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Possible reasons for going off the rocker: kids, excess of money, debt, age, drugs, loss of creativity, loss of luck,
god-complex, believing you deserve it, believing you are more important than your collaborators, believing anyone in Hollywood,
and maybe the fact that it is just the natural order of things.
But then again, we don't really know. Here's another persepective:
"I don't want to be an old director. A lot of the ['70s] movie brats have gotten old and it shows in their work, and
I don't want that. And I'm not picking on them because you go back 100 years and directors don't get better as they get older.
I really do think directing is a young man's game. I want all of my films to be good. Look, there might very well come a time
where, you know, as you get older your interests change, you have older interests. Not everything has to be so visceral or
kinetic. If I say Martin Scorsese's movies are getting kind of geriatric and everything, he can say, Fuck you, man! I'm doing
what I want to do, I'm following my muse, and he's 100 percent right. I'm in my church praying to my god and he's in his church
praying to his. There was a time we were in the same church, and I miss that. I don't want to go to that church. If I was
going to that church, I would write novels."
-- Quentin Tarantino
Maybe Tarantino will overcome, but megalomania is always a challenge. However, awareness
is the first step to stopping this phenomenon. And for that, we thank him.
*Is there a Ray of Hope?
From time to time, a little kid will tug on our sleeve and ask, "But isn't there a way to get back ON the rocker?"
We begin to tell him the real answer (no), but that hopeful innocence shining in his eyes (he just watched Han Solo forsake
his fortune to fly back and help Luke) gives us pause. Everyone loves a comeback, especially Hollywood. We need to delude
ourselves with the promise of a Phoenix-like rise from the ashes. We know you can make a great film after going off the rocker
(Polanski's "The Pianist"), but that doesn't get you back on. The only way to win your seat back, theoretically,
is to achieve another streak of greatness. A 3-movie minimum that not only reminds us of who you were, but gets us excited
for who you could be now. Of course we say theoretical because this has never happened and probably never will. But keep
dreaming.
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