Chris Pine would amass a number of successful movies over the years of his career since his breaking out in J.J. Abrams‘ reboot of Star Trek in 2009. The son of CHiPs star Robert Pine had carved out a nice little resume for himself and would make the move to behind the camera as he brought a passion project of his to life with this year’s Poolman. That move was naturally a risk, and unfortunately, Pine’s film would not garner a positive response. Our own Chris Bumbray said in his review, “Poolman ranks with the worst movies I’ve ever reviewed at JoBlo. It’s a stunningly unfunny comic noir vanity project for star Chris Pine, who also directed and co-wrote the film. […] it has already become notorious at the festival for the amount of walkouts taking place at the screenings.”
That review would be among a bevy of bad ones, with Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman calling it an “absurdist disaster.” The kind of attention Poolman received was not easy for Pine to ignore. The movie has even yet to be released, and with early harsh buzz, Pine has an interesting task of promoting a movie that has already been notoriously panned. While on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Pine would admit that at one point, he almost submitted to the reception, but he ultimately refuses the criticism, “I watched my film. After the reviews in Toronto I was like maybe I did make a pile of sh*t. I went back and watched it. I fucking love this film. I love this film so much.”
Pine continued to explain his reaction on the matter, “When the film came out at Toronto and just got fucking panned…I tried to make a joyful film. With so much joy behind it, to then be met with a fusillade of not-so-joyous stuff…the cognitive dissonance there was quite something. It’s ultimately been the best thing that’s ever happened to me. It’s forced me to double down on joy and really double down on what I love most about my job, which you kind of forget, it’s fundamentally about play. You become children for hours a day and make believe. There’s an impish quality that I don’t want to lose.”
He continued, “In the reframing of it…one of my favorite quotes is in Latin and it’s ‘vigor grows from the wound,’ In everything that feels like a setback, yes there is the hurt of the cut, but as the scar tissue forms and the healing process happens you do benefit from a growth in resilience.”
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