How come Streisand only directed 3 films?

Studios saw those three and said “No fucking way.” Barbra may still be Heeba, Queen of the Long Island Passover Set, but Hollywood is trying to run a business.

She was lazy and only really motivated by a handful of projects. She was never interested in directing for directing's sake.

She’s a perfectionist and it takes her 15 years to see one from start to finish

Same thing with Jodie Foster. She wanted to direct so much but did very little of it.

She was only okay as a director.

Because she's awful.

She wanted to do more but it didn't work out.

The Normal Heart

Skinny and Cat

Catherine the Great

[quote] Catherine the Great

One can only imagine the soaring Barbra ballad in the background as Catherine fucks her horse to death.

“Our Final Ride (Love theme from “Catherine the Great”)”

She’s preparing Gypsy for a 2027 release.

Three imperishable masterpieces from the greatest American auteur!

She was offered the chance to direct many more films by the major studios, but she turned them down when they wouldn't let her also play the lead. For example, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider."

She needs to do everything and can't get past her need to be the star.

R4, Jodie only directed a few features, but she’s done a good bit of television. It’s something she seems to enjoy pursuing even when it doesn’t seem calculated to advance her career or her fame.

Try to imagine Barbra directing a prestige streaming series, and it’s impossible. But Jodie did that for House of Cards, Black Mirror and Orange is the New Black. I think that shows that while Foster might not be a workaholic, she’s not a dilettante as a director, either.

Building the mall took up a lot of her time.

[quote] Try to imagine Barbra directing a prestige streaming series, and it’s impossible.

Diane Keaton also directed some TV episodes, like for "China Beach" and "Twin Peaks."

But you're right, it's impossible imagining Streisand doing it.

Didn't she say in her book that she's kind of lazy?

By most accounts, she's NUTS.

Cloning a pack of Cotons de Tuléar took up a lot of time.

She didn’t get instant Oscars in the first 3 attempts and lost interest..

I prayed really, really hard.

[quote]Diane Keaton also directed some TV episodes, like for "China Beach" and "Twin Peaks."

Keaton also directed the documentary Heaven and the video for Belinda Carlyle's Heaven Is a Place on Earth.

Does anyone watch the three films she made?

Roz does. At least pretends to. Babs has to keep nudging her to make sure she's awake.

Because Babs is terrified a lead actor will try to micro-manager her the way she did to other directors.

Women have shitty work ethics, no accountability and a lack of direction

[quote] Does anyone watch the three films she made?

Repeatedly. Over and over. To the point of madness.

She said she'd encountered an 'old boy's network' while filming, "The Prince Of Tides". So much different than the kum-ba-yah environment of Yentl. The toxic misogyny soured her on directing for years.

She wanted to work from home but found it was impossible.

because she was a raging cunt

Laziness.

The real reason is she could never get financing for the projects she wanted to direct without putting up her own money.

Because she's delusional.

She says she regrets not doing more comedies when she was at her peak. I wonder what comedies she turned down.

Prince of Tides was a convoluted mess that was somehow nominated for 7 Oscars.

As star, director and co-producer, Streisand shifts the book's focus from the Wingo past to the Tom-Susan love affair. This could have worked had Streisand directed herself better--if, indeed, she had directed herself at all. Instead of a performance, we get smirks, poses, campy shots that linger on her outrageously long manicured fingernails, and radiant, cloying smiles. Streisand's inadequacies, though, are more than compensated for by Nolte's compelling Tom. He brings conviction and depth to the role, treading a fine line between self-pity and self-respect and exposing his frailties with a rare sensitivity.

[quote]I wonder what comedies she turned down.

ZERO. Barbra Streisand is a serious actress, remember?

R34, she had to use the part of the story where her role is prominent because getting the film financed depended on her screen time. A Barbra Streisand love story sells, or so they thought.

Upon seeing The Prince of Tides again recently, I find her work - acting and directing - dull and perfunctory. Nick Nolte's performance, on the other hand, is hopelessly hammy. Streisand the director should have told him to being it down a few notches.

[quote] I wonder what comedies she turned down.

[quote]Studios saw those three and said “No fucking way.” Barbra may still be Heeba, Queen of the Long Island Passover Set, but Hollywood is trying to run a business.

