The first season of True Detective was helmed solely by Cary Fukunaga (Beasts of No Nation), but with him and series creator/writer Nic Pizzolatto parting ways over what has been rumoured to be a pretty major falling out, a number of different film and television directors were brought in for season two. Many are names you likely will have never heard of, but some – Justin Lin (Fast Five) and John Crowley (Boy A) for example – definitely stood out.
However, it turns out that season two of the HBO drama could have attracted an even bigger name had things panned out a little differently.
While the likes of William Friedkin and Andrew Dominik were rumoured, it has now been revealed by David Cronenberg (A History of Violence, The Fly) that he was at one point approached as well. However, his reason for saying no is sure to resonate with anyone who wasn’t really a fan of True Detective‘s very divisive second season.
“The heat is in TV. Last year I was approached to direct the first episode of the second season of ‘True Detective,’ I considered it but I thought that the script was bad, so I didn’t do it. In TV, the director is just a traffic cop, but on the other hand it is work and there’s a lot of it.”
Ouch. That’s yet another blow to True Detective, a series which could do no wrong during its first year, but was savaged by critics and viewers alike during the second. Clearly some changes will need to be made with a possible third season, especially if HBO has any hope of attracting A-List talent and filmmakers to work on the show.
Tell us, what did you think of True Detective season two? Let us know your thoughts on that and these comments from Cronenberg below.