10 Directors Who Completely Ruined Their Careers With One Movie
5. Georges Melies
The Killer Movie: A Trip To The Moon Legitimately called one of the ground-breaking films that shaped the entire industry, and now the kind of age where it could get away with any raucous, inappropriate behaviour in public, the more than 110 year old short was less than successful for its director. Georges Melies was a pioneer, who still comes up on lists of major influences of even the brightest directing talents: he was an innovator and a genius surrealist, and he probably deserved to make a shed-load of money, even in the days before the sharks took over the studios. Except, Melies was foiled horribly by another innovator - Thomas Edison - who stole Melies film, by pirating it, and distributed it without so much as a second thought for royalties, making a fortune and eventually forcing Melies out of film-making altogether by powerhousing the entire industry with his Motion Picture Patents Company (the picture of irony!) He never made a film again, and Thomas Edison went on to be known as an historical hero, and not for the life-ruining, contradictory pirate he actually was.
The Killer Movie: A Trip To The Moon Legitimately called one of the ground-breaking films that shaped the entire industry, and now the kind of age where it could get away with any raucous, inappropriate behaviour in public, the more than 110 year old short was less than successful for its director. Georges Melies was a pioneer, who still comes up on lists of major influences of even the brightest directing talents: he was an innovator and a genius surrealist, and he probably deserved to make a shed-load of money, even in the days before the sharks took over the studios. Except, Melies was foiled horribly by another innovator - Thomas Edison - who stole Melies film, by pirating it, and distributed it without so much as a second thought for royalties, making a fortune and eventually forcing Melies out of film-making altogether by powerhousing the entire industry with his Motion Picture Patents Company (the picture of irony!) He never made a film again, and Thomas Edison went on to be known as an historical hero, and not for the life-ruining, contradictory pirate he actually was.