By Matt Zoller Seitz
To read the tenth in a series of countdown essays written for Salon.com about the most important directors of the decade, click here.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
The Directors of the Decade, Part 10: Charlie Kaufman and David Chase: The Writers
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(I tried commenting on Salon, but their registration system is screwed up.)
"Being John Malkovich" was the first time I can remember watching a film and wanting to know who wrote it. It was clear to me (even at 21 years old and knowing nothing about film) that the script was the real star of that movie, and it almost didn't matter who directed it because the screenwriter was the "auteur" responsible for it.
Your linking of Charlie Kaufmann and David Chase makes me think that the 00s have seen the rise of a new kind of auteur: the head writer/showrunner/executive producer as auteur. For example, David Simon or Ed Burns never directed an episode of The Wire, but that's 60 of the most cohesive, singular-vision hours we'll ever see. Same with David Milch and Deadwood, Lindelof+Cuse and Lost, Aaron Sorkin and the West Wing, and a bunch of other serialized shows this decade. Before the 00s, you have J. Michael Straczynski and Babylon 5, David Lynch and Twin Peaks, and... what else? Maybe Tom Fontana or Steven Bochco?
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