Directors
by devinrochon | created - 21 Jul 2014 | updated - 30 Jul 2014 | Public
1. Phil Lord
Writer | The Lego Movie
Philip A. Lord is an American filmmaker, producer and writer who collaborates with Christopher Miller. They both worked on Clone High, a cult classic animated sci-fi teen comedy show, The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Into the Spider-Verse is ...
films (w/ Chris Miller) 2009: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2012: 21 Jump Street 2014: The Lego Movie 2014: 22 Jump Street
2. Nicholas Stoller
Writer | The Muppets
Nicholas Stoller is an English-American screenwriter and director. He is known best for directing the 2008 comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and writing/directing its 2010 spin-off/sequel, Get Him to the Greek. He also wrote The Muppets and directed the Seth Rogen comedy, Neighbors. He is a ...
films: 2008: Forgetting Sarah Marshall 2010: Get Him to the Greek 2012: The Five-Year Engagement 2014: Neighbors
3. Jason Reitman
Producer | Up in the Air
Jason Reitman is a Canadian filmmaker and producer who notably directed Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Juno, Thank You for Smoking, Up in the Air, Young Adult and Tully. He produced Chloe and Jennifer's Body, two films that advanced Amanda Seyfried's career for adult oriented roles. He is the son of Ivan...
films: 2006: Thank You For Smoking 2007: Juno 2009: Up in the Air 2011: Young Adult 2014: Labor Day
4. Judd Apatow
Producer | Girls
Judd Apatow is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and comedian. He directed The 40-Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, This is 40, Funny People, Trainwreck and The King of Staten Island. He also developed the television shows Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, Girls, Love and Crashing. He is ...
2005: The 40 Year Old Virgin 2007: Knocked Up 2009: Funny People 2012: This is 40
5. Adam McKay
Producer | Don't Look Up
Adam McKay (born April 17, 1968) is an American screenwriter, director, comedian, and actor. McKay has a comedy partnership with Will Ferrell, with whom he co-wrote the films Anchorman, Talladega Nights, and The Other Guys. Ferrell and McKay also founded their comedy website Funny or Die through ...
films: 2004: Anchorman - The Legend of Ron Burgundy 2006: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby 2008: Step Brothers 2010: The Other Guys 2013: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
6. Edgar Wright
Director | Shaun of the Dead
Edgar Howard Wright (born 18 April 1974) is an English director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. He is best known for his comedic Three Flavours Cornetto film trilogy consisting of Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and The World's End (2013), made with recurrent collaborators Simon Pegg...
films: 2004: Shaun of the Dead 2007: Hot Fuzz 2010: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World 2013: The World's End
7. Eli Roth
Producer | Thanksgiving
Eli Raphael Roth was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to Cora (Bialis), a painter, and Sheldon H. Roth, a psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, and clinical professor. His family is Jewish (from Austria, Hungary, Russia, and Poland). He began shooting Super 8 films at the age of eight; after watching Ridley ...
films: 2002: Cabin Fever 2006: Hostel 2007: Hostel: Part II 2014: The Green Inferno
8. Spike Jonze
Producer | Her
Spike Jonze made up one-third (along with Andy Jenkins and Mark Lewman) of the triumvirate of genius minds behind Dirt Magazine, the brother publication of the much lamented ground-breaking Sassy Magazine. These three uncommon characters were all editors for Grand Royal Magazine as well, under the ...
films: 1999: Being John Malkovich 2002: Adaptation 2009: Where the Wild Things Are 2013: Her
9. 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 ...
films: 1998: Pi 2000: Requiem for a Dream 2006: The Fountain 2008: The Wrestler 2010: Black Swan 2014: Noah
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 ...
films: 1998: Following 2000: Memento 2002: Insomnia 2005: Batman Begins 2006: The Prestige 2008: The Dark Knight 2010: Inception 2012: The Dark Knight Rises 2014: Interstellar
11. Greg Mottola
Director | Adventureland
Greg Mottola was born on July 11, 1964 in Dix Hills, Long Island, New York, USA. He is a producer and director, known for Adventureland (2009), The Daytrippers (1996) and Superbad (2007). He is married to Sarah Allentuch. They have three children.
