9. Peter Jackson - The Lovely Bones
If you throught Ben Afflecks rise from Oscar winner to downtrodden actor to Oscar winner to Batman was a strange career path, just wait until you see Peter Jacksons. Starting off in schlocky, blood soaked horror he suddenly went for a serious indie (Heavenly Creatures), then u-turned again into a high fantasy adaptation that became one of the biggest trilogies of all time. Since The Lord Of The Rings, however, his direction had been painfully predictable. King Kong was another adaptation of a beloved fantasy source, only this time the three hour run time felt incredibly artificial; it was double the original. Still, there was good stuff in that movie, even if it required a sore arse to get there. The Lovely Bones was a different matter. Misunderstanding Alice Sebolds novel, the film was a garish mess that was clearly trying to bring together the haunting brilliance of Heavenly Creatures, the faithful creativity of The Lord Of The Rings and the special effects of King Kong, but failed thanks to an overreliance on elements only hinted at in the book.
Did he pull it back? Depends what your views on childrens books being turned into a trilogy of three hour epics is.