Dee Rees reflects on 'The Last Thing He Wanted' debacle

Filmmaker Dee Rees says she has learnt a lot from the failure of her recent directorial, Anne Hathaway-starrer "The Last Thing He Wanted", and has moved on to other projects.

The film, based on Joan Didion's 1996 novel of the same name, premiered at Sundance festival in January and was heavily criticised by the reviewers for its confusing story and performances. It later released on Netflix in February.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Dee Rees, whose previous directorial "Mudbound" had received multiple Oscar nominations in 2018, said that she is still proud of the movie.

"You take your knocks, you live and you learn, you try to do better. But I would make that film again. I'm still proud of it," the filmmaker said.

However, she feels bad for the cast, which also included Ben Affleck, Rosie Perez, Toby Jones, and Willem Dafoe, that the film didn't work.

"When you're making a film, (your team) has to believe in you and trust you and spend six, seven months of their lives with you. All this toil and sacrifice, I didn't make it pay off for them," Rees said.

The 43-year-old director's next project is the new musical takeon George Gershwin's"Porgy and Bess", backed by MGM and the legendary Irwin Winkler.

"('Porgy and Bess') is an iconic property. It's a lot of pressure to get it right, a lot of nerves. I want to do the characters justice, and I feel really honoured to work on it.

"(Winkler and MGM) have an expertise in this, so it's cool to work with people who really get how to construct these kinds of narratives," Rees said.

She believes the experience of working on "The Last Thing He Wanted" was a "rite of passage".

"Now there's nothing to be afraid of. I know the worst that can happen," the filmmaker said.