Bryan Singer: best film maker

 

Bryan Singer, the director of four X-men movies, another superhero movie- Superman Returns (2006), The Usual Suspects (1995) and Jack the Giant Slayer (2013)- has a different and unusual repertoire of films, one might say the common denominator is success. Overall Singers filmography is varied, even within the X-men franchise, he has made a point to make a distinctly different movie with each project- he even says so himself in an interview with Alex Billington here

“There’s a lot of film directors who make the same movie over, and over, and over again. They dress it up differently but they’re always making the same movie. I’m just not like that. I always want to be doing something different. Even my Superman movie had a very different tone than my X-Men movie. And Valkyrie was a historical thriller. Apt Pupil is an adaption, more horror. Usual Suspects, crime movie. “House”, medical drama. You know, there are similarities to them. But from the palette, and the tone, and the experience of making them I need them to be different or else I get very bored.”

So what is his secret to develop a different movie each time? Singer describes himself as a storyteller, he is hands-on with his projects, working with the writers to develop the script. “I used to do that as a kid. I used to just write stories and tell stories and make up stories”. Of course, it is not all storytelling- he is also visually influenced and uses new skills and knowledge developed during each project to bring to subsequent movies- a constant learning process. For example in Jack the Giant Slayer he is directing motion capture and incorporating real-life characters in environments with 25-ft tall CG giants, something completely different from any of his previous work. Even though he says he loves a real set, he can still work in a virtual environment, his ability to adapt means he is constantly picking up the awards and rewards of being a top director in Hollywood.

Byran Singer: Great moments

We go back to where it all began for Bryan Singer for his directional debut nearly two whole decades ago. The Usual Suspects (1995) was the neo-noir crime thriller that even began accumulating cult status before it hit VCR. It was on home video that fans could watch and re-watch the clues, heists and tricks which have earnt it a permanent place in the pop culture canon. The plot follows five men who concoct a robbery whilst in a New York jail line-up for suspected hi-jacking (the usual suspects); Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin, Kevin Pollak, Benicio Del Toro and Kevin Spacey. The job doesn’t just go awry- I spins out of control in perhaps the finest example of misdirection ever committed to film. It remains one of the most original and intelligent thrillers of all time where the jaw-dropping finale turns the entire movie on its head with countless tiny clues hidden within plain view throughout the masterpiece. The film was shot in just 35 days and directed by Singer at just 27 years old. The career defining movie ended its run with 23 million dollars at the box office but raves from Rolling Stone and Washington Post among others helped spread the word, not to mention the two Oscars it secured for ‘Best Original Screenplay’ and ‘Best Supporting Actor’. It set Singer up to become one of Hollywood’s power players, Singer himself said it enabled him to be taken more seriously by actors when moving into comic book movies and genre pictures, whilst directing at such a young age. The usual Suspects frequently appears on must-see lists to this day, it was named one of the top 10 mysteries by the AFI and ranks #35 in the WGA’s 101 best screenplays.