YENTL (1983) -- grossed $68 million on a $12 million budget (adjusted for inflation that's $211 million and $37 million, respectively)

plus 4 Oscar nominations: Supporting Actress, Production Design, Score, Song

PRINCE OF TIDES (1991) -- grossed $135 million on a $30 million budget (adjusted for inflation that's $306 million and $68 million, respectively)

plus 7 Oscar nominations: Picture, Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Cinematography, Score

She realized she would never again get a script as brilliant and complex as THE MIRROR HAS TWO FACES.

R39 Known by its original title, "A carrot stick and a haircut lands you Jeff Bridges!"

#38, you forgot me.

[quote]Barbra Streisand is a serious actress, remember?

She could be a funny girl when she wanted, r35.

^ Not since 1972

Which is why, r43, she wishes she had done more comedies.

Direct more films? That hack?

I got more talent in one of my farts than that broad has in her entire body.

R44, Streisand is not funny. That’s why she wasn’t drawn to comedies once she had clout. Jesus, she didn’t even want to do What’s up Doc, and dislikes the film.

Because women should not be directors.

- Dick Dreyfuss

She's very funny in Owl and the Pussycat, r46.

She could have been a great director, had she gotten out of her own way. She gets great performances out of actors, but her vanity ruins her projects. She has always been her own worst enemy.

Richard Dreyfuss may be available

Need a source or link for the she “wishes” she had done more comedies. I only once heard her say something like “i should have done more comedies I suppose” to a question about why she hadn’t done more movies. That was a TV interview at least 30 years ago, haven’t heard it elsewhere.

R48, dear, The Owl and the Pussycat came out in 1970. She hasn't BEEN FUNNY SINCE 1972.

R52, dear, she was also amusing in Meet The Fockers. Now stop screeching.

Too aggresive but she's more laid back now.

She can be very funny. When she started out, she was considered a bit of a comic actress.

R53, Meet the Fockers - best comedy of the 21st century!

R56, second only to The Guilt Trip

[quote]Try to imagine Barbra directing a prestige streaming series, and it’s impossible.

Yeah, well she did produce "Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story" and was Emmy nominated for Outstanding Made for Television Movie, and earning Emmys for Glenn Close Best Actress and Judy Davis Best Supporting.

R56, no one was talking about the movie, they were talking about her performance. Do try to keep up.

[quote]Didn't she say in her book that she's kind of lazy?

No not kinda, she says she's really lazy, but once she is actually working on a project, she's all in.

R57 = Seth Rogen

She tried to get a number of films made as director and the deals fell through for different reasons. It’s all in one of the latter chapters of her memoir. Actually her recollections and story are interesting in terms of how difficult it is to put together a company to make a film.

I've always said it's because she feels disrespected by the Academy. Not once has she been recognized as a director in those three films - not even POT, which was nominated as best picture, but was one of those rare times when the director was not recognized. (In her book she calls it sexism).

I always believed she turned her back on Hollywood after they ignored her efforts for YENTL, which she worked on for 15 years to bring to the screen. In the past 40 years she only made 5 more movies ? Yet she continues to record new music nearly every year - because the Grammy voters continue to recognize her efforts with nominations every year.

As she said in an interview a few years ago " You go where you are nurtured." (Hollywood hasn't nurtured her - at all.)

Oh please. Hollywood nurtured her fine. The problem has always been with her. Prince of Tides would have gotten her the acclaim had she stayed closer to the novel and not rearranged it to make it a star vehicle for her.. Mirror was nothing but a mindless exercise in vanity. Had she cast someone like Goldie Hawk it would have gotten better reviews. The critics lambasted her with those films because she gave them the ammo to.

Streisand is great for crying sexism when it pertains to her but conviently glosses over the fact that she’s been an utter shitbag to many of her female peers.

I worked at Warner Bros/Columbia stidios when Funny Lady was filmed.

Babs was known to be a royal pain on set and micro-managing everything. Generally a pain to work with for everybody.

Columbia stidios or Columbia Studios

I read at one time she thought about directing Shadowlands and asked Sean Connery to star with her. But he said he had been in more films than her so why should he let her direct him.

Then when Richard Attenborough was directing she wanted the female lead but he went with Debra Winger instead.

[quote] Then when Richard Attenborough was directing she wanted the female lead but he went with Debra Winger instead

Oooh, she must’ve been seething!

Tell me more.

I've heard her say that she was interested in both Frankie and Johnny and The War of the Roses but couldn't get a meeting with Gary Marshall and Danny De Vito.

