From Questlove to Prince: 10 Musicians Who Turned Director

Making a movie is time-consuming, complicated, and really, really hard. Not everyone is up to do it, and few people even get the opportunity. One path to becoming a filmmaker is to garner success in a different field and use that as leverage to make a movie. Some examples have been writers like Stephen King and fashion designers like Tom Ford.

There have actually been several directors who began their career in music videos, most notably David Fincher, but there haven't been all that many musicians who have made the turn to film directors. As a musician, you have an opportunity to really cement yourself as an artist with an individual perspective, so then when you try to pitch yourself as a director, the transition seems simple.

Questlove

Questlove is the most recent example of a musician Turner director, and one of the very few to win an Academy Award for his efforts. As the drummer and founding member of the iconic band The Roots and the long-standing band leader for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Questlove made his directorial debut with a documentary called Summer Of Soul (...Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised).

The film is composed of newly filmed interviews and real footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, a forgotten festival that celebrated the music of African-American culture. Some have dismissed the film as just edited together archival footage, but the magic of the movie is in the editing. Questlove's direction crafts a compelling story out of reality and creates an emotional experience for the viewer, giving a glimpse into a time when African-American authenticity was celebrated on a large scale, the likes of which haven't been seen since.

David Byrne

Talking Heads frontman David Byrne has always been someone slightly off mainstream sensibilities. Talking Heads were a rock band known for strange lyrics and absurd performances, like their iconic oversized suits. So when Byrne made his film debut, and at the time of writing, his only cinematic effort, the result should have been to no one's surprise.

True Stories is a loosely plotted look at small-town America filtered through Byrne's strange yet sentimental point of view. Byrne plays the main character, a man in a cowboy hat who talks directly to the audience and shows us around the small but growing town of Virgil, Texas. The film is broken down into little vignettes showcasing everything the town has to offer: a man taking out ads on TV looking for love, a man who never directly talks to his wife, and a woman who never leaves her bed. Every character in Virgil is memorable, and the comedy is as Americana as any good Coen Brothers movie. In one movie, Byrne proved himself to be as unique a filmmaker as he is a musician. Here's to hoping he gets behind the camera again before he hangs up his big suit for good.

Madonna

Madonna is one of the most famous people to ever live. After dominating pop culture as the biggest music star of the 1980s, she has persisted as an iconic figure in American culture. She's done just about everything there is to do, including trying her hand at directing feature films.

As of 2022, she has two features under her belt: Filth and Wisdom and W.E. Her debut feature film, Filth and Wisdom, is a comedy about three roommates in London. W.E. is a historical romance about the relationship between King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, told simultaneously as a modern-day romance between a Russian security guard and a married woman. So far, her film career hasn't really set the world on fire like her music career. However, that may all be about to change. Her next effort as a filmmaker is going to be writing and directing a biopic of herself. The casting process for Madonna has been highly publicized, and the film is already highly anticipated.

Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra always had a foot in Hollywood. Though he is one of the most successful musicians of all time, he is also the most famous member of the entertainment collective known as the "Rat Pack", and an Oscar-winning actor for the film From Here To Eternity, and a one-time film director.

His only directorial effort was the 1965 World War II film, None But The Brave. The film follows various Japanese and American soldiers calling a truce when both platoons are stranded together. The anti-war sentiment of the film is arguably the strongest part of the film. It was received pretty much right down the middle. Many praised the writing and themes, but the rest of the production just didn't reach the heights you would want for this material.

Fred Durst

If you were to place bets on what musician would become a film director, chances are Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst wouldn't be top of the list. However, he's done more film directing than most know. He has three features under his belt, alongside many, many music videos.

His directorial debut was the serious drama, The Education Of Charlie Banks, starring Jesse Eisenberg as a college student whose life is upended when he runs into his bully from high school on campus. The film was a sharp departure from the brash, over-the-top masculine style he was known for with Limp Bizkit. His follow-up was The Longshots, starring Ice Cube, and Keke Palmer, telling the true story of the first woman to compete in the Pop Warner football tournament. His third feature, and arguably the one that he is best known for as a filmmaker is The Fanatic, which stars John Travolta as a man whose obsession with his favorite actor gets taken too far. The film has such a heightened sense of drama and comedy, that it caught on with the internet as a movie that was so bad it was good.

