By Chris Pine is quite widely liked as an actor amongst both critics and audiences, but his feature directorial debut with “Poolman” didn’t exactly go over well with reviewers.
Dubbed “Big Lebowski meets Chinatown,” Pine directed, co-wrote and starred in the film as Darren Barrenman, a hapless dreamer who maintains the pool of a Tiki-themed L.A. apartment block.
When he uncovers the greatest water heist in LA history, he makes uneasy alliances with a beautiful and connected femme fatale while following every lead he can with corrupt city officials, burned-out Hollywood types, and mysterious benefactors.
The film famously premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year to scathing reviews and currently sits at 20% (3.0/10) on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s easily Pine’s biggest dud to date.
Now that it’s getting a theatrical run, Pine appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast and says he refuses to believe that he made a poor film:
“Criticism as an actor is just a part of the game, but there’s a lot of stuff to hide behind. There’s the director and the writer and the release pattern, etc.
As an actor you come on set and you do your dance and you go off and by the time the film comes out you’ve done X amount of other projects.
The closest thing I would imagine this is like — co-writing, directing, and starring in — is a stand-up comedian on stage feeling utterly naked. It’s been a real come-to-Jesus moment to seeing how resilient I am.
When the film came out at Toronto and just got f—ing panned…I tried to make a joyful film. With so much joy behind it, to then be met with a fusillade of not-so-joyous stuff…the cognitive dissonance there was quite something.
It’s ultimately been the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It’s forced me to double down on joy and really double down on what I love most about my job, which you kind of forget, it’s fundamentally about play. You become children for hours a day and make believe. There’s an impish quality that I don’t want to lose.”
Danny DeVito, Annette Bening, Jennifer Jason Leigh, DeWanda Wise, Ray Wise, Juliet Mills, Stephen Tobolowsky, and Clancy Brown co-star in the film which is in cinemas now.
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