Directors
by fmc-15 | created - 03 Feb 2012 | updated - 04 Nov 2012 | Public
1. Martin Scorsese
Producer | Killers of the Flower Moon
Martin Charles Scorsese was born on November 17, 1942 in Queens, New York City, to Catherine Scorsese (née Cappa) and Charles Scorsese, who both worked in Manhattan's garment district, and whose families both came from Palermo, Sicily. He was raised in the neighborhood of Little Italy, which later ...
It's difficult to start! So many excellent movies: "Taxi driver", Raging bull", "Hugo", "Shutter Island", "Gangs of New York", "Kundun", "Casino". Scorsese is the director with the most extensive list of excellent and must-see movies.
2. Steven Spielberg
Producer | Schindler's List
One of the most influential personalities in the history of cinema, Steven Spielberg is Hollywood's best known director and one of the wealthiest filmmakers in the world. He has an extraordinary number of commercially successful and critically acclaimed credits to his name, either as a director, ...
So many movies made by this director that it is difficult to point the best but here is an idea: Jaws, ET, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List. He has a really huge list of excellent movies.
3. Clint Eastwood
Actor | Million Dollar Baby
Clint Eastwood was born May 31, 1930 in San Francisco, to Clinton Eastwood Sr., a bond salesman and later manufacturing executive for Georgia-Pacific Corporation, and Ruth Wood (née Margret Ruth Runner), a housewife turned IBM clerk. He grew up in nearby Piedmont. At school Clint took interest in ...
"Gran Torino", "Unforgiven", "Changeling", "Letters form Iwo Jima", Million Dollar Baby", Mystic River". He always know how to susrprise everyone with another excellent title.
4. Woody Allen
Writer | Annie Hall
Woody Allen was born on November 30, 1935, as Allen Konigsberg, in The Bronx, NY, the son of Martin Konigsberg and Nettie Konigsberg. He has one younger sister, Letty Aronson. As a young boy, he became intrigued with magic tricks and playing the clarinet, two hobbies that he continues today.
Allen ...
A wonderful director that knows how to choose actors. It's unfair to refer the best movies because he has many good ones: Let me just point "Whatever Works" (fantastic Larry David performance), "Mighty Aphrodite" (led to an oscar for Mira Sorvino), "Midnight in Paris" (who thought Owen Wilson could do that?), and many, many more.
5. Pedro Almodóvar
Writer | Hable con ella
The most internationally acclaimed Spanish filmmaker since Luis Buñuel was born in a small town (Calzada de Calatrava) in the impoverished Spanish region of La Mancha. He arrived in Madrid in 1968, and survived by selling used items in the flea-market called El Rastro. Almodóvar couldn't study ...
So many excellent titles to see, if not all. "Todo sobre mi madre", "Tacones lejanos", "Hable con ella", and tantos otros....
6. Quentin Tarantino
Writer | Reservoir Dogs
Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father, Tony Tarantino, is an Italian-American actor and musician from New York, and his mother, Connie (McHugh), is a nurse from Tennessee. Quentin moved with his mother to Torrance, California, when he was four years old.
In January of...
"Pulp fiction", "Kill Bill", "Inglorious Basterds", "Death Proof", and many more. There isn't a single movie from Tarantino that we can skip.
7. Ethan Coen
Producer | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The younger brother of Joel, Ethan Coen is an Academy Award and Golden Globe winning writer, producer and director coming from small independent films to big profile Hollywood films. He was born on September 21, 1957 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In some films of the brothers- Ethan & Joel wrote, Joel...
He has done many excellent quality movies with his brother. "True grit", "A serious man", "Fargo", "The big Lebowski", and many more. A fantastic and enviable list.
8. Joel Coen
Producer | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
Joel Daniel Coen is an American filmmaker who regularly collaborates with his younger brother Ethan. They made Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man, Inside Llewyn Davis, Hail Caesar and other projects. Joel ...
He has done many excellent quality movies with her brother. "True grit", "A serious man", "Fargo", "The big Lebowski", and many more. A fantastic and enviable list.
9. David Lynch
Writer | Twin Peaks
Born in precisely the kind of small-town American setting so familiar from his films, David Lynch spent his childhood being shunted from one state to another as his research scientist father kept getting relocated. He attended various art schools, married Peggy Lynch and then fathered future ...
"Mulholland Dr." and "Lost Highway" are masterpieces. David Lynch is a director that makes no difference between dream and reality. A fame of being hard to understand but has made something really beautiful and simple too: "The Straight Story".
10. David Cronenberg
Actor | The Fly
David Cronenberg, also known as the King of Venereal Horror or the Baron of Blood, was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1943. His father, Milton Cronenberg, was a journalist and editor, and his mother, Esther (Sumberg), was a piano player. After showing an inclination for literature at an early...
A must add to any serious list. He has made excellent movies, different from usual. "The fly" is just a start, then "Crash", and after some good titles with Viggo Mortensen.
11. Christopher Nolan
Writer | Tenet
Best known for his cerebral, often nonlinear, storytelling, acclaimed Academy Award winner writer/director/producer Sir Christopher Nolan CBE was born in London, England. Over the course of more than 25 years of filmmaking, Nolan has gone from low-budget independent films to working on some of the ...
A lot of great movies made by this young director: "Memento" and "Prestige" are my choices but "The Dark Night" and "Inception" are just another two excellent titles.
