By Erin Free
FilmInk salutes the work of creatives who have never truly received the credit that they deserve. In this installment: famed actress but far less celebrated director Diane Keaton, who helmed Heaven, Wildflower, Unstrung Heroes and Hanging Up.
When legendary actress and quietly pioneering movie star and cultural figure Diane Keaton very sadly passed away on October 11, 2025, the obituaries expectedly and appropriately poured in, including two excellent ones from FilmInk, which you can read by clicking here and here. Befitting her career and what she was best known for – namely, acting – nearly all of these obituaries focused almost solely upon the films in which Diane Keaton had starred.
Said obituaries often mentioned in passing her other interests (textiles, photography, visual art and music), and the collection of illuminating, deeply personal books that she penned (Let’s Just Say It Wasn’t Pretty, Then Again, Brother & Sister), but only a few made note of the handful of impressive films that Diane Keaton directed. That is understandable. The word is frequently overused, but this much-loved woman was indeed truly iconic, and most of the obits focused on this. Vanity Fair’s obit was smartly entitled “Diane Keaton Was a Genre Unto Herself”, with no sense of overreach whatsoever. She certainly was.
Considering the definitive, remarkable style of acting that she perfected, her sense of personal style, the force of her cultural impact, and the collection of landmark films in which she starred (from obvious cinematic icons like Annie Hall, Manhattan, Reds and The Godfather Trilogy through to less well known but absolutely stunning works like Shoot The Moon, Looking For Mr. Goodbar and The Little Drummer Girl), it’s almost fair that Keaton’s directorial career got lost in the shuffle. So, a little while after the immediate shock of Diane Keaton’s passing, we thought the time was right to focus on this fascinating figure’s status as, yes, an Unsung Auteur.
“I don’t consider myself an expert on acting,” Diane Keaton once said. “When I find myself in the absurd position of sitting in the director’s chair, I try to leave the actors alone as much as possible. I try not to burden the atmosphere with a lot of talk… To me, endless self-involved talk kills impulse. I like to think that as a director I create an atmosphere of trust and, most important, play. I remember a few directors who tried to stampede my impulses. As much as I tried to fit their cookie-cutter mould, it didn’t work. They weren’t happy, and neither was I. Their demands struck me as completely unrealistic, because they didn’t include what I could actually give. Their ‘concept’ had been written in stone long before I entered the picture. I find this kind of directing lacking in humanity.”
Almost befitting her persona both on screen and off, Diane Keaton’s small collection of directorial efforts exudes a quirky, offbeat, deeply humanist quality, and a deep yearning to understand the foibles that make us who we are. After making a short film and a music video for pop goddess Belinda Carlisle, Keaton made her directorial debut in 1987 with the unconventional documentary Heaven. A strange, artful mix of vintage footage, movie scenes and filmed interviews, this wondrously shot (DOP Frederick Elmes crafts some gorgeous imagery here) doco sees people from all walks of life discussing their beliefs and ideas around the afterlife. A fascination with death drove Keaton’s one-time love and longtime friend Woody Allen to heady artistic destinations, and she achieved the same here with this now largely forgotten work, which was largely derided upon its release. “I was always pretty religious as a kid…I was primarily interested in religion because I wanted to go to heaven,” Keaton said of her inspiration behind making the film.
After Heaven, Keaton directed another Belinda Carlisle video, a CBS School Break Special, and episodes of the TV series China Beach and David Lynch’s classic Twin Peaks. “I wanted to learn more about directing, and television was a venue that people seemed to be willing to hire me for,” Keaton has said. “That’s how I learned about directing. I did a documentary about Heaven, which was summarily hated. But it was fascinating to me. The subject was fascinating. I did it in a kind of unusual manner. I’ve explored a lot of things regarding visual arts. I’m interested in everything visual. When David Lynch gave a guest director the opportunity to direct Twin Peaks, he just said, ‘Do whatever you want.’ That’s very different, because most television shows have a pattern of how to shoot, and you fit into the idea of what the format is for that particular show. With Twin Peaks, Lynch just said, ‘Heh heh. Goodbye. Here, you have any ideas? Do it.’ He was amazing in regard to that. But I didn’t have, really, any contact with him.”
In 1991, Diane Keaton directed something truly special with the HBO telemovie Wildflower, an extraordinarily moving, gorgeously rustic work about two big-hearted, smalltown teens (a pre-stardom Reese Witherspoon and William McNamara) who come to the aid of a partially deaf, physically and emotionally abused young outcast, played with stunning depth and physicality by Patricia Arquette. Like so many telemovies, Wildflower is barely remembered today, but it’s pretty much the equal of any feature, boasting brilliant performances (along with the fine work done by all of the aforementioned players, Beau Bridges and Susan Blakely also impress), a strong core of humanism, and a quiet but confident visual style. It showcased Keaton’s behind-the-camera gifts in rich abundance.
The actress turned director backed it up in 1995 with her first big screen fictional feature film, Unstrung Heroes. Another sweet, optimistic, deeply humanist film, Unstrung Heroes is based on the memoir of journalist Franz Lidz, with a script by heavy hitter Richard LaGravenese. The moving comedy drama focuses on young Steven (Nathan Watt), who is sent by his emotionally distant and largely unavailable father (John Turturro) to live with his oddball uncles (Maury Chaikin, Michael Richards) when his mother (Andie McDowell) is diagnosed with ovarian cancer. A story all about embracing eccentricity and accepting one’s own foibles and inherent oddness, the cruelly underrated Unstrung Heroes is pure Diane Keaton, through and through.
