Remember Sam Raimi? He directed comic book movies before they were a cool, tried and true popular genre. His Spider-Man trilogy was among the first wave of superhero-centric blockbusters. Today, theaters don’t go long without another comic book adaptation hitting screens. Even before that, Raimi got his start in horror with The Evil Dead, another genre having a popular moment. But when will the filmmaker have his?
Sam Raimi has not directed a feature film for six years. His last project was Oz the Great and Powerful, though he has helmed episodes for the short-lived Greg Kinnear series Rake and Ash vs Evil Dead and the short The Black Ghiandola. He’s placed focus on producing projects such as Crawl and the upcoming new Grudge. As far as more directing, here’s what he said:
I’d love to [direct again] — I love directing. It’s hard though — it’s hard when you don’t have the best script to direct. I’m waiting to find a script that really speaks to me, something that everyone would love, but is really personal to me, too. Then I would be back in the director’s chair.
The Spider-Man filmmaker revealed this at New York Comic Con (via ComicBook). He sounds interested in getting back to the role but is side-stepping any projects that don’t have strong writing behind them or may not resonate with audiences. He has understandably become more choosy about what projects he decides to spend his time on.
Sam Raimi was not able to complete his vision for the Spider-Man series with a fourth installment, following the infamous Spider-Man 3. The filmmaker recently said he still thinks about his unborn Spider-Man film “all the time,” especially because a new one comes out just about every year.
He pivoted to a Disney reimagining of the Wizard of Oz, which made almost $500 million worldwide on a high-end $215 million production budget and earned mixed reviews from audience and critics alike. It didn’t become the franchise or huge success Disney was perhaps banking on, and the director has steered away from directing since.
He did tell the audience he is currently writing a script for a new movie with his brother Ivan, who was also his writing partner for Spider-Man 3 and Drag Me to Hell. He’s also previously discussed his interest in making an Evil Dead sequel. Maybe another directing project from Sam Raimi is in the works!
Recently, J.K. Simmons’ J. Jonah Jameson from Sam Raimi's trilogy returned to Spider-Man -- with Raimi's blessing -- for a cameo in Far From Home. Raimi's producing project Crawl, a horror film about a woman being trapped with alligators during a hurricane, was a surprise summer hit since it made $88 million on a $13 million budget.
Would you like to see Sam Raimi return to directing? Sound off in the comments below!
