10 Film Directors Who Desperately Need A Win

Alex Proyas will always be held in the highest esteem by fans of 1990s cult classics for directing both The Crow and Dark City, but you can't coast by on previous accomplishments alone, especially not in modern-day Hollywood. The 56 year-old has only directed three movies in the last sixteen years, but they've nonetheless marked an alarming slide into mediocrity for someone who was once pegged as sci-fi and fantasy's next big thing.

I, Robot seemed right up his alley as an Isaac Asimov adaptation, but it left a lot of big ideas behind in order to mold itself into a standard Will Smith blockbuster, although it did solid business at the box office. Nicolas Cage vehicle Knowing was also a decent-sized hit, but the movie completely fell apart halfway through and ended up being incredibly serious but also totally ridiculous at the same time.

Then came the infamous Gods of Egypt, which saw Proyas forced to publicly apologize for whitewashing the majority of the cast, with the end product being a massive box office bomb and one of the worst big-budget studio movies in years, although it has since found a second life as 'so bad it's good' entertainment.

After such a promising start, Proyas' career seems to be slipping away from him, and he needs to come back with his creative batteries recharged and a point to prove, or else he risks becoming a total afterthought.