Filmmakers who started later in life

roxics

roxics

Veteran
I get tired of hearing about young people who make it big at 18, 22, whatever. Not that they don't deserve some kudos, but I'm generally tired of our society celebrating the wünderkind and saying little if nothing about people who start later in the 30's, 40's, 50's, etc. We mature at different rates, we become inspired at different times in our life, we have certain opportunites that show up at only certain times. Least of all this is not an easy industry to break into and I believe (perhaps incorrectly) it's probably becoming even harder these days. We can't all be lucky enough to have the passion, talent, drive, stability, knowledge and right opportunity all show up when we just enter adulthood.

I recently stumbled upon a Quora thread about silicon valley CEOs who all started at 35 or older. Dismissing the myth that silicon valley is all college drop out entrepreneurs. I thought maybe it would be fun and inspiring for us to start a list of filmmakers who also didn't really get off the ground "so to speak" until 35 or older.

I'll start with one, my favorite, though to be honest I'm not 100% sure if I'm right about him, but from what I can tell Ridley Scott didn't make his first feature until he was 40. Even though he had done commercial work beforehand.

Who can you add to the list?
 
Ridley Scott directed his first feature, The Duellists, at 40, but by then he says he had directed over 2,500 television commercials.

This is a good thread, but I'll have to come back later with any examples of someone who got into movies late in life and who had been doing something totally different up to then.
 
You can add actors if you like, but I was originally thinking of people like most of us. Unknowns. At least as far as the public is concerned.
 
Terrence Malick was a philosopher until his 40s.

-edit I was wrong
 
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Terrence Malick started his film career after earning an MFA from the AFI Conservatory when he was 26 -- Wikipedia
He was writing scripts in his 20s, and Badlands came out when he was 30. -- IMDB
 
John McTiernan rose to public prominence in his mid thirties. But like Ridley Scott he had done a lot of television commercials (just 200 though, not 2,500), and his involvement in the entertainment industry stems back to his youth.

Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, and Kevin Costner all became great directors in their 30s and 40s, but before then they were movie stars. And that's not to say they just had connections. They basically were apprenticed by the great directors that they acted under. There are lots of people with connections who never make it. Knowing people can get your foot in the door, but without the talent and skill to back it up you'll dive right back to the floor like a badly made paper airplane.

Harrison Ford became a star in his mid thirties. But still in his twenties he was more famous than most of us, appearing on TV.

All of the filmmakers who became famous late in life were actually already very successful for many years. Most of them were devoted to film or show business since college. Many were involved since youth --- child actors, children of industry workers, or highly ambitious student filmmakers a la Steven Spielberg. Often they toiled under the radar. More than one of the directors who seemed to me to pop up out of nowhere turn out to have had a successful career in commercials or music videos. By the time I usually hear about someone, they've been successful, slowly moving up, for one, two, even three decades.

Most of them, then, are a reaffirmation for me of Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000-Hour Rule, which he lays out in the book Outliers, which basically says that the thing that sets successful people apart from unsuccessful is not only talent but a ridiculous amount of practice. One of his examples is the Beatles. To us they seem an overnight sensation. But before they made it big they had spent a couple of years playing clubs in Germany, for eight hours a day, seven days a week, a total of about 1,200 performances.
 
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I went to USC film school... my dad got cancer... didn't get to finish... ended up running a private super market... which taught me business... hit 30 basically and said I want to do films... went back into it... and not long afterwards started producing because of my biz background... some times I wondered if I would have made it when I was in my 20's....
 
I can't find the link right this moment but I read that as you approach 30 and over your chances of making your first feature released by a mainstream studio get closer and closer to 0%.
 
Gillvane said:
I can't find the link right this moment but I read that as you approach 30 and over your chances of making your first feature released by a mainstream studio get closer and closer to 0%.
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Forget the averages. Everyone's circumstances are different. Your individual chance of making your first feature at any age (or doing anything else) is either 100% or zero. It's zero if you don't think you can do it. Another thing about elderly filmmakers is they can adapt their past history to suit: "I made my first film in kindergarten" sounds better than "I never picked up a camera until I was 60" and either are hard to verify. Think back. Somewhere in kindergarten is there a film with your name on it? No? Try harder. There.
 
I guess it depends on what making it means. If it means being hired by a studio if you've only done shorts and you're 50 yrs old, to make a film then that's not very realistic, but the goal of making an independently financed film is perfectly realistic at any age.

I say to people "if I had $40 million, I wouldn't hire me as a director, either." The risk requires the studios to get the best they can afford and a director with a record of success is necessary. The first thing a known actor will ask is, who's directing? They have a career to protect too. It's like that in any business.

The earlier you start, the better you'll be and the more "industry" interest you'll garner but no one will stop you from making a film.
 
Rainer said:
Forget the averages. Everyone's circumstances are different. Your individual chance of making your first feature at any age (or doing anything else) is either 100% or zero. It's zero if you don't think you can do it. Another thing about elderly filmmakers is they can adapt their past history to suit: "I made my first film in kindergarten" sounds better than "I never picked up a camera until I was 60" and either are hard to verify. Think back. Somewhere in kindergarten is there a film with your name on it? No? Try harder. There.
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Not quite in that category... but I was building cameras with my toy boxes and 'shooting' at 3-4 and I've got my mother's pictures to prove it...

