One of the major criticisms regularly leveled at James Gunn is his insistence on casting his longtime friends, family members, and even spouse in almost every single one of his projects, like it’s a bad thing to hire people you know and trust to appear in something you’re working on. And yet, the DC Studios co-CEO has got absolutely nothing on Mike Flanagan and The Fall of the House of Usher.
One of modern horror’s greatest talents, the filmmaker has cultivated a reputation for carving out some of film and television’s most atmospherically chilling tales, with the Edgar Allan Poe adaptation marking his goodbye to Netflix before he pitches up at Prime Video and dives headlong into his dream of bringing Stephen King’s The Dark Tower to life, except good this time.
Flanagan has always been known for utilizing the same players in the majority of his productions, but he never comes under the same fire as Gunn does. Maybe that’s got something to do with the fact he hasn’t been dabbling in superheroes or tearing apart the SnyderVerse – at least, not until that Clayface movie does or doesn’t happen – but The Fall of the House of Usher is taking things to the next level by roping in no less than 21 collaborators who’ve worked with the writer, director, and producer at least once before.
Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Michael Trucco, T’Nia Miller, Henry Thomas, Samantha Sloyan, Rahul Kohli, Kate Siegel, Zach Gilford, Crystal Balint, Aya Furukawa, Ruth Codd, Matt Biedel, Annabeth Gish, Igby Rigney, Robert Longstreet, Katie Parker, Kyliegh Curran, Carl Lumbly, Sauriyan Sapkota, and Lulu Wilson all have at least one Flanagan-helmed credit under their belt, but nobody bats an eyelid.
Of course, when you’ve got one of the best track records in the genre it helps immeasurably, but it just goes to show that Gunn has been placed under a much harsher spotlight for doing the same thing on what’s a significantly lesser level.