Personal Favorite Directors
by shukigk | created - 07 Sep 2012 | updated - 17 Apr 2013 | PublicAll the listed works are movies/series rated 8 or higher. I also only listed directors with at least 3 movies of that caliber.
1. Hayao Miyazaki
Writer | Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan's greatest animation directors. The entertaining plots, compelling characters, and breathtaking visuals in his films have earned him international renown from critics as well as public recognition within Japan.
Miyazaki started his career in 1963 as an animator at the ...
Favorite works:
1. My Neighbor Totoro 10/10
2. Princess Mononoke 10/10
3. Spirited Away 9/10
4. Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind 9/10
5. Castle in the Sky 8/10
Avg: 9.2
2. Hideaki Anno
Writer | Shin Gojira
Hideaki Anno was born on May 22, 1960 in Ube, Japan. He is a writer and director, known for Shin Godzilla (2016), Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (2007) and The Wind Rises (2013). He has been married to Moyoco Anno since March 26, 2002.
Favorites:
1. The End of Evangelion 10/10
2. Neon Genesis Evangelion 10/10
3. His and Her Circumstances 9/10
4. Evangelion 2.0 8/10
5. Aim for the top: Gunbuster 8/10
Avg: 9.0
3. Billy Wilder
Writer | The Apartment
Originally planning to become a lawyer, Billy Wilder abandoned that career in favor of working as a reporter for a Viennese newspaper, using this experience to move to Berlin, where he worked for the city's largest tabloid. He broke into films as a screenwriter in 1929 and wrote scripts for many ...
Favorite works:
1. The Apartment 10/10
2. Double Indemnity 9/10
3. Sunset Boulevard 9/10
4. Some Like it Hot 9/10
5. Witness for the Prosecution 8/10
Avg: 9.0
4. Akira Kurosawa
Writer | Kakushi-toride no san-akunin
After training as a painter (he storyboards his films as full-scale paintings), Kurosawa entered the film industry in 1936 as an assistant director, eventually making his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata (1943). Within a few years, Kurosawa had achieved sufficient stature to allow him greater...
Favorite works:
1. Seven Samurai 10/10
2. Rashomon 9/10
3. Ran 9/10
4. Yojimbo 8/10
5. Sanjuro 8/10
Avg: 8.8
5. 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 ...
Favorites:
1. Aliens 9/10
2. Terminator 2 9/10
3. The Abyss 9/10
4. Titanic 8/10
5. The Terminator 8/10
Avg: 8.6
6. Charles Chaplin
Writer | The Great Dictator
Considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, Charlie Chaplin lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular character, the Little Tramp; the man with the ...
Favorites:
1. City Lights 9/10
2. The Great Dictator 9/10
3. Modern Times 9/10
4. The Kid 8/10
5. Limelight 8/10
Avg: 8.6
7. Alfred Hitchcock
Director | Psycho
Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England. He was the son of Emma Jane (Whelan; 1863 - 1942) and East End greengrocer William Hitchcock (1862 - 1914). His parents were both of half English and half Irish ancestry. He had two older siblings, William Hitchcock (born 1890) and ...
Favorite works:
1. Psycho 9/10
2. Vertigo 9/10
3. Notorious 8/10
4. Rear Window 8/10
5. The Birds 8/10
Avg: 8.4
8. 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, ...
Favorites:
1. Schindler's List 9/10
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark 8/10
3. Saving Private Ryan 8/10
4. Jurassic Park 8/10
5. Jaws 8/10
Avg: 8.2
9. Blake Edwards
Writer | The Pink Panther Strikes Again
Blake Edwards' stepfather's father J. Gordon Edwards was a silent screen director, and his stepfather Jack McEdward was a stage director and movie production manager. Blake acted in a number films, beginning with Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942) and wrote a number of others, beginning with ...
Favorite Works:
1. Days of Wine and Roses 9/10
2. A Shot in the Dark 8/10
3. Breakfast at Tiffany's 8/10
4. The pink Panther 8/10
Avg: 8.25
10. 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 ...
Favorites:
1. Memento 9/10
2. The Dark Knight Rises 8/10
3. The Dark Knight 8/10
4. Batman Begins 8/10
Avg: 8.25
11. 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 ...
