Auteur Watch - Hugh Hudson

Not to be confused with Hugh Wilson, director of such hits as Police Academy (1) and Blast from the Past. Although, like Hugh Wilson, I'm sure Hudson would agree, looking back on his award-winning career, that the 80s was his favourite decade. You know, Chariots of Fire was a big hit with critics and audiences alike, and Vangelis still sends him flowers, things were looking up ... but then, Greystoke hit. And then Revolution hit and missed, the cocaine reserves started to dry up, and then Lost Angels hit, and the studio figured, well, Colors was a big hit, why not this? So Hudson's gestation period gradually grew longer and longer. Thank god Lumière et compagnie came along to ease the tension. Now, I know all you naysayers out there are going to just get all negative and try in vain to counterbalance that bit of good luck and say "Oh, please! That was like Director's Jury Duty. Any fresh-faced kid with a DGA card got a job on that. Directors were trying to AVOID it, it was such a mess! But then, the Millennial panic finally paid off for Mr. Hugh, and brought us My Life So Far. Unfortunately, everyone thought it was the highly anticipated My So-Called Life movie, and turned away in disgust, much as they did with I Dreamed of Africa, so needles to say Hugh's been taking another long break, that is until IDoA gets shown enough on HBO and enough people confuse it with Out of Africa and tune in while they're washing dishes and the Nielsen ratings pump it up and finally make it solvent. Just like HBO's still trying to do with Valkenvania. Wikipedia says he's been up to something, but to me, if it's not on IMDb, it might as well not exist at all. So, here's to you, Hugh Hudson, and here's hoping that that Kate Hudson pic that Donald Petrie turned down comes through for you. You know, that one that takes place in one room in long 90-minute take a la Lars Von Trier, the one that would be considered a classic if it weren't for Captivity. Maybe Elisha will exec-produce that one too!

Hugh Hudson's IMDb entry
Hugh Hudson's Wikipedia entry