@bwhitz - You make a lot of good points, but I think you're really oversimplifying and overgeneralizing here. I've taken several film projects from script to screen and I can tell you that an engaged director is important at every step of the way. Great editing can make poor performances tolerable and augment great ones, but no amount of editing can fix a problem of a wrong performance or interpretation that's out of line with the rest of the film that can occur on the set. A director has to step in. Now, this could happen in rehearsal* but most films these days don't get adequate (or any) rehearsal due to the cost of cast time. So you work it out after blocking while the crew is lighting the set. And if you're the director and DP, too, then it's tough to oversee the lighting AND fine tune the performances with the actors. Rehearsals could help, but unless you're rehearsing in the actual space where you'll be shooting (a real rarity) then it's never quite the same. Yes, casting is important, but the old say about saying that it's 90% of directing is just not accurate in my experience. It's just one of those quotes that sound good. The director has to remain engaged.

[* If you're going to direct and DP an indie film and have access to your cast ahead of time, rehearsals can really help--especially if you can get into the real locations. But it's tough to actually pull this off!]

@bwhitz I see what you mean, but in regards to music, I think back to the partnership of Charlie Chaplin (themes) and Alfred Newmann (arrangement), or to Clint Eastwood and his honorary induction into the Society of Composers and Lyricists. These were men that were very involved in that part of the creative process long before it was as "easy" as it has become, but that were also very dependant on someone else musically. They succeeded greatly.

And then I think of Alejandro Amenabar (sp?) and his original film that was later re-made as Vanilla Sky, which he directed and composed the music for (in addition to other jobs). He had one of the same stars (Penelope Cruz) but comparatively few Americans have heard of his film compared to the Hollywood re-make.

Or I think of Carpenter, and how often he did his own music, but how Memoirs of An Invisible Man was not only the first time he relied on someone else, but how the composer he relied on (Shirley Walker)became the first woman with sole composer credit on a Hollywood film, and later worked on the first Batman movie with Danny Elfman and was the main musical force behind the animated series. Her death was overlooked by the Academy Awards.

So what is my point in that seeimingly tangentially connected web of anecdotes? Sometimes choosing to cede control, to choose who to trust and when to trust, to find someone to expand your vision, is as important a creative choice as the ones you make on your own. The director not only has to (often) make more of these choices than anyone else on the project but they are also often held more responsible for the success of the film as a whole.

A composer that has worked on a string "bad movies" that nonetheless had good music will have a somewhat easier time finding their next project than a director that has worked on the same films.

Should a director have humility? Should they acknowledge the importance of the creative contributions others made? Yes. Is there anything wrong with their billing being parallel to their risk on the project? I do not think so, personally.

@bwhitz In terms of finding their next project after a flop, the producer sometimes has an easier time. For instance, Jun Aida is infamously linked to the Raul Julia Street Figther live action film. Yet a few years later, he was brought in to produce the highest budget computer animated film to that date, with an estimated budget more than twice that of the first Lord of the Rings entry in the recent trilogy. That film did so poorly at the box office that it the parent company posted lossses for the first time in a decade, several key figures stepped down or accepted demotions and two massive companies had to merge. It changed the creative futures of many of the people involved, but I would not be surprised if Jun Aida once again headed a high budget project as producer.

@thepalalias "As far as directing and the influence on acting, look at the performances the stars of the Star Wars prequels gave in those films vs their other work. There are very important differences that cannot fully be attributed to the writing, cinematography or editing."

I'd actually blame it all on writing. The RedLetterMedia dissection of the prequels was spot on. The story and writing was just so atrocious, (i.e. no protagonist) that you can't even begin to make an honest evaluation of the performances. There was just nothing to "act" with. The dialog was so bad, that there was just no way it would ever be delivered correctly.

And yea, the cinematography was pretty bad to the point of emotional apathy. Two hours of medium 2-shots didn't lend it self to any emotional involvement on the visual end.

A good example of where cinematography and editing actually create the performances would be Drive.