True Detective Dream Director: Darren Aranofsky

Since we now have four possible leads already in the running for season two, it’s time to once again focus on the directorial side of things. Darren Aranofsky is not a typical director, and his films are, for the most part, not easy to watch. But they are easy to appreciate. Araonfsky’s films tend to focus on dark edges of life, and in the case of Requiem for a Dream those edges are extreme. There is precious little about his films that are ordinary, and that means his films also tend to be divisive. If creator/writer Nic Pizzolatto is interested in throwing his characters even more into the void, Aranofsky is someone to seriously consider.

One of Aranofsky’s major achievements, though not one of his more palatable films, is 2010’s Black Swan. Much like True Detective, Black Swan features a darkness that constantly hovers over the characters and threatens to swallow them all. What Black Swan does differently is that it doesn’t pull any punches; it takes its characters to the extreme of their situations and their sanity. Black Swan is not an easy watch, but it best displays Aranofsky’s best tendencies without going overboard.

If you want to go full-on, there’s always Requiem for a Dream. But that’s a conversation for a different time.