| Those days are coming to an end. The first wave of urban video directors to move up included Brett Ratner (best known for the Rush Hour franchise), F. Gary Gray (Friday), and Antoine Fuqua (Training Day). All share stories of how their raw filmmaking roots and the pressures of dealing with the Jodecis, Coolios, and Princes of the world were perfect preparation for putting Hollywood acting royalty through its paces-and making them look good while doing it. Last year was an especially good one for directors making the big leap-and big profits for their distributors. The major releases helmed by Tim Story, Charles Stone III, Kevin Bray, and Raboy—Barbershop, Drumline, All About the Benjamins, and Friday After Next, respectively-pulled in enough box-office receipts to serve notice that the urban film had arrived. And that's of course a major reason why studios are favoring music-video directors. They not only know how to make films look good and bring a sense of hyperkinetic pacing, but they are also able to do it on lower budgets than most of their feature-film counterparts. |
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| "We made the movie for $14 million in 37 days in Miami," says Benjamins producer Matt Alvarez. "We came in on time and a few dollars under budget." A typical Hollywood action movie has a budget of about $60 million. Youthful relevance is another quality the music men-and it's almost exclusively a men's club—bring to the big screen. "Most music videos are better than most movies," says Ratner, 32, who earned critical success with last year's Silence of the Lambs prequel, Red Dragon. "Music-video directors are more in touch with what young people want to see." Like Ratner, Fuqua, 37, is earning increasing respect. Once known primarily for his visual panache, he's now seen as a true "actor's director" who coaxed Oscar-nominated performances in TrainingDay from Ethan Hawke (who lost) and Denzel Washington (who won). |
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