Summary

• Criticism is just part of the game, Chris Pine reflected.
• Negative reviews of Pine's directorial debut reminded him of the joy of acting.
• Despite disappointing reviews for Poolman, Chris Pine remains positive and determined to focus on the joy of filmmaking.

Chris Pine has been incredibly candid and honest in his response to the negative reviews for Poolman, which Pine directed and starred in. The film is Chris Pine's directorial debut, and tells the story of an optimistic pool cleaner in L.A who becomes embroiled in an investigation into a shady company. The film made its debut at the Toronto Film Festival in 2023, and received less than stellar reviews from critics following the screening - currently sitting at 21% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Chris Pine recently appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz to promote the film's theatrical release, and gave a very open response to the critics' opinions. The actor started by saying that "criticism... it's just a part of the game," but said that receiving criticism as an actor is a lot easier than as a director. Pine said:

"There's a lot of stuff to hide behind. There's the director, and there's the writer, and it's the release pattern. And as an actor, you get to come on set, you do your dance, and then you go off and by the time the film comes out, you've done x amount of other projects."

Chris Pine likened receiving criticism as a director to being a stand-up comedian, and "standing on stage and feeling utterly naked." Pine did admit that he wasn't completely shocked at how much the critics disliked his movie. The actor said:

"When the film came out at Toronto and just got f*cking panned. I guess I wasn't totally surprised. I tried to make a joyful film... I was not trying to make some sort of Niche film. But [there] was so much joy behind it, to them be met with this fuselage of not so joyous stuff was like, 'Oh my God!' So the cognitive dissonance there was quite something."

Poolman's Negative Reviews Reminded Chris Pine Why He Loves Acting

After writing, directing, casting, shooting, and starring in a passion project movie, only for it to be met with overwhelmingly negative reviews, most people would collapse in on themselves... but not Chris Pine. During the interview, the actor said that the negative reviews actually reminded him why he loved his job so much. Pine said:

"It's been really, ultimately, kind of the best thing that's ever happened to me, because it's forced me to double down on joy. And really double down on what I love most about my job. Which you kind of forget as an actor sometimes. Which is, fundamentally, it's about play, right? What you do is essentially become children for hours a day and make believe. There's an impish quality to it that I don't ever want to lose."

Chris Pine co-wrote Poolman with Ian Gotler (Ad Lucem) and assembled a phenomenal cast for the film. Alongside Pine in the starring role, Poolman also includes Jennifer Jason Leigh, Danny DeVito, Annette Bening, Stephen Tobolowsky, Clancy Brown, Juliet Mills, DaWanda Wise, John Ortiz, and Ray Wise.

Poolman is screening in select theaters on May 10, 2024.