Anyone else experience an epiphany about early to mid-1990s sci-fi/fantasy directors?

[toddly6666]

When it comes to thinking about early- to mid-1990s sci-fi/fantasy films, has anyone else experienced the epiphany of:

1. not knowing the names of these directors

2. you never heard of these directors after looking them up on IMDB or at least they sounded vague but you would certainly have to find out what else they did on IMDB


Besides Total Recall, Ghost, Terminator 2, Hook, Edward Scissorhands, Groundhog Day, Jurassic Park (to name a few with pretty well-known directors at the time), the following early 1990s sci-fi/fantasy films seemed pretty big and epic at the time of release but I really was surprised to find out that I had no idea who directed these films when I tried to think about who directed them when I got older:

Freejack, Mr. Destiny, The Lawnmower Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Bill & Ted's, Highlander 2, Star Trek 6, Demolition Man, Super Mario Brothers, Fortress, Double Dragon, Star Trek Generations, Timecop, Johnny Mnemonic, Judge Dredd, Species, Tank Girl, The Mask

I think it's just awful that Danny Cannon never got another chance to get to direct a huge action film as he did with his underrated Judge Dredd. If he had created the same type of film nowadays, he would certainly get other chances to show what he could do. Fincher (Alien 3) and Proyas (The Crow) certainly had more chances and showed that they are great directors.

Of course, many of those listed financially flopped and weren't that good, but they still seemed like epic huge releases at the time, and it's just sort of sad that some of these directors didn't get another shot at it, especially since their films were probably screwed by distracting producers and poor writers. It seems like many of the great sci-fi/action/fantasy directors started off with a turd (James Cameron for example).

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by toddly6666

2. you never heard of these directors after looking them up on IMDB or at least they sounded vague but you would certainly have to find out what else they did on IMDB

Not sure I've got, whatchacall, one of them "apostrophe's" (thank you, Bob Hoskins from "Hook" ), but, y'know, you could try:

- Freejack: Geoff Murphy (Young Guns II)
- Mr. Destiny: James Orr (90's Disney contract-shlub director)
- The Lawnmower Man: Brett Leonard (CGI techie who wanted to show off a feature)
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Steve Barron (Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" video, AND "Electric Dreams", thank you very much)
- Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure: Steven Herek (The Mighty Ducks, followed by more Disney contract-shlub work)
- Highlander 2: Russell Mulcahy (first one, because he was the only one who could answer the question of Where Did They Come From?)
- Star Trek 6: Nicholas "Even Numbered" Meyer (shame on you for not knowing that one )
- Demolition Man: Marco Brambilia (nnnope--Went back to Italy)
- Super Mario Brothers: Rocky Morton & Annabel Jankel (everyone thought they had one good movie in them somewhere, after the original UK "Max Headroom")
- Fortress: Stuart Gordon (if the name means nothing to you, hang your head in shame )
- Double Dragon: James Yukich (went from music videos...BACK to a lot of music videos)
- Star Trek Generations: David Carson (promoted up from Deep Space 9, and the TNG's didn't start getting good until they realized Jonathan Frakes could direct movies, too)
- Timecop: Peter Hyams (although, to be honest, it'd been a long, hard ten years since "2010")
- Johnny Mnemonic: Robert Longo (famous for video art, who wasn't used to directing flesh-and-blood people...If Keanu counts.)
- Judge Dredd: THE Danny Cannon (of CSI: Miami and "I Stil Know...Summer" fame)
- Species: Roger Donaldson (having slipped a bit in his American-mainstream work since "The Bounty")
- Tank Girl: Rachel Talalay (New Line still had work for the director of Elm Street 6...)
- The Mask: Chuck Russell (....and Elm Street 3 )

Of course, many of those listed financially flopped and weren't that good,

And, in fact, were tossed off by the studio assuming they'd sell on their effects and concept, so the Director was the guy who needed the work and would bring it in on time.
(Although it was just as bad in the 80's, when Joe Dante directed everything.)