Not everything a filmmaker does will hit, and sometimes they expect how things will turn out. In an interview with Insider, Babylon director Damien Chazelle knew his latest film would be divisive and lead to negative reviews. The film holds 55% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and 51% from audiences.
The star-studded film with leads like Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie follows multiple fictional characters in 1920s Hollywood. It draws (in a less popular way) the excess and provocative nature of The Wolf of Wallstreet as it is filled with drugs, sex, and more shocking, mature content across its three-hour runtime. All of this led to a more divisive film for the filmmaker.
For the Babylon director, he finds it a positive thing when a film strikes audiences and critics this way as it “stimulates conversation and debate.” Regardless of where people land on the film, as everything will have its fans and haters, he looks as “legitimate.”
Babylon director Damien Chazelle finds negative reviews are “legitimate”
Between his writing and directing credits, the filmmaker’s best-known films, Whiplash and La La Land, both received well with Oscar nominations, with a win for his directing the 2016 musical with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling. The former holds 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, while the latter has 91%. His 2018 release with First Man held a positive reception from 87%, complimenting its Oscar win for its visual effects.
Babylon is about to release in the U.K. on Friday (January 20). The film was released in domestic theaters on December 23. It has currently grossed $14 million. When it starts hitting more countries, more audiences can get a taste of why the film is divisive. It stars Pitt, Robbie, Jean Smart, Olivia Wilde, Eric Roberts, Samara Weaving, Jeff Garlin, Tobey Maguire, and more.
