'Terminator' and 'Thor' Director Alan Taylor Almost Left Directing Thanks to Toxic Fans

Toxic fandom is something that we don't talk about enough. From online bullying to harassment to the calling for people's careers, it's beginning to take its toll on filmmakers.

This week, Alan Taylor, director of Thor: The Dark World, Terminator Genisys, and many Sopranos episodes, spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about dealing with difficult Marvel and Terminator fans.

“I had lost the will to make movies,” Taylor said. “I lost the will to live as a director. I’m not blaming any person for that. The process was not good for me. So I came out of it having to rediscover the joy of filmmaking.”

While he doesn't blame the fans for that, he did feel the weight of the disappointment and their anger.

Taylor went on to say, “Having been through the Marvel and Terminator experience, I know that when you are coping with a fan base, they’re very forceful. They have strong opinions, and it makes a huge difference whether you win them over or not.”

This is hard to deal with as a creator working in established franchises. You have to serve so many people—the studios, actors, yourself—and the pressure from the fans is another added effort. The toll he talks about is not something people anticipate when they get into the business. 

This was something he felt especially with Thor, where he didn't get to make the movie he wanted to. There were many bumps and problems, ultimately leading to a film that didn't resemble what he wanted to create. 

Taylor went on to tell THR, “The version I had started off with had more childlike wonder; there was this imagery of children, which started the whole thing. There was a slightly more magical quality. There was weird stuff going on back on Earth because of the convergence that allowed for some of these magical realism things. And there were major plot differences that were inverted in the cutting room and with additional photography—people [such as Loki] who had died were not dead, people who had broken up were back together again. I think I would like my version.”

Regardless of the past, Taylor stuck with it and is making his triumphant comeback with The Many Saints of Newark, the HBO Max movie telling the origins of Tony Soprano. It will be in theaters and on HBO Max streaming starting Oct. 1. 

What did you think about Taylor's comments? Let us know.