10 Directors Whose Debut Movie Ended Their Careers

7. Gordon Willis - Windows (1980)

Gordon Willis is something of a legend, given that he was the cinematographer on a few small movies like The Godfather and Manhattan - before somebody suggested that he might like to take up directing a movie on his own. The movie was Windows. There's a reason as to why you probably haven't heard of it, of course.

Panned because it apparently succumbed to "homophobic stereotypes about lesbians," (the movie is about a lesbian love affair), Willis' movie was greeted with the kind of reception that might await Hitler should he rise up from his grave and announce that he was "giving World War II another go."

That's to say, Willis never tried directing again, and went back to working as the cinematographer we all know and love, citing Windows as "a mistake."