RZA

Wu-Tang Clan founding member RZA has found a rather successful second act of his career as an actor and filmmaker. Much like the Wu-Tang Clan's obsession with classic martial arts films, RZA's film career also touches on rejuvenating and celebrating the culture around martial arts.

As a director, he has three features under his belt and an episode of the Marvel show Iron Fist. His debut was the martial arts action film, The Man With The Iron Fists. For a debut feature, RZA was able to put together quite a cast. He led the film himself as the titular Man With The Iron Fists, alongside Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu, Daniel Wu, and Dave Bautista. His second feature was a music drama called Love Beats Rhymes, starring Azealia Banks, Jill Scott, and Common. His third feature was a crime drama called Cut Throat City starring Shameik Moore, Demetrius Shipp Jr., Ethan Hawke, T.I., and Terrance Howard. It had the unfortunate release year of 2020, and therefore its release was hindered by COVID-19, but it's definitely worth tracking down and checking out.

Childish Gambino

Donald Glover has become something of a cultural icon for the millennial generation. He can, and has, done it all: music, stand-up comedy, acting, writing, directing. As his music persona Childish Gambino, Glover has won several Grammy Awards for songs like "Redbone" and "This Is America". On TV, Glover has written for 30 Rock, starred in Community, and created the critically acclaimed series, Atlanta.

Unlike his other contemporaries who made the jump from music to film, Glover has yet to direct a feature, however, he has directed several episodes of Atlanta, including one of the best, titled "B.A.N." The episode follows Paper Boi (Bryan Tyree Henry), as he appears on the hard-hitting interview show Montague, and has to suffer through a tedious interview that touches upon some of the absurdity that makes Atlanta special.

Rob Zombie

Rob Zombie is undeniably the most successful musician who transitioned to film director. As the frontman for White Zombie, and in his solo music career, Zombie carved out a niche for himself as a "hellbilly" rocker. His music and general style have always been infused with horror. So, it didn't take many people by surprise when he made the jump to horror movie auteur director.

Arguably, Rob Zombie is best known nowadays as a director than a musician, mainly because he's made so many movies. His debut was the grisly slasher, House Of 1000 Corpses, which he later followed up with two sequels, The Devil's Rejects and 3 From Hell. He also put out his take on an iconic horror franchise with Halloween and Halloween II. The crowd-funded 31 and The Lords Of Salem fill out the rest of his filmography. What makes him special as a filmmaker is that he has a very distinct style that permeates throughout all of his work. While all of his films to this point have been rated R, his next film will be a new PG take on The Munsters, of which Zombie is a super fan.

Prince

Prince was a genuine icon of music, creating a truly unique aura of mystery around himself. He was an enigma that you couldn't ever really predict what he would do next. One second he's putting out iconic music like "Purple Rain", then he's changing his name to a symbol.

Prince also had a rather successful career in the film industry. He is best known for acting in the semi-biographical film, Purple Rain, where he essentially told his own story. However, he wasn't behind the camera for Purple Rain. His directorial debut was a black and white homage to classic Hollywood cinema titled Under The Cherry Moon. While it wasn't necessarily received positively by critics or audiences, you have to admire that Prince made his debut with such a major swing. He followed that up with a concert documentary called Sign 'O' The Times and a spiritual sequel to Purple Rain called Graffiti Bridge.

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is one of the rare musicians who truly is the voice of an entire generation. He spoke about real-world issues in songs like "The Hurricane" in a time when pop music was primarily about ignoring your problems and having fun. Bob Dylan has a way of sticking out of the crowd by just being his authentic self.

To this day, Bob Dylan has only directed one feature film. He has been somewhat involved in the film industry, even winning an Oscar for Best Original Song for the film, Wonder Boys. Much like his music career, his one directorial effort is quite unique. Renaldo and Clara is a part-documentary, part-improvised drama following Dylan on tour across America with the Rolling Thunder Revue, and a series of fictional characters, one of whom is played by Dylan himself. There's really no movie quite like it, and you can't help but try and make sense of the larger message, it being made by Dylan after all. It's not a perfect movie, but clocking in at almost 4 hours, it's worth a watch for any die-hard Bob Dylan fan.

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