10 Directors Who Took Insane Breaks Between Movies

Whit Stillman's work as a director has been described as "paucity of the oeuvre" in relation to others like Terrence Malick (more on him later). He directed a few films in the 1990s, which gave him something of a cult following, but after 1998's The Last Days of Disco, he disappeared for 13 years.

During this time, his cult status helped create a sense of wonder as to what happened to the enigmatic director. That mysterious allure suggested he was up to something, but as it turns out, he was busy working during those 13 years, but his efforts resulted mostly in failure.

During the 13-year gap in directing, he tried in vain to film George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London. The project, which ultimately failed to materialize, took up so much of Stillman's time, he couldn't work on anything else.

When he finally accepted that he couldn't adapt Orwell's book to film, he moved on to other projects. In 2011, he finally directed another film with the release of Damsels in Distress. That project was followed with two others, and as of the writing of this piece, he continues to work as a screenwriter and novelist, but has several unfinished film projects he would like to develop.