Smithee on Smithee

Faber seems to have moved away from their iconic Directors on Directors series of books, which, as I mentioned in my Top 25 film books, I devoured as a young cinephile. I’ve seen a few things online recently with people lamenting the demise of the 1990s series with their uniform, striking black and white visuals.

Here’s an imaginary one I’ve designed for director Alan Smithee (1968-2000), the pseudonym for any filmmaker who wanted to disown the film they’d just made, usually because of studio interference and lack of creative control.

Looking over Smithee’s oeuvre, it’s actually quite impressive for a filmmaker that doesn’t exist. I would be very interested in reading a biography of the imagery director who has made dozens of diverse movies. His films can’t be any worse than those of Ed Wood, who Tim Burton made a film about. Come to think of it, Smithee also had a film made about him, the terrible An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, with Eric Idle playing Smithee. It was so bad director Arthur Hiller had his name taken off it, to be replaced with… you guessed it, Alan Smithee.

Though he retired in 2000, I notice he’s made a handful of films since (Hollywood loves an unlikely comeback). Other pseudonyms have appeared in recent years, including Thomas Lee and R.O.C. Sandstorm, but no one’s name seems to stick like Alan Smithee’s.