Sunday, June 20, 2010

Auteur Watch - Randa Haines

I shouldn't be too snarky here... I don't know why. Just a gut feeling I have. Don't want to burn too many potential bridges here! No doubt about it, though, Miss Randa Haines has climbed up to the top of her craft with little to no intention of climbing back down. She started a little late; preferably, one starts directing right out of high school. And she started in TV; for some, a major handicap. People like Rod Daniel and Peter Bonerz just can't seem to escape the black hole of TV directing. But not Randa! After apparently successful stints on everything from Hill Street Blues to Knots Landing she got her big break with an Oscar-worthy title called Children of a Lesser God... best known because the Simpsons parodied the title once. Was that the best decade or what? After all, the 80s ARE making a comeback.
But then came the 90s and it was rising star, rising star all the way. Two critically acclaimed features back-to-back: The Doctor, and Wrestling Ernest Hemingway. Unfortunately, she had to take it easy after those two since they weren't monster hits. But she wrapped up the decade with Dance With Me. Not to be confused with Shall We Dance. What is it with you and dancing, ladies? Is it really that much like sex?
I'd have to say the 90s was, is, are the odds-on favourite decade of her career. She was just turning 50 but somehow it didn't seem to matter because a whole army of cast and crew were kissing her ass 24-7. Not so much in the 2000s, what with don't care and don't care under her belt. The Outsider? A sequel to 1983's The Outsiders? No such luck. And I don't think Naomi Watts was the first choice... let's see if that one guy's paying attention. And she tried to sucker Bumpkin America with her latest until they realized it wasn't about Ron White.
So what's up next for Randa Haines? Nothing yet, according to regular IMDb. Maybe there's something on premium IMDb that you have to pay for. Hard to say what this auteur would want to end her career with; it is close to retirement time, no? The last installments of Harry Potter and Twilight are spoken for, I think... How about The 28th Amendment?

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