She'd have been a good choice for Frankie and Johnny. Michelle Pfeiffer got so much flack for being to beautiful for a role that was written for Kathy Bates.

[quote] Michelle Pfeiffer got so much flack for being to beautiful for a role that was written for Kathy Bates.

Barbra would have faced the same, jealous criticism.

[quote]Prince of Tides would have gotten her the acclaim had she stayed closer to the novel and not rearranged it to make it a star vehicle for her.

It was Oscar-nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Michelle Pfeiffer got so much flack for being to beautiful for a role that was written for Kathy Bates.

She had a rotten personality.

Love Barbra.

She's busy with Gypsy.

Look what's suddenly free to watch on YouTube!

Also...

But, sadly, no "Prince of Tides."

Hate watch party at my place tomorrow night. I stopped at Gelson's to steal some snacks!

I watched Prince of Tides for the first time last year. I never would have guessed that the origin of Nick Nolte's trauma was being raped by an escaped convict who burst into the home during dinner. The only way they could have made it more over the top is if he was raped by a clown. I couldn't take the movie seriously after that scene.

Pat Conroy worked on the script with Baba and loved what she did with Prince of Tides.

Part of the problem is Barbara is very much of her time and is deep into wanting mid-century cultures of psychotherapy a d the like. Not much different than the Fondas working out their family issues in front of the world in On Golden Pond. It's not aging well and comes across as self-absorbed in isolation, but makes sense in the larger context of Boomers figuring out their shit in their 40's.

Completely off topic but is On Golden Pond worth watching?

Discussion on that film here

R80 I really enjoyed it. The acting is great and genuine. And you really feel like you spent the entire summer with them on the lake house,

Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn both won Lead Oscars and Jane Fonda was nominated for Supporting Actress.

Doug McKeon, who played the grandson, also deserved a Supporting nod, IMO.

It's free to watch on YouTube:

Jane is at her most "earnest and sincere" in On Golden Pond which is hard to take but everyone else is great.

R80, I liked not loved it in 1981. Could get through ten minutes of it in 2015.

I think the thing about Barbra is she puts her elbows out in male spaces, but also areas of hard-earned expertise like directing and clothing/costume design. She has one of the world's most beautiful voices with a microscopic amount of training, so I can totally see why she thinks her successful approach to singing could work elsewhere. So here she is, sticking her nose in, and it pisses people off. I don't think there's anyone to blame here.

Oh please, she's just a fucking cunt

Barbra seems to make such a big production out of everything, she just couldn't do more films.

She sucked

[Quote] Not once has she been recognized as a director in those three films - not even POT, which was nominated as best picture, but was one of those rare times when the director was not recognized. (In her book she calls it sexism).

R63 Barbra is hardly a lone example. Many films nominated for Best Picture including some that won Best Picture did not receive a nod for the director: Funny Girl, Hello Dolly, An unmarried Woman, Midnight Express, Jaws, Taxi Driver, Bound for Glory, The Sand Pebbles, Dr. Doolittle (1967), A Thousand Clowns, Airport, The Towering Inferno, Argo, Green Book, Driving Miss Daisy, Jerry Maguire, Anne of the Thousand Days, Apollo 13, A Touch of Class, Fanny, The Music Man, Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) Auntie Mame, Chocolat, Finding Neverland, Separate Tables, Sense and Sensibility, Anatomy of a Murder, The Alamo, Elmer Gantry, Ship of Fools, Sounder, Five Easy Pieces, The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Shawshank Redemption, As Good As It Gets, Rachel, Rachel, Field of Dreams, Atonement, The Color Purple, The Fugitive, Alfie, Nicholas and Alexandria, Cleopatra (1963) Lilies of the Field, How the West Was Won, The Russians are Coming . . .

R78, I guess Deliverance didn't do it for you either. I thought that rape scene was a bit of a stretch.

The rapist in PoT could have been an escaped psychopathic pedophile.

YENTL IS ON TCM RIGHT THIS MINUTE!

Too much effort for that cunt-hope she and Martha are dead cunts soon-thanks

^ DJT

[Quote] I guess Deliverance didn't do it for you either. I thought that rape scene was a bit of a stretch.

It certainly was!

I don’t think anyone considers her a great director. She’s too self-involved.

She may be on the scale of very good directors in process. The problem is that the end product is mediocre.

Hope she is a memory soon, just a memory.