It seems that there’s always a directorial controversy in the film industry nowadays. There’s the Zack Snyder/Joss Whedon “Justice League” fiasco. More recently, there was the issue between Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who were replaced by Ron Howard on “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” Coming up later this year, we have “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which saw original director Bryan Singer fired and replaced with Dexter Fletcher. All three of these instances ended with the studio deciding to credit one person with the finished film. That won’t be the case with the upcoming “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.”
Unlike the previously mentioned directorial changes, it appears that the change at the helm of ‘Nutcracker’ was not only a mutually agreed circumstance but ended with both directors being happy with the change. With that being said, according to The Hollywood Reporter, both Lasse Hallstrom and Joe Johnston will share directorial credit on the upcoming Disney film.
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The circumstances surrounding the change in director of ‘Nutcracker’ are unique. Hallstrom finished principal photography, but due to a reported scheduling conflict, Johnston was brought on board to shoot the reshoots. The ‘Nutcracker’ reshoots ended up taking 32 days and included new material from writer Tom McCarthy. That is what led to the decision to have them both receive credit.
While you may be thinking that sharing credit is the obvious choice for these films, it’s not as simple as that. The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has very specific rules about who gets directorial credit on films. Unless you’re an established duo (i.e. – The Russo Brothers, The Coen Brothers, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, etc…), the DGA almost exclusively requires one person to have directorial credit.
That’s why, in the case of ‘Solo,’ “Justice League,” and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” there have been questions about who gets what credit, and normally with the spurned director getting another credit (producer, writer, etc…). But according to the report, Hallstrom approached the studio with the idea to share credit with Johnston, and ultimately it was approved by the DGA.
“It was an absolute blessing to have Joe Johnston step in when it became clear that I wouldn’t be available for reshoots,” Hallstrom said in a statement. “Joe is the ultimate expert in visual effects and I enjoyed collaborating with him on this film.”
“I watched an early cut of ‘The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,’ and I saw something unique and fresh,” said Johnston in a statement. “When I was asked to direct the remaining elements, I saw an opportunity to complete Lasse’s wonderful and wildly inventive vision. I know we’ll both be proud of the end result.”
We’ll see if all this hard work and collaboration pay off when “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” hits theaters November 2.