Favorites:
1. Gladiator 10/10
2. Alien 9/10
3. Blade Runner 9/10
Avg: 9.33
12. Sergio Leone
Writer | Once Upon a Time in America
Sergio Leone was virtually born into the cinema - he was the son of Roberto Roberti (A.K.A. Vincenzo Leone), one of Italy's cinema pioneers, and actress Bice Valerian. Leone entered films in his late teens, working as an assistant director to both Italian directors and U.S. directors working in ...
Favorites:
1. Once Upon a Time in the West 10/10
2. Once Upon a Time in America 9/10
3. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly 8/10
Avg: 9.0
13. 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 ...
Favorites:
1. The Fellowship of the Ring 9/10
2. The Two Towers 9/10
3. The Return of the King 9/10
Avg: 9.0
14. Luc Besson
Writer | Le Cinquième Élément
Luc Besson spent the first years of his life following his parents, scuba diving instructors, around the world. His early life was entirely aquatic. He already showed amazing creativity as a youth, writing early drafts of The Big Blue (1988) and The Fifth Element (1997), as an adolescent bored in ...
Favorites:
1. Leon: The Professional 10/10
2. La Femme Nikita 8/10
3. The Fifth Element 8/10
Avg: 8.67
15. Roman Polanski
Director | Chinatown
Roman Polanski is a Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few truly international filmmakers. Roman Polanski was born in Paris in 1933.
His parents returned to Poland from France in 1936, three years ...
Favorites:
1. Chinatown 9/10
2. The Pianist 9/10
3. Rosemary's Baby 8/10
Avg: 8.67
16. Ingmar Bergman
Writer | Smultronstället
Ernst Ingmar Bergman was born July 14, 1918, the son of a priest. The film and T.V. series, The Best Intentions (1992) is biographical and shows the early marriage of his parents. The film Sunday's Children (1992) depicts a bicycle journey with his father. In the miniseries Private Confessions (...
Favorites:
1. Fanny and Alexander 9/10
2. The Seventh Seal 9/10
3. The Virgin Spring 8/10
Avg: 8.67
17. Brad Bird
Writer | The Incredibles
Phillip Bradley "Brad" Bird is an American director, screenwriter, animator, producer and occasional voice actor, known for both animated and live-action films. Bird was born in Kalispell, Montana, the youngest of four children of Marjorie A. (née Cross) and Philip Cullen Bird. His father worked in...
Favorites:
1. The Incredibles 9/10
2. The Iron Giant 8/10
3. Ratatouille 8/10
Avg: 8.33
18. 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 ...
Favorites:
1. Million Dollar Baby 9/10
2. Letters from Iwo Jima 8/10
3. Gran Torino 8/10
Avg: 8.33
19. Alejandro Amenábar
Writer | The Others
Is the son of a Spanish mother and a Chilean father. His family moved back to Spain when he was 1 year old, and he grew up and studied in Madrid. He wrote, produced and directed his first short film La cabeza at the age of 19, and he was 23 when he directed his feature debut Thesis (1996). His film ...
Favorites:
1. The Others 9/10
2. Tesis 8/10
3. The Sea Inside 8/10
Avg: 8.33
20. Darren Aronofsky
Writer | Pi
Darren Aronofsky was born February 12, 1969, in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, Darren was always artistic: he loved classic movies and, as a teenager, he even spent time doing graffiti art. After high school, Darren went to Harvard University to study film (both live-action and animation). He won ...
Favorites:
1. Requiem for a Dream 9/10
2. Black Swan 8/10
3. The Wrestler 8/10
Avg: 8.33
21. Satoshi Kon
Writer | Tôkyô goddofâzâzu
Satoshi Kon was born in 1963. He studied at the Musashino College of the Arts. He began his career as a Manga artist. He then moved to animation and worked as a background artist on many films (including Roujin Z (1991) by 'Katsuhiro Otomo'). Then, in 1995, he wrote an episode of the anthology film ...
Favorites:
1. Millennium Actress 9/10
2. Perfect Blue 8/10
3. Tokyo Godfathers 8/10
Avg: 8.33
22. Stanley Kubrick
Director | 2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick was born in Manhattan, New York City, to Sadie Gertrude (Perveler) and Jacob Leonard Kubrick, a physician. His family were Jewish immigrants (from Austria, Romania, and Russia). Stanley was considered intelligent, despite poor grades at school. Hoping that a change of scenery would ...
Favorites:
1. A Clockwork Orange 9/10
2. The Shinning 8/10
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey 8/10
Avg: 8.33
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