Director explains why he decided to move away from Hollywood after “Tomb Raider: The Origin of Life”

‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ has grown into a blockbuster gaming franchise – and it didn’t take long for the narrative to hit theaters.

The first film was released in 2001 and starred Angelina Jolie in the title role. Jan de Bont, known for his forays into the action genre (like “Maximum Speed” and “Twister”) led the project and returned as a result – but the commercial and critical failure of Chapter Two made it happen. move away from future blockbusters.

In an interview with Uproxx, the director said he didn’t have a good experience with the sequel to the saga, ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Origin of Life’, released in 2003.

“It was not a good experience. More because the studio is really interfering [no filme] in a sense. And the point is, the creators of the game were also involved. And they never told me that they would also have a vote in history. Suddenly all of these changes were happening, who should be what and what would be the cast. And then it became a big stage. Everything was a matter of discussion. On the first day of filming, in Greece, we received a call: “We would like to congratulate you on the first day. And by the way, we’re going to have to cut the budget by $ 12 million. First day! Today, $ 12 million is four stages ”.

Failure and disappointment at not having control over his own work caused De Bont to shy away from big projects.

“There are films I wanted to work on and unfortunately they weren’t made. None of them. I said, ‘Wait a minute, is that a lot of work? It is too hard’. I felt like it wasn’t something traditional, where the studios picked up a lot more of the movie. And it became… It’s not worth it. He knows?”.

The director also commented on a specific moment when he got a call in which they said they didn’t like the buttons on one of the characters’ shirts.

“They didn’t like buttons on a shirt! I still remember I got a call: “I don’t like buttons”. I don’t even remember it. What was the guy’s name? The male protagonist? Dude, I forgot his name. But then I said, ‘wait, are you calling me because you don’t like buttons?’ It was absurd. Really.”

Despite the first film’s solid revenue, the sequel was slaughtered by critics and grossed just over $ 160 million at the global box office.

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