Focus Features Just Nabbed Sam Mendes for a Two-Year Pact. Is Their Confidence Misplaced?

For a guy who won an Oscar for his first feature, Sam Mendes is difficult to pin down. Since that auspicious debut, American Beauty, he’s made a series of more-or-less respected movies that never quite took off: Road to Perdition, Jarhead, Revolutionary Road. By the time Away We Go opened earlier this month to the harshest reviews of his career (Hey, our guy liked it!), some observers wondered aloud how much longer he could really be considered an elite name in prestige moviemaking.

Focus Features is evidently not among the haters. The specialty studio has inked a two-year first-look deal with Mendes, which includes the potential period epics Middlemarch and Butcher’s Crossing. Away We Go marked Mendes’ first movie for Focus and, as that film heads into an expanded release, it’s obvious he made some friends there.

Since Mendes has not yet committed to his next movie, it’s not clear how much fruit the deal will actually have, but it’s still quite a show of confidence. Focus clearly believes in Mendes’ long-term viability as a brand-name director, and maybe they’re right. But at some point, it would seem Mendes needs another bona fide hit to ensure that his stature remains intact.

Related links:

Review: Away We Go

Review: Revolutionary Road

News: Comic writer working on two Road to Perdition sequels

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