Successful or not, foreign (horror) directors receive many offers from Hollywood. Many, yes, but it’s always the same 4/5 projects. In this interview (jp), Sion Sono reveals that he “had other offers from Hollywood including a Hellraiser sequel but [he] turned them all down“.
“Other offers from Hollywood”? OK, but like what?
That reminds me of directors from the New Wave of French Horror.
For example, Bustillo & Maury (Inside) were also attached for a while to a Hellraiser sequel (!), as well as Laugier (Martyrs), and they were offered some really really weird projects:
One was called Croc Vs. Shark. It’s about a city flooded then invaded by giant crocodiles and sharks. Yes, someone, somewhere, came up with that idea.
Another one was Killer Kart. A customer dies in a supermarket then he’s reincarnated into a kart killing customers.
Of course, more conventionals projects exist, you know, remakes of french/asian/whatever horror films… But it’s still not really attracting.
As for Sion Sono, he’s working on Lords of Chaos, his debut-english language film about the Norwegian black metal scene in the early 1990s. How many bad (american) projects before finding one that looks interesting?
Thanks Ryuganji, Filmsactu (fr)
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Asian directors don’t say much about their US experience. But I really looking foward to watching Nakata’s “Foreign Filmmakers’ Guide to Hollywood”. Hope it ain’t crap.
I was about to say the exact same thing as Onna. But honestly, I wish if foreign directors, not only Japanese, wouldn’t try the Hollywood experience. Following the example of Kitano, an actual Japanese figure just as Sono Sion, in 2000 with Brother, when he didn’t felt in the Hollywood production trap, but stayed in his own world while making a movie abroad. Showing his own vision of a different world is more interesting than falling into it just for money or to do like others. If not, one day cinema will be the same exact thing everywhere.
Asked about his next project, director Lu Chuan said: