren’t guaranteed to have big box office returns. When you think about a studio spending $200 million on a blockbuster, they could easily spend almost half of that and finance two other films that might fail, but also could end up being massive hits. The likelihood of that happening though seems slim, as everyone in the studio system has a boss that they have to impress, so there’s the incentive to not take massive risks.
James Gray is currently working on his next film, the period drama “Armageddon Time,’ which has a great cast that includes Anne Hathaway, Cate Blanchett, Robert De Niro, and more. Hopefully, we get to see that film arrive sometime this year.