Unfortunately... I chose to go into still photography rather than moving pictures... and after 7 years in college as an 'art major'... discovered a hithertounknown math talent, and ended up with a computer science degree for a 'day job'... that sort of took up all the time that I would have loved to have had...

Anyway... yeah, I think someone who just discovered their photo talent at 60 would be highly unlikely to get into the technical/details of film making and produce a break out film...

On the other hand had I 40 million... sure, I'll be I could get something in Sundance... or at least the Adult Video Network conference showcase... just where's that winning lottery ticket...
 
Rainer said:
Forget the averages. Everyone's circumstances are different. Your individual chance of making your first feature at any age (or doing anything else) is either 100% or zero. It's zero if you don't think you can do it. Another thing about elderly filmmakers is they can adapt their past history to suit: "I made my first film in kindergarten" sounds better than "I never picked up a camera until I was 60" and either are hard to verify. Think back. Somewhere in kindergarten is there a film with your name on it? No? Try harder. There.
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It has nothing to do with averages or whether you think you can do it or not. If we're talking about mainstream Hollywood movies it's about the people with money to make a movie and who they are willing to invest in.
And in this instance a released film is defined as a theatrical release even if it's "limited" which is actually very easy to verify.

http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2007/09/13/the-magic-number-30-give-or-take-4/

If you are talking about "indies", sure anything goes.
 
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Uh, you people are depressing me. lol

I don't think anyone is going to break into a 40 million dollar budget over night. I'm hearing all this talk about it getting harder as you get older but it should be the opposite. Who is going to give a 20 year old kid a 40 million dollar budget unless they have a sellable lower budget film in their portfolio? Age doesn't matter, you just have to prove you can sell. It's business afterall. It it take you until your forties or fifties to perfect your style/skills so be it.

Personally I would trust a 50 year old person who has been honing their skills for 30 years on indie films and corporate videos over some 28 year old who just has a ton of passion and not a ton of experence.
 
All the talk of average age and probability of making it as you get older sounds too much like the World Cup commentators who throw out random statistics that have nothing to do with the match playing out in front of them "Germany has won every match played on a tuesday between 1932 and 1982 so their chances of a win today are all but guaranteed" "Algeria will be wanting a rematch of their 1982 matchup today..." You get the point. Everyone is different, every situation is different, your mileage may vary, past performance is not an indicator of future results, etc. Get out there and do it and be the new statistic that gets quoted to the next round of old farts starting a film career.
 
roxics said:
Uh, you people are depressing me. lol

I don't think anyone is going to break into a 40 million dollar budget over night. I'm hearing all this talk about it getting harder as you get older but it should be the opposite. Who is going to give a 20 year old kid a 40 million dollar budget unless they have a sellable lower budget film in their portfolio? Age doesn't matter, you just have to prove you can sell. It's business afterall. It it take you until your forties or fifties to perfect your style/skills so be it.

Personally I would trust a 50 year old person who has been honing their skills for 30 years on indie films and corporate videos over some 28 year old who just has a ton of passion and not a ton of experence.
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Well, when you have 20-40 mil or so to produce a feature film you can certainly hire a first time 50 year old director if you want to.
 
Andrius Simutis said:
All the talk of average age and probability of making it as you get older sounds too much like the World Cup commentators who throw out random statistics that have nothing to do with the match playing out in front of them "Germany has won every match played on a tuesday between 1932 and 1982 so their chances of a win today are all but guaranteed" "Algeria will be wanting a rematch of their 1982 matchup today..." You get the point. Everyone is different, every situation is different, your mileage may vary, past performance is not an indicator of future results, etc. Get out there and do it and be the new statistic that gets quoted to the next round of old farts starting a film career.
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If you make a successful indie of course Hollywood will back you no matter what your age.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gareth_Edwards_(director)

perfect example. Gareth Edwards makes Monsters, a great indie, and then he gets Godzilla.
 
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Gillvane said:
as you approach 30 and over your chances of making your first feature released by a mainstream studio get closer and closer to 0%
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At first I thought, yes, your chances of doing anything go down with each passing year. But after reading the article cited, The magic number 30, give or take 4, I found it offered some interesting information:

1. Producers are old, but moviegoers are young. So given two people with no track record, the producer will actually favor the younger one, thinking he will better connect with audiences.

2. Breaking into the industry is hard work. Energy, idealism, focus, and drive fall with age. Other interests rise.

But you need not lose hope:

1. Hollywood is going through another seismic shift, as it did in the '70s. Youtube, Amazon Instant Video, and digital distribution in general are giving you more chances. Hollywood studios seem set on making Godzilla, Transformers, and The Three Little Pigs in the style of Lord of the Rings. Spielberg himself had a hard time getting Lincoln to be anything other than a television special. Other famous people also seem to be coming this way. Have you seen Jerry Seinfeld's series on Youtube, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee? Or what about John Landis?

2. Those are just numbers. Aren't movies all about facing the odds? I've also heard that the chances of a Rebel Alliance against a Galactic Empire are 0%.

Go out there, do something inspiring!
 
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