12. Lars von Trier
Writer | Dancer in the Dark
Probably the most ambitious and visually distinctive filmmaker to emerge from Denmark since Carl Theodor Dreyer over 60 years earlier, Lars von Trier studied film at the Danish Film School and attracted international attention with his very first feature, The Element of Crime (1984). A highly ...
"Persona non grata" for many but with excellent movies. Although a negative vision of the world, "Melancholia" is just one of the best pieces of cinema ever made. "Breaking Waves" is another top movie.
13. James Cameron
Writer | Avatar: The Way of Water
James Francis Cameron was born on August 16, 1954 in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada. He moved to the United States in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University before switching to English, and eventually dropping out. He then drove a truck to support his ...
I can't ignore "Terminator", "The Abyss", "Aliens", Titanic", and "Avatar". He knows what he does. All these movies are legend.
14. David Fincher
Director | Se7en
David Fincher was born in 1962 in Denver, Colorado, and was raised in Marin County, California. When he was 18 years old he went to work for John Korty at Korty Films in Mill Valley. He subsequently worked at ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) from 1981-1983. Fincher left ILM to direct TV commercials...
"The game", "Seven", "The curious case of Benjamin Button", "Fight club", "Zodiac", "The social network", just some titles from this director. Need to say more?
15. Peter Jackson
Producer | The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Sir Peter Jackson made history with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, becoming the first person to direct three major feature films simultaneously. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King were nominated for and collected a slew of awards from around the globe, with The ...
It is unbelievable how someone who made "Braindead" has done "The Lord of the rings"! Anyway both are fantastic and show how versatile this director is. A must add to any serious list of the best directors.
16. Francis Ford Coppola
Producer | Apocalypse Now
Francis Ford Coppola was born in 1939 in Detroit, Michigan, but grew up in a New York suburb in a creative, supportive Italian-American family. His father, Carmine Coppola, was a composer and musician. His mother, Italia Coppola (née Pennino), had been an actress. Francis Ford Coppola graduated ...
Maybe just saying that he made "The godfather" is enough to add him here. But we can also add "Apocalypse now" and "Dracula".
17. Danny Boyle
Director | 127 Hours
Daniel Francis Boyle is a British filmmaker, producer and writer from Radcliffe, Greater Manchester. He is known for directing 28 Days Later, 127 Hours, Trainspotting, T2 Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, Millions, Shallow Grave, The Beach, Yesterday, and Steve Jobs. He won many awards for ...
Must be on the best director's list. The first name in my mind is of course "Trainspotting". But what about "Slumdog millionaire"?, and "127 hours"?. "Sunshine" is also a great sci-fi thriller and "28 days later" a must-see.
18. Michael Haneke
Writer | Caché
A true master of his craft, Michael Haneke is one of the greatest film artists working today and one who challenges his viewers each year and work goes by, with films that reflect real portions of life in realistic, disturbing and unforgettable ways. One of the most genuine filmmakers of the world ...
Several good titles: "Funny games" is a must see (the first released), "The White Ribbon", "Caché". Excellent movies but not for everyone.
19. Alexander Payne
Director | Nebraska
Director, producer and screenwriter Alexander Payne was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents, Peggy (Constantine) and George Payne, ran a Greek restaurant. His father is of Greek and German ancestry, and his mother is of Greek descent; the family name was originally Papadopoulos. He is the youngest...
Payne has not many movies but what he has is really good: "Sideways", "The descendants", "About Schmidt" are remarkable titles.
20. Ridley Scott
Producer | The Martian
Described by film producer Michael Deeley as "the very best eye in the business", director Ridley Scott was born on November 30, 1937 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. His father was an officer in the Royal Engineers and the family followed him as his career posted him throughout the United Kingdom ...
Ridley Scott has made several good movies although not all top level. "Alien", "Gladiator", "Thelma and Louise", "American gangster" are some of his best.
21. Jonathan Demme
Director | The Silence of the Lambs
Jonathan Demme was born on February 22, 1944 in Baldwin, Long Island, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Rachel Getting Married (2008) and Philadelphia (1993). He was married to Joanne Howard and Evelyn Purcell. He died on April 26, 2017 in ...
Not many excellent title coming from this director but he has made "The silence of the lambs", one of the best movies ever, and "Philadelphia" another excellent title. He made many documentaries recently.
22. Ron Howard
Producer | Arrested Development
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ron Howard is one of this generation's most popular directors. From the critically acclaimed dramas A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Apollo 13 (1995) to the hit comedies Parenthood (1989) and Splash (1983), he has created some of Hollywood's most memorable films.
Howard ...
It deserves this list for "A beautiful mind", "Apollo 13", "Frost/Nixon" and some other. He has also some more commercial titles.
23. Paul Thomas Anderson
Director | Punch-Drunk Love
Anderson was born in 1970. He was one of the first of the "video store" generation of film-makers. His father was the first man on his block to own a V.C.R., and from a very early age Anderson had an infinite number of titles available to him. While film-makers like Spielberg cut their teeth making...
It has some very good titles as is the case of "There will be blood", "Boogie Nights", Magnolia". Not many movies, but some really worth mentioning.
24. Tim Burton
Producer | Edward Scissorhands
Timothy Walter Burton was born in Burbank, California, to Jean Rae (Erickson), who owned a cat-themed gift shop, and William Reed Burton, who worked for the Burbank Park and Recreation Department. He spent most of his childhood as a recluse, drawing cartoons, and watching old movies (he was ...
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