Though apparently solidly in line with the films that Keaton starred in later in her career (female focused comedy dramas like Book Club, Poms, Maybe I Do and the like), the director’s final behind the camera effort – 2000’s Hanging Up – was considerably sharper and more biting thanks to its witty script by Nora and Delia Ephron. Funny, quirky and strongly built on female relationships, Hanging Up follows three disparate sisters (the well-cast Keaton, Meg Ryan and Lisa Kudrow) who finally bond when their grumpy, distant father (Walter Matthau) announces that his death is imminent. Diane Keaton really let loose here, leaning into the screwball elements of the script, and proving that she had a lot to offer behind the camera. If only this acting and cultural icon had been able to make more…
If you liked this story, check out our features on other unsung auteurs Ed Hunt, Nancy Savoca, Robert Vincent O’Neil, Marvin J. Chomsky, Sam Firstenberg, Jack Sholder, Richard Gray, Giuseppe Andrews, Gus Trikonis, Greydon Clark, Frances Doel, Gordon Douglas, Billy Fine, Craig R. Baxley, Harvey Bernhard, Bert I. Gordon, James Fargo, Jeremy Kagan, Robby Benson, Robert Hiltzik, John Carl Buechler, Rick Carter, Paul Dehn, Bob Kelljan, Kevin Connor, Ralph Nelson, William A. Graham, Judith Rascoe, Michael Pressman, Peter Carter, Leo V. Gordon, Dalene Young, Gary Nelson, Fred Walton, James Frawley, Pete Docter, Max Baer Jr., James Clavell, Ronald F. Maxwell, Frank D. Gilroy, John Hough, Dick Richards, William Girdler, Rayland Jensen, Richard T. Heffron, Christopher Jones, Earl Owensby, James Bridges, Jeff Kanew, Robert Butler, Leigh Chapman, Joe Camp, John Patrick Shanley, William Peter Blatty, Peter Clifton, Peter R. Hunt, Shaun Grant, James B. Harris, Gerald Wilson, Patricia Birch, Buzz Kulik, Kris Kristofferson, Rick Rosenthal, Kirsten Smith & Karen McCullah, Jerrold Freeman, William Dear, Anthony Harvey, Douglas Hickox, Karen Arthur, Larry Peerce, Tony Goldwyn, Brian G. Hutton, Shelley Duvall, Robert Towne, David Giler, William D. Wittliff, Tom DeSimone, Ulu Grosbard, Denis Sanders, Daryl Duke, Jack McCoy, James William Guercio, James Goldstone, Daniel Nettheim, Goran Stolevski, Jared & Jerusha Hess, William Richert, Michael Jenkins, Robert M. Young, Robert Thom, Graeme Clifford, Frank Howson, Oliver Hermanus, Jennings Lang, Matthew Saville, Sophie Hyde, John Curran, Jesse Peretz, Anthony Hayes, Stuart Blumberg, Stewart Copeland, Harriet Frank Jr & Irving Ravetch, Angelo Pizzo, John & Joyce Corrington, Robert Dillon, Irene Kamp, Albert Maltz, Nancy Dowd, Barry Michael Cooper, Gladys Hill, Walon Green, Eleanor Bergstein, William W. Norton, Helen Childress, Bill Lancaster, Lucinda Coxon, Ernest Tidyman, Shauna Cross, Troy Kennedy Martin, Kelly Marcel, Alan Sharp, Leslie Dixon, Jeremy Podeswa, Ferd & Beverly Sebastian, Anthony Page, Julie Gavras, Ted Post, Sarah Jacobson, Anton Corbijn, Gillian Robespierre, Brandon Cronenberg, Laszlo Nemes, Ayelat Menahemi, Ivan Tors, Amanda King & Fabio Cavadini, Cathy Henkel, Colin Higgins, Paul McGuigan, Rose Bosch, Dan Gilroy, Tanya Wexler, Clio Barnard, Robert Aldrich, Maya Forbes, Steven Kastrissios, Talya Lavie, Michael Rowe, Rebecca Cremona, Stephen Hopkins, Tony Bill, Sarah Gavron, Martin Davidson, Fran Rubel Kuzui, Elliot Silverstein, Liz Garbus, Victor Fleming, Barbara Peeters, Robert Benton, Lynn Shelton, Tom Gries, Randa Haines, Leslie H. Martinson, Nancy Kelly, Paul Newman, Brett Haley, Lynne Ramsay, Vernon Zimmerman, Lisa Cholodenko, Robert Greenwald, Phyllida Lloyd, Milton Katselas, Karyn Kusama, Seijun Suzuki, Albert Pyun, Cherie Nowlan, Steve Binder, Jack Cardiff, Anne Fletcher ,Bobcat Goldthwait, Donna Deitch, Frank Pierson, Ann Turner, Jerry Schatzberg, Antonia Bird, Jack Smight, Marielle Heller, James Glickenhaus, Euzhan Palcy, Bill L. Norton, Larysa Kondracki, Mel Stuart, Nanette Burstein, George Armitage, Mary Lambert, James Foley, Lewis John Carlino, Debra Granik, Taylor Sheridan, Laurie Collyer, Jay Roach, Barbara Kopple, John D. Hancock, Sara Colangelo, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Joyce Chopra, Mike Newell, Gina Prince-Bythewood, John Lee Hancock, Allison Anders, Daniel Petrie Sr., Katt Shea, Frank Perry, Amy Holden Jones, Stuart Rosenberg, Penelope Spheeris, Charles B. Pierce, Tamra Davis, Norman Taurog, Jennifer Lee, Paul Wendkos, Marisa Silver, John Mackenzie, Ida Lupino, John V. Soto, Martha Coolidge, Peter Hyams, Tim Hunter, Stephanie Rothman, Betty Thomas, John Flynn, Lizzie Borden, Lionel Jeffries, Lexi Alexander, Alkinos Tsilimidos, Stewart Raffill, Lamont Johnson, Maggie Greenwald and Tamara Jenkins.