films: 1997: The Daytrippers 2007: Superbad 2009: Adventureland 2011: Paul 2013: Clear History
12. 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...
films: 1996: Hard Eight 1997: Boogie Nights 1999: Magnolia 2002: Punch-Drunk Love 2007: There Will Be Blood 2012: The Master
13. Wes Anderson
Director | Fantastic Mr. Fox
Wesley Wales Anderson was born in Houston, Texas. His mother, Texas Ann (Burroughs), is an archaeologist turned real estate agent, and his father, Melver Leonard Anderson, worked in advertising and PR. He has two brothers, Eric and Mel. Anderson's parents divorced when he was a young child, an ...
films: 1996: Bottle Rocket 1998: Rushmore 2002: The Royal Tenenbaums 2004: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou 2007: The Darjeeling Limited 2009: Fantastic Mr. Fox 2012: Moonrise Kingdom 2014: The Grand Budapest Hotel
14. Noah Baumbach
Writer | The Squid and the Whale
Born in Brooklyn in 1969 Noah Baumbach is the son of two film critics, Georgia Brown and Jonathan Baumbach (also a writer). His studies at Vassar College were the subject of his first film (made as he was 26 years old), Kicking and Screaming (1995). His second major picture, made ten years later, ...
films: 1995: Kicking and Screaming 1997: Highball 1999: Mr. Jealousy 2005: The Squid and the Whale 2007: Margot at the Wedding 2010: Greenberg 2013: Frances Ha
15. Todd Solondz
Director | Welcome to the Dollhouse
Todd Solondz was born in Newark, New Jersey. One of his earliest jobs in the film industry was when, as a young man, he worked as a messenger for the Writers' Guild of America. During this time, he wrote several screenplays.
Solondz's first color film with sync sound was the short "Schatt's Last ...
films: 1995: Welcome to the Dollhouse 1998: Happiness 2001: Storytelling 2004: Palindromes 2009: Life During Wartime 2011: Dark Horse
16. 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 ...
films: 1994: Shallow Grave 1996: Trainspotting 1997: A Life Less Ordinary 2000: The Beach 2002: 28 Days Later 2004: Millions 2007: Sunshine 2008: Slumdog Millionaire 2010: 127 Hours 2013: Trance
17. Kevin Smith
Producer | Clerks
Kevin Patrick Smith was born in Red Bank but grew up in Highlands, New Jersey, the son of Grace (Schultz) and Donald E. Smith, a postal worker. He is very proud of his native state; this fact can be seen in all of his movies. Kevin is of mostly German, with some Irish and English, ancestry.
His ...
films: 1994: Clerks 1995: Mallrats 1997: Chasing Amy 1999: Dogma 2001: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back 2004: Jersey Girl 2006: Clerks II 2008: Zach and Miri Make a Porno 2010: Cop Out 2011: Red State
18. 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...
films: 1992: Alien3 1995: Se7en 1997: The Game 1999: Fight Club 2002: Panic Room 2007: Zodiac 2008: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 2010: The Social Network 2011: The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo
19. 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...
films:
1992: Reservoir Dogs
1994: Pulp Fiction
1996: Four Rooms
1997: Jackie Brown
2003: Kill Bill Vol. 1
2004: Kill Bill Vol. 2
2007: Grindhouse (Death Proof)
2009: Inglourious Basterds
2012: Django Unchained
writer only:
1993: True Romance
1994: Natural Born Killers
1996: From Dusk till Dawn
20. Richard Linklater
Director | Waking Life
Self-taught writer-director Richard Stuart Linklater was born in Houston, Texas, to Diane Margaret (Krieger), who taught at a university, and Charles W. Linklater III. Richard was among the first and most successful talents to emerge during the American independent film renaissance of the 1990s. ...
