You might find it a bit funny to think of Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit as a director, but about a year ago Larry Fitzmaurice of Vulture wrote a piece on Durst and his directing ability and it appears he’s not all that bad. In fact you could even take it further and call him pretty good at. If you’ll remember, Durst has caught a lot of hell from people over the years on how Limp Bizkit sounded tired and kind of out of sync with the music scene for a while. The band still managed to keep a lot of fans but their detractors were also growing in numbers as the years went on and it seemed like they became less than trendy. As a Limp Bizkit fan myself I still listen to a lot of their tracks and happen to think that they were right for the time they really started getting popular, but might be a band that was best left in the past largely because that edgy, in your face kind of attitude is something that people like but only lasts so long with each individual band.
But in terms of being a director it would seem as though he’s already well-respected and is gaining the trust and even admiration of a few stars here and there as he makes his way forward. In fact Evan Minsker of Pitchfork reported that John Travolta, who was working on Durst’s film “Moose” actually had a lot of good things to say about Durst. When a legend like Travolta speaks so candidly about someone you tend to want to listen since they don’t flap their lips for nothing and they don’t tend to congratulate just anyone when it comes to accomplishments that many people take great pride in. It does feel safe to say that Durst might be a ways from earning any major awards but that could be just a matter of time and experience since quite honestly the drive to win any kind of award seems like it needs to come after one gains the experience and the love for the work that makes it worthwhile.
So far it would seem that folks at Filmsane and a lot of other sites are a little pensive about Durst’s chances of becoming a big time director and someone that could possibly be invited to awards shows as a nominee, but like I said, give the man time. He’s already directed a couple of movies before “Moose” so it’s not like he’s completely new to this. He did direct the movies “The Longshots” starring Ice Cube, and “The Education of Charlie Banks” starring Jesse Eisenberg, and if you know anything about either actor you know very well that Ice Cube has been a director, a rapper, an actor, and isn’t the easiest to impress, and Eisenberg is, depending on who you ask, not the easiest person to work with. But Durst has worked with both of them and made movies that might have only scored in the 40s when it came to percentage with Rotten Tomatoes (yeah, don’t read too much into that), but has kept going and can at least come up with a direction that inspires and entertains others. It is kind of hard to see the guy that sang a different version of George Michael’s song Faith sitting behind the camera now instead of bouncing around in front of it, but keep in mind how long it’s been since Limp Bizkit came into being and then think about how long they stuck around.
Oh yeah, here’s that Faith video:
Nowadays Durst is looking a little gray around the edges and it would seem that he’s moved on from the stage and is working more behind the camera and is all about directing some of the hottest names in the business. That’s one hell of a switch isn’t it? But when you think about it that’s also a sign of versatility since as a musician he was good, he was very good, don’t get it twisted and think that he was just jumping around on screen for nothing. There’s a lot of Limp Bizkit fans out there that would have an issue with anyone that says that their music was pointless. But his transition to the director’s seat is going pretty well it seems and could be the next big thing in his life that starts getting him recognized and applauded for his efforts. At this point it doesn’t matter if his films are being kind of left behind on the digital shelf, they’re still there for anyone to see if they want to check it out and that’s enough.
Everyone’s got to move on in life occasionally but so long as you move up you’re headed in the right direction. More power to you Mr. Durst.
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