Director Todd Field earned a wave of industry accolades for his psychological drama film Tár, including six Academy Award nominations and more 'best film' nods from critics than any other feature in 2022. However, Field has now said that the film may be his last in the director's chair.
In a new interview with Cinema Scope, Field said, “There’s a real challenge in making a film of any size. It’s not for the faint of heart," adding, "I wish I was cut out for different stuff because I probably wouldn’t make more films. It takes a great deal out of me to make a film; I don’t know that I’ll ever make another one." When the outlet asked if he was serious about stepping away from the camera, Field replied, "Yes, I think so. I didn’t think about it until just now. It’s highly likely." While he left the door open for it being "possible" for his mind to change, Field detailed why he was hesitant to take up another directorial project, though he expressed enthusiasm to continue writing:
“It’s not a creative thing for me, it’s really more of a physical thing. I spent a year on a daily basis working with [author] Jonathan Franzen, and in six months we wrote 1,200 pages together. That was as thrilling as anything I’ve had as far as the excitement of freedom of expression, and I’m looking forward to getting in a room with Jon again. The writing part of it, going to the desk every day, that won’t change.”
Field went on to describe his reluctance to continue directing as he aged:
"It’s not about not having anything to say. If it were nice and easy, I would film all the time. I make commercials all the time, but that doesn’t take much out of me. I like the play, the techniques, experimenting with new equipment that comes out before it ever reaches the feature world, because I’m a technical geek at heart too. But those aren’t my things; those technical tools belong to multinational corporations....as you get older, you realize how valuable time is, there’s only so much time in that hourglass."
Starring Cate Blanchett as a conductor, Lydia Tár, who is accused of sexual assault, Tár was Field's first film in 16 years. The film seems to have been something of a passion project for Field, as he told Cinema Scope that he had tried to make something work with the character for a decade. "The character had been haunting me for 10 years or more," he said. "At different periods, I sat with this character and wondered if I could do anything with it. All of the writing I’ve done since 2005 has involved adapting existing work...but this character was always mocking me on my shoulder or standing on my desk."
In what was perhaps a preview of his move away from directing, Field recently exited the Hulu crime drama series Devil in the White City just days after the departure of star Keanu Reeves. While Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorcese were still on board to produce, Field's departure was likely the final nail in the coffin for the series, which has since been scrapped by Hulu.
Collider's interview with Field and Blanchett about Tár can be seen below: