Director’s Chair Introduction: Rob Reiner

by Tony Cogan · May 11, 2020 · Uncategorized · No Comments

Send Entries To: directorschairlamb@gmail.com

Deadline: 6 June 2020

Hello everyone, it’s time to reveal the featured director for May and this month I’ve decided to go for Rob Reiner.

Now Reiner, before becoming a director, got his start in acting, having small roles in a number of shows before getting one of the main roles in All In The Family, which was, at one point, the most watched show in America, with Reiner winning 2 Emmy’s for his performance.

In the 80’s Reiner moved into directing, starting with the cult classic This Is Spinal Tap. Filmed in a documentary style and mostly improvised, the film was a massive success on release, with Spinal Tap becoming a real band and performing following the success of the film and many of the iconic images and lines from Spinal Tap have entered the pop culture lexicon. After Spinal Tap, Reiner made The Sure Thing, which received mostly positive reviews, before having one of the greatest streaks for a director.

Reiner’s next five films, Stand by Me; The Princess Bride; When Harry Met Sally; Misery and A Few Good Men are all classics. Stand Be Me and Misery are two of the best adaptations of Stephen King, When Harry Met Sally is the quintessential romantic comedy, A Few Good Men is a great courtroom drama and the start of an impressive film career for Aaron Sorkin and The Princess Bride is as close to a perfect film as you can get.

This streak though was broken by North, which is considered to be one of the worst films ever made, most notable for the scathing review the film received from Roger Ebert. Reiner though followed North up by working with Aaron Sorkin again on The American President.

After The American President, Reiner’s films were more hit and miss, with most of them receiving mixed reviews. He has kept acting though, including notable roles in film in The Wolf of Wall Street and on TV with New Girl and, most recently, Hollywood.

As a reminder, the films of Reiner’s that you can cover are listed below.

  • This Is Spinal Tap
  • The Sure Thing
  • Stand By Me
  • The Princess Bride
  • When Harry Met Sally
  • Misery
  • A Few Good Men
  • North
  • The American President
  • Ghosts of Mississippi
  • The Story of Us
  • Alex and Emma
  • Rumor Has It
  • The Bucket List
  • Flipped
  • The Magic of Belle Isle
  • And So It Goes
  • Being Charlie
  • LBJ
  • Shock and Awe

I look forward to reading whatever you send me.