Everyone who starts in TV, radio or theatre eventually wants to 
make their way to Hollywood. This isn’t new; we’ve all seen 
transitions from the music industry, including J-Lo, Britney 
Spears, Beoncee Knowles, John Mayer, Bon Jovi, Madonna, Witney 
Houston and countless others. Generally, those artists who have 
specialized and mastered a certain craft have a hard time 
delivering in the film industry. 

This is the same with Commercial directors like Michael Bay who 
was originally a music video/commercial director and then turned 
his focus to motion pictures by making films like Bad Boys, The 
Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor and the latest The Island with 
Ewan McGregor. As a result, all his films feel like they are 
extended versions of those mini commercials and music videos he 
used to make. The cinematography is perfect while the editing is 
breathless and doesn’t give enough time to the viewer to digest 
all the information they are receiving. 

Napoleon Dynamite was so successful with the audiences because it 
was the complete opposite of Michael Bay films. Instead of fast-
paced editing, the camera lingered on the actors letting them 
settle into the scene and as a result letting the viewer settle 
into the scene as well. Machiavelli Hangman is another picture 
that is up for release later this year that will give its 
audiences these longer scenes with more focus on acting.

There are other films like Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings 
trilogy and most likely his upcoming remake of King Kong that 
fall in a middle ground between fast-based Hollywood studio films 
and equally successful independent and quieter films like 
Napoleon Dynamite and Machiavelli Hangman.

Peter Jackson has always focused on motion pictures and that 
craft shows off in his ability to tie all the strings together. 
When the viewers sit to watch his films, they are entertained and 
they are also given enough material to think about it. 

Madonna has had a tremendously successful musical career, but she 
began to venture into motion pictures with her debut with Warren 
Beatty in Dick Tracey. Then she made such films as Evita and 
Swept Away and on each occasion, critics bashed her performances 
and said that she should simply stick to her music. 

There are other instances when the transitions prove to be the 
right thing to do. For example, Sam Mendes who was a prominent 
theatre director moved to Hollywood and was offered to do 
American Beauty by Steven Spielberg. That film that Spielberg 
proclaimed to be an instant classic went on to win an Oscar for 
Best Picture.

Sure there are exceptions, but the history of entertainment shows 
that it is more beneficial for artists to stick to what they know 
best, or they are bound to shoot themselves in the foot. 

Steve Lowery is a movie reviewer. His current 
review concerns the upcoming movie release of
Machiavelli Hangman: http://www.hangmanmovie.com