Drew Goddard Showcases His Eccentric Directorial Flair in ‘Bad Times at the El Royale’

Goddard is honing a distinctive style that we hope will carry through to all his future endeavors behind the camera.

Throughout his early career, Drew Goddard demonstrated a masterful knack for penning some quintessential geeky millennial works. Goddard’s expert collaborations with Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel) and key contributions to J. J. Abrams shows (Alias and Lost) solidified his place as an invaluable genre writer.

At its best, his work highlights the dualities of conflicted characters and questions the concept of a(n anti-)hero; Goddard is very good at going dark in his stories without over-indulging in hopelessness. He then carried this distinguishing trait with him away from the small screen as he proceeded to pen feature film screenplays, beginning with the Abrams-produced Cloverfield. Goddard chucks the film’s unlikeable characters into intense action that you can’t look away from, proving that he is just so damn good at writing people we grudgingly root for and can never truly discard.

As his words are usually at the mercy of other directors, Goddard’s writerly pursuits have taken on varied identities over the years. His scripts have understandably been molded into different guises depending on which prolific director translates them to the screen. For example, his fantastic adaptation of The Martian — searing humor and all — is made even more exceptional due to Ridley Scott’s attention to detail and the crispness of his images. There has always been something chameleonic about Goddard’s writing that is so transposable by an array of directors without his style is completely muted.

When given free reign to direct whatever the hell he wants, though, Goddard apparently goes for a more idiosyncratic approach. Fans of his directorial debut — The Cabin in the Woods — would have already caught wind of such tendencies. However, with only one film under his belt at the time, it was a little hard to discern.

Now, to say Cabin isn’t also Joss Whedon-y would be incorrect; after all, Whedon co-wrote the screenplay. However, Goddard is gleeful and unabashed in his quest to break down horror genre conventions, taking Cabin‘s stereotypical characters — which includes a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth — through a wild ride. If Cabin had premiered before Thor as was initially planned, would goofy Hemsworth (which only really became a thing post-Ghostbusters) have had his heyday a lot sooner? Due to the strength of his performance in Goddard’s debut, perhaps.

Goddard delights in pushing the envelope, and it’s fantastic to see that streak continuing in the first footage of Bad Times at the El Royale. Featuring a hefty ensemble including Chris Hemsworth, Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson and Jon Hamm, El Royale is a stylish visual feast of beautiful people doing ugly things that pack a serious punch. Watch it below:

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