films: 1991: Slacker 1993: Dazed and Confused 1995: Before Sunrise 1997: SubUrbia 1998: The Newton Boys 2001: Tape 2001: Waking Life 2003: School of Rock 2004: Before Sunset 2005: Bad News Bears 2006: Fast Food Nation 2006: A Scanner Darkly 2009: Me and Orson Welles 2012: Bernie 2013: Before Midnight 2014: Boyhood
21. Whit Stillman
Director | Love & Friendship
Whit Stillman was born in 1952 and raised in Cornwall in upstate New York, the son of a impoverished debutante from Philadelphia and a Democratic politician from Washington D.C. Stillman graduated from Harvard in 1973 and started out as a journalist in Manhattan, New York City.
In 1980 he met and ...
films: 1990: Metropolitan 1994: Barcelona 1998: The Last Days of Disco 2012: Damsels in Distress
22. 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 ...
film: 1987: Bad Taste 1989: Meet the Feebles 1992: Braindead (Dead Alive) 1994: Heavenly Creatures 1995: Forgotten Silver 1996: The Frighteners 2001: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 2002: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2005: King Kong 2009: The Lovely Bones 2012: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 2013: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug 2014: The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies
23. 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 ...
films: 1985: Pee-Wee's Big Adventure 1988: Beetlejuice 1989: Batman 1990: Edward Scissorhands 1992: Batman Returns 1993: Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (writer/producer) 1994: Ed Wood 1996: Mars Attacks! 1999: Sleepy Hollow 2001: Planet of the Apes 2003: Big Fish 2005: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 2005: Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride 2007: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 2010: Alice in Wonderland 2012: Dark Shadows 2012: Frankenweenie 2014: Big Eyes
24. 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 ...
films (w/ Ethan Coen) 1984: Blood Simple 1987: Raising Arizona 1990: Miller's Crossing 1991: Barton Fink 1994: The Hudsucker Proxy 1996: Fargo 1998: The Big Lebowski 2000: O Brother, Where Art Thou? 2001: The Man Who Wasn't There 2003: Intolerable Cruelty 2004: The Ladykillers 2007: No Country for Old Men 2008: Burn After Reading 2009: A Serious Man 2010: True Grit 2013: Inside Llewyn Davis
25. 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 ...
films: 1984: The Terminator 1986: Aliens 1989: The Abyss 1991: Terminator 2: Judgement Day 1994: True Lies 1997: Titanic 2009: Avatar
26. John Hughes
Writer | Planes, Trains & Automobiles
John Hughes was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter. He was credited for creating some of the most memorable comedy films of the 1980s and the 1990s, when he was at the height of his career. He had a talent for writing coming-of-age stories, and for depicting fairly realistic...
films:
1984: Pretty in Pink
1985: Weird Science
1985: The Breakfast Club
1986: Ferris Beuller's Day Off
1987: Planes, Trains and Automobiles
1988: She's Having a Baby
1989: Uncle Buck
1991: Curly Sue
writer only:
1983: National Lampoon's Vacation
1985: National Lampoon's European Vacation
1986: Pretty in Pink
1987: Some Kind of Wonderful
1988: The Great Outdoors
1989: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
1990: Home Alone
1992: Beethoven
1992: Home Alone 2
1993: Dennis the Menace
1994: Miracle on 34th Street
1994: Baby's Day Out
1996: 101 Dalmations
1997: Flubber
1997: Home Alone 3
1998: Reach the Rock
2001: Just Visiting
2002: Maid in Manhattan
2008: Drillbit Taylor
27. Sam Raimi
Director | Spider-Man
Highly inventive U.S. film director/producer/writer/actor Sam Raimi first came to the attention of film fans with the savage, yet darkly humorous, low-budget horror film, The Evil Dead (1981). From his childhood, Raimi was a fan of the cinema and, before he was ten-years-old, he was out making ...
