Chris Pine made his directorial debut with Poolman. The film was panned upon its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). However, that hasn't deterred Pine.
Speaking to Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Pine reflected on the negative reviews.
“Criticism as an actor is just a part of the game, but there's a lot of stuff to hide behind,” he said. “There's the director and the writer and the release pattern.
“As an actor, you come on set and you do your dance and you go off and by the time the film comes out, you've done X amount of other projects. The closest thing I would imagine this is like — co-writing and directing and starring in — is a stand-up comedian on stage feeling utterly naked. It's been a real come-to-Jesus moment in terms of seeing how resilient I am,” he continued.
He then addressed the negative reviews from TIFF. “When the film came out at Toronto [and] just got f**king panned, I guess I wasn't totally surprised because I tried to make a joyful film. I was not trying to make some sort of niche film, albeit there's a lot of like deep LA references [in it],” Pine said. “But with so much joy behind it to then be met with this kind of fusel lot of not so joyous stuff was like, oh my God. So the cognitive dissonance there was quite something.”
“The best thing that happened to me”
While the criticism was harsh, Pine called the experience “the best thing that's ever happened to me.”
“It's forced me to double down on joy and really double down on what it is I love most about my job, which you kind of forget as an actor sometimes, which is fundamentally it's about play,” he said. “[What you do] is essentially become children for hours a day and make-believe. And there's an impish quality to it that I don't ever want to lose.”
At the end of the day, Pine loves his film. No amount of negative reviews can stop that.
“I watched my film, I've seen it so much now, and after the reviews in Toronto I was like, Maybe I did make a pile of s**t, so I went back and I watched it and I was like, I f**king love this film. I love this film so much.”
What is Poolman about?
Chris Pine co-wrote and directed Poolman. He also served as a producer of the film. Stacey Sher, Ian Gotler, and Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins also produced the film. The film follows a pool cleaner who gets involved with a water heist.
Annette Bening, DeWanda Wise, Ariana DeBose, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Clancy Brown, and Danny DeVito also star in the film.
After Poolman's TIFF premiere, Vertical Entertainment acquired it. The film was released on May 10, 2024.
Poolman is in theaters.
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