Here's another article related to the Guardian newspaper one
http://www.cinematical.com/2007/05/25/director-alex-cox-says-hes-on-hollywood-blacklist-lashes-out-a/Alex Cox is not too found of Hollywood. Perhaps this is because he says that he was blacklisted in 1988, when he used Universal's cash to make a film in Nicaragua while collaborating with the Sandinistas. Before that, he had a couple of really prominent cult indie flicks. The first was Emilio Estevez's repossession adventure The Repo Man, and the second was the Gary Oldman-starring biopic of Sid Vicious -- Sid and Nancy. Now he's got Searchers 2.0 on the horizon, and he's found the time to write up a little rant for The Guardian about actors-turned-directors.
It looks like this is all coming about from Madonna, who is currently filming a short film in London based on her life, and aptly called Filth and Wisdom. (Not to be confused with the other directorial project she's been attached to.) Cox then threw in Kirsten Dunst, whose directorial start I posted about in April. In what he considers short films "exciting for connoisseurs of awful movies," Cox goes on to wonder if these stints will be like Johnny Depps short, The Brave, or Vincent Gallo's Brown Bunny. That seems like a bit of a jump. Wondering if Dunst's short will resemble the penis-worshipping Bunny is... I don't know, like wondering if David Lynch's next movie will be a Julia Roberts-heading romcom. Besides, she was asked to do it as part of the Reel Moments series that brings reader's ideas to the short screen. It's not quite the same as ego-filled cinematic masturbation.
Now, he does have some points. In the piece, he mentions when Brando fired Stanley Kubrick and Sam Peckinpah from One-Eyed Jacks. One of the more recent and prevalent accounts of this is American History X, which Tony Kaye fought to get his name removed from when Edward Norton reportedly re-edited the film. There's also all those behind-the-scenes flareups, from Lindsay Lohan to David O. Russell. While I do agree that some egos need to be shot down, it's a bit one-dimensional to say that actors "are not, as a rule, highly intelligent." Many aren't, but what about all of those who've made impressive switches? Who would have thought that the dumb sidekick in Aspen Extreme would also direct films from Very Bad Things to Friday Night Lights? Or that the man who was afraid of a mouse on Sex and the City would later write the screenplay for Capote? Cox has had his say, now what do you think about the whole scenario?
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