Today Bruce Springsteen shared his short film/music video Hunter of Invisible Game on his website, which is his directorial debut. Springsteen is far from the first musician to direct a film, however. Here are ten more musicians who have dabbled in film directing.
1. Rob Zombie
Perhaps the most famous example of a musician-turned-director is Rob Zombie, who's probably better known these days as the writer and director of The Devil's Rejects than as the lead singer of White Zombie. Zombie has directed five feature-length films, including the Halloween remakes, and even a 2010 episode of CSI: Miami.
2. Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan has directed just two films, both of which were considered disasters. The first was the documentary Eat the Document, which followed Dylan on his infamous UK tour in 1966, but the film was never released in theaters or on video, though some footage was eventually used for Martin Scorsese's documentary No Direction Home. Dylan's second film was the four-hour documentary/concert film/drama hybrid Renaldo and Clara from 1978, which was withdrawn from distribution after receiving scathing reviews.
3. Neil Young
Since early on in his career, Neil Young has been directing films under the pseudonym Bernard Shakey. Some of these include the concert films Journey Through the Past and Rust Never Sleeps, but Young has also directed narrative films, such as Human Highway and Greendale.
4. Frank Zappa
It's hard to believe that someone as prolific as Frank Zappa could also find time to direct movies. Zappa's first attempt at a film was Uncle Meat in 1968, which was finally released in 1987 in an unfinished, documentary format. Zappa's first completed film was the predictably bizarre 200 Motels, about a band going insane while on tour, featuring Ringo Starr and Keith Moon.
5. RZA
Based on the Wu-Tang Clan's obsession with kung fu movies, one of them was bound to make their own eventually, and RZA finally did just that in 2012 with The Man with the Iron Fists, which he co-wrote with Hostel director Eli Roth.
6. David Byrne
Though David Byrne had a large hand in the creation of the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense, he wasn't credited as a director. Byrne's official directorial debut came two years later with True Stories, a surprisingly sweet and funny film about a small town in Texas that puts on a talent show for its sesquicentennial celebration, starring Byrne himself and John Goodman.
7. Michael Stipe
Michael Stipe has been responsible for directing a number of R.E.M.'s music videos, including "Driver 8," "Pop Song 89," and "Can't Get There From Here," as well as the 1990 film Tourfilm, which captures the band onstage during its 1989 tour of North America.
8. Wayne Coyne
Among the Flaming Lips' countless project over the last fifteen years was the film Christmas On Mars, a horror/sci-fi/surrealist Christmas movie written and directed by Wayne Coyne and filmed in his Oklahoma backyard between 2001 and 2005. The film stars the Flaming Lips and features appearances by Fred Armisen, Adam Goldberg, and Steve Burns from Blue's Clues.
9. Jim Jarmusch
Though Jim Jarmusch is an acclaimed writer and director of films such as Dead Man and Stranger Than Paradise, he was actually a musician before he ever became involved in filmmaking. His most famous musical endeavor was the Del-Byzanteens, a New York post-punk group from the early '80s.
10. Fred Durst
Yes, Fred "I did it all for the nookie" Durst has been working as a film director between Limp Bizkit albums. His directorial debut came in 2007 with the indie drama The Education of Charlie Banks starring Jesse Eisenberg, which he followed with the 2008 sports film The Longshots starring Ice Cube.
What other musicians have directed films? Let us know in the comments section!
