10 Directors Who Took Insane Breaks Between Movies

Lucile Hadžihalilović is one of France's best directors working in cinema today, but she's managed to take an incredibly long break between her only two feature-length films. Her first, Innocence was released in 2004, but it wouldn't be until 2015 for her follow-up, Evolution was released that her gap would come to an end.

Throughout her career, Lucile Hadžihalilović has worked as an editor, actress, and director, but she has only ever made those two feature-length films. Her other work has been primarily on short films, and while she did direct a short called Nectar in 2014, it barely broke her 11-year break from directing.

The main reason Hadžihalilović had to take time off directing to film Evolution was to do with money. Money may be the root of all evil, according to some, but it's also the only way movies get made. Hadžihalilović spent years courting investors trying to scrape up enough Euros to begin working on her second project.

The problem came from the screenplay, which many investors felt was overburdened with mystery. The concern was that her previous and future work was too artsy and obscure such that it wouldn't appeal to a general audience; meaning, it wouldn't make money. Ultimately, the investors were proven correct, and the film, while lauded by critics and film festivals, didn't make any money to speak of.