7 Directors That Netflix Should Just Give Movie Deals to Already

With great power comes great responsibility. Netflix knows this all too well. The streaming giant, which seemingly has an unlimited cash flow and an omnivorous appetite for content, has stepped in where other studios have gotten uneasy, whether that's for the best (Bong Joon-ho's "Okja") or for the worst (whatever Duncan Jones' dreary "Mute" was). But as many extra lives as Netflix has handed out to filmmakers who have, there are still plenty that could use the streamer's help. Here are seven filmmakers that Netflix should just give money to, already.

Nimrod Antal

Maybe this isn't as much of a case of Netflix funding the Hungarian-American director's next movie, but just releasing it already. Nimrod Antal looked to be poised as the next great action filmmaker (Sam Raimi wanted him to take over the "Spider-Man" franchise when he left), but after a series of meandering career choices -- and the truly amazing-but-little-seen Metallica 3D movie "Through the Never" -- he ended up making another Hungarian movie, the terrific-looking thriller "The Whiskey Bandit." So far, though, it hasn't found an American release. Until, of course, Netflix steps in.

Richard Kelly

The Twilight Zone," was similarly ignored.) But Kelly remains an idiosyncratic auteur worthy of a continued career, and Netflix would be a great place for him to get back on the map.

Angela Robinson

Last year, Angela Robinson, who is a woman, gay, and African American, released the wonderful "Professor Marston and the Wonder Women," a kinky real-life drama about the creation of everyone's favorite Amazonian princess. Despite renewed interest in the character, virtually nobody saw it (and critics, while generally kind, failed to rustle up much enthusiasm). It feels like Robinson could very easily go years before seeing additional funding, and really, we can't wait that much longer for one of her deeply-felt, highly energetic character pieces. Instead, we need it, like, now.

Kasi Lemmons

For a while, Kasi Lemmons seemed like one of the most original voices in American independent cinema. "Eve's Bayou" is one of the most impressive debut films ever, and her follow-up, "The Caveman's Valentine," retained her trademark mix of oddness and emotionality. But as the years went on, her choices became more hemmed in by mainstream tastes, with her last movie being 2013's handsomely made (but terribly marketed) Langston Hughes adaptation "Black Nativity." It'd be great to give the actress/filmmaker another chance at recapturing the voice that made her such a powerful presence when she burst on the scene in the first place.

Alfonso Gomez-Rejon

Poor Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. The Martin Scorsese protégé made some of the very best episodes of "American Horror Story" before crafting a Sundance splash with "Me and Earl and the Dying Girl." His follow-up was the historical drama "The Current War," about the battle for control of the United States electrical grid (it stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon). Of course, that film, which garnered positive notices in 2017 during its film festival debut, wound up being a casualty of the Weinstein Company implosion. (Right before The New York Times story broke, Weinstein claimed he wasn't listening to the press but was instead focused on a re-edit of the movie.) Netflix could easily free the kidnapped film and garnish that offer with money for whatever his follow-up would be.

Shane Carruth

Shane Carruth seemed, for a while at least, to be America's next great genre filmmaker. "Primer" (2004) was a micro-budgeted time travel saga that was overloaded with techno-jargon, but it remained truly human. His long-awaited follow-up, 2013's "Upstream Color," was as mind-blowing as it was deeply moving. There had been rumblings about a follow up, entitled "The Modern Ocean," about mainstream oceanic shipping, that at one point sported a starry cast including The Girlfriend Experience" is criminal. This man is a visionary.

Peter Strickland

How has nobody financed a new Peter Strickland movie by now? It's a genuine question that I ask with genuine frustration. The up-and-coming British filmmaker -- whose first film, "Berbarian Sound System," was a fantastic debut -- and whose second, "The Duke of Burgundy," already feels like something of a modern classic, hasn't released a movie since 2014. That is just wrong. Netflix could easily fund one of his movies, which always have small budgets but with an increased amount of money could really stand out, and, thanks to their love of reductive algorithms, whatever it ends up being, could easily be slotted next to some genre favorites. It's a win-win!