• Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Lists
    • Yearly Top Tens
    • Trailers
    • Contact
    • Hire Me
    • About
Menu

World of Reel

Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number
Home
Jake Schreier Tapped to Direct Marvel’s ‘X-Men’ Reboot
IMG_5148.jpg
Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Described as “Epic of all Epics” — “They’re Never Going to Make A Movie Like This Again”
IMG_5147.jpg
Nicolas Winding Refn's ‘Her Private Hell' Starts Production in Tokyo
IMG_5144.jpg
Theo James Replaces Adrien Brody in S. Craig Zahler’s ‘The Bookie and the Bruiser’
IMG_5143.jpg
M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Remain’ Sets October 2026 Release via Warner Bros
Featured
Capture.PNG
Aug 19, 2019
3-Hour ‘Midsommar' Director's Cut Screened in NYC
Aug 19, 2019

This year’s 12th edition of the Scary Movies festival at Film at Lincoln Center premiered Ari Aster’s extended version of “Midsommar” this past Saturday.

Aug 19, 2019

World of Reel

  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Lists
  • More
    • Yearly Top Tens
    • Trailers
  • About
    • Contact
    • Hire Me
    • About

Damien Chazelle Writing a New Script, but Uncertain About Post-‘Babylon' Future: “Maybe I Won’t Be Able to Get This One Made”

March 1, 2024 Jordan Ruimy

Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon” tanked at the box-office, making $63 million against a production budget of a little under $100 million. The film ultimately lost Paramount an estimated $87 million. Oddly enough, it was a huge hit in France, with both critics and audiences.

I recently saw a tongue-in-cheek tweet pleading with Hollywood to get Chazelle out of the “director’s jail.” I don’t believe “Babylon” has added the filmmaker to any sort of blacklist, but it definitely put a slight dent on the career of the talented filmmaker behind “Whiplash” and “La La Land.”

Chazelle was a guest on Ben Mankiewicz’s Talking Pictures podcast. He was asked about the “Babylon” failure and his future in Hollywood. It turns out that Chazelle is almost done writing a script that he’s about to shop around, and he’s uncertain how Hollywood will welcome him back into fold:

I’ve been sort of busy writing. So I’ll get a taste of how it’s changed or not [since “Babylon”] once I get to finish this script and try to get it made. I’m in a sort of trepidatious state of mind, but I have no illusions. I won’t get a budget of “Babylon” size any time soon, or at least not on this next one.

Certainly, in financial terms, “Babylon” didn’t work at all. You try to not have that effect what you’re doing creatively, but, at some level, it can’t help but affect it. But maybe that’s okay? I have very mixed mind about it. Maybe I won’t be able to get this one made. We’ll have to wait and see.

I hope Chazelle gets to make whatever he wants. He’s a unique talent.

The more risk-taking a film is, the more divided the reaction will be. In 2022, film critics were dunking on Chazelle’s “Babylon”, as they could not stand the excess, but a 57 percent rotten score was undeserved.

And yet, almost no film in 2022 aimed higher than “Babylon.” That, in itself, should have earned this rousingly frenetic epic more respect. Some, including Stephen King, believe the film is bound to be reappraised in the near future.

Chazelle’s film might have been flawed, but it has these brillantly surreal moments that have stayed etched in my memory. It’s very hard to completely fault a filmmaker for taking a big swing, and, on a moment by moment basis, “Babylon” gave me more cinematic thrills than almost any other movie released that year.

← Denis Villeneuve Says He's Working on A “Secret Project" That's Time Sensitive$12 Million in Previews for ‘Dune: Part II' [Updated] →

FOLLOW US!


Trending

Featured
IMG_4571.jpg
David Fincher & Brad Pitt Reunite for ‘The Continuing Adventures of Cliff Booth' + Plot Details
IMG_4549.png
Warners Bros. Chief Admits Missteps on ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’: “We Misread the Room”
IMG_4541.jpg
Scorsese’s Next Film? Hawaiian Mob Epic With Dwayne Johnson Eyes 2026 Shoot
Capture.png
Jim Caviezel to be De-Aged in ‘The Resurrection of the Christ'
IMG_4465.png
Harmony Korine Says Hollywood Struggling Because “Movies Suck Today”

Critics Polls

Featured
Capture.PNG
Critics Poll: ‘Vertigo’ Named Best Film of the 1950s, Over 120 Participants
B16BAC21-5652-44F6-9E83-A1A5C5DF61D7.jpeg
Critics Poll: Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ Tops Our 1960s Critics Poll
Capture.PNG
Critics Poll: ‘The Godfather’ Named Best Movie of the 1970s
public.jpeg
Critics Poll: ‘Do the Right Thing' Named Best Movie of the 1980s
Critics Poll: ‘Mulholland Drive' Named Best Film of the 2000s
g4.jpg
Critics' Poll: ‘Goodfellas' Named Best Movie of the 1990s
Critics Poll: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road' Named Best Movie of the 2010s
World of Reel tagline.PNG
 

Content

Contribute

Hire me

 

Support

Advertise

Donate

 

About

Team

Contact

Privacy Policy

Site designed by Jordan Ruimy © 2023