5 Promising Directors From The 2000s (Who've Sucked Since Their Debut)

The Debut - Michael Clayton (2005), Subsequent Films - Duplicity (2009), The Bourne Legacy (2012)

Many screenwriters eventually make the step up to director. Notable examples include Shane Black transitioning from writing the likes of Lethal Weapon to making Marvel more than a billion dollars with Iron Man 3 and Charlie Kaufman going from earning three Oscar nominations for his writing to becoming critically lauded for his directing of small-scale independents.

Tony Gilroy's success writing or co-writing the first three films of the Jason Bourne franchise, which redefined the spy film genre in the early 2000s, gave Warner Bros enough confidence to let him direct his next work, Michael Clayton. A riveting legal thriller, it saw Tilda Swinton take home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her turn as a colleague of George Clooney's titular character undergoing a mental breakdown.

Gilroy was nominated (but didn't win) for Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay. His next film, Duplicity, saw him return to the spy genre (albeit in comedic fashion) but attracted criticism for its ridiculously overcomplicated plot.

A return to Bourne followed, but his Jeremy Renner-starring side story felt off from the start, with the combination of Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon that had made Supremacy and Ultimatum must-see thrillers sorely noticeable. Legacy was essentially erased from the series' continuity by the subsequent 2016 return of the pair, which hit home the fact that the franchise should've been left as a trilogy even further.