10 Directors Who Should Never Be Trusted With Giant Budgets

7. Lee Tamahori

After his theatrical debut, 1994's Once Were Warriors, was a huge success in his native country New Zealander Lee Tamahori quickly headed Stateside, with his first Hollywood picture being so-so noir thriller Mulholland Falls, before survival drama The Edge fared much better both critically and at the box office. Moving into more commercial territory, Tamahori was given the job on Along Came A Spider, the $60m sequel to Kiss The Girls that saw Morgan Freeman return as James Patterson's Alex Cross. Despite poor reviews, the movie earned over $100m worldwide and led to Tamahori being chosen for the momentous 20th entry in the iconic James Bond franchise. Armed with a budget of $145m, Die Another Day suffered from a distracting overuse of CGI and ludicrous action scenes that saw the franchise veer dangerously close to Roger Moore territory. Still, the enduring popularity of the Bond series saw it become the highest-earning outing for 007 yet with over $430m worldwide. Next up was xXx: State of the Union, a $110m sequel that substituted Vin Diesel for Ice Cube and tanked at the box office, earning just $71m. Tamahori's last big-budget offering was the turgid Next, a laughable sci-fi that just about clawed back the $70m budget and was easily overshadowed by Nicolas Cage's mullet. Going back to the drawing board, Tamahori's The Devil's Double was his cheapest movie in almost two decades at $19m. Despite being his best movie in years and boasting a brilliant lead performance from Dominic Cooper, it earned less than $5m worldwide. After some questionable decisions in his personal life, it is unlikely that Lee Tamahori will be entrusted with another big-budget movie. Which is probably for the best, because he isn't particularly adept at making them any good.