films: 1981: The Evil Dead 1986: Crimewave 1987: Evil Dead II 1990: Darkman 1993: Army of Darkness 1995: The Quick and the Dead 1998: A Simple Plan 1999: For Love of the Game 2000: The Gift 2002: Spider-Man 2004: The Grudge 2004: Spider-Man 2 2007: Spider-Man 3 2009: Drag Me to Hell 2013: The Great and Powerful Oz
28. Robert Zemeckis
Writer | Back to the Future
A whiz-kid with special effects, Robert is from the Spielberg camp of film-making (Steven Spielberg produced many of his films). Usually working with writing partner Bob Gale, Robert's earlier films show he has a talent for zany comedy (Romancing the Stone (1984), 1941 (1979)) and special effect ...
films: 1978: I Wanna Hold Your Hand 1980: Used Cars 1984: Romancing the Stone 1985: Back to the Future 1988: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? 1989: Back to the Future Part II 1990: Back to the Future Part III 1992: Death Becomes Her 1994: Forrest Gump 1997: Contact 2000: What Lies Beneath 2000: Cast Away 2004: The Polar Express 2007: Beowulf 2009: A Christmas Carol 2012: Flight
29. Paul Schrader
Writer | First Reformed
Although his name is often linked to that of the "movie brat" generation (Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, Brian De Palma, etc.) Paul Schrader's background couldn't have been more different than theirs. His strict Calvinist parents refused to allow him to see a...
films: 1978: Blue Collar 1979: Hardcore 1980: American Gigolo 1982: Cat People 1985: Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters 1987: Light of Heaven 1988: Patty Hearst 1990: The Comfort of Strangers 1992: Light Sleeper 1997: Touch 1997: Affliction 1999: Forever Mine 2002: Auto Focus 2005: Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist 2007: The Walker 2008: Adam Resurrected 2013: The Canyons
30. Joe Dante
Director | Innerspace
Joe Dante is a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Art. After a stint as a film reviewer, he began his filmmaking apprenticeship in 1974 as trailer editor for Roger Corman's New World Pictures. He made his directorial debut in 1976 with Hollywood Boulevard (1976) (co-directed with Allan Arkush)...
films: 1976: Hollywood Boulevard 1978: Piranha 1979: Rock 'n' Roll High School 1981: The Howling 1983: Twilight Zone: The Movie 1984: Gremlins 1985: Explorers 1987: Innerspace 1989: The 'Burbs 1990: Gremlins 2: The New Batch 1993: The Matinee 1998: Small Soldiers 2003: Haunted Lighthouse 2004: Trapped Ashes 2010: The Hole 3D
31. George Lucas
Writer | Star Wars
George Walton Lucas, Jr. was raised on a walnut ranch in Modesto, California. His father was a stationery store owner and he had three siblings. During his late teen years, he went to Thomas Downey High School and was very much interested in drag racing. He planned to become a professional racecar ...
films: 1971: THX 1138 1973: American Graffiti 1977: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope 1999: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 2002: Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones 2005: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith 2012: Redtails
32. Nicolas Roeg
Director | Don't Look Now
When he made his directorial debut in 1970, Nicolas Roeg was already a 23-year veteran of the British film industry, starting out in 1947 as an editing apprentice and working his way up to cinematographer twelve years later. He first came to attention as part of the second unit on David Lean's ...
films: 1970: Performance 1971: Walkabout 1972: Glastonbury Fayre 1973: Don't Look Now 1976: The Man Who Fell to Earth 1980: Bad Timing 1983: Eureka 1985: Insignificance 1986: Castaway 1987: Aria 1988: Track 29 1990: The Witches 1991: Cold Heaven 1995: Two Deaths 2007: Puffball
33. 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, ...
films: 1968: Amblin' 1971: Duel 1974: The Sugarland Express 1975: Jaws 1977: Close Encounters with the Third Kind 1979: 1941 1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark 1982: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1983: Twilight Zone: The Movie 1984: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom 1985: The Color Purple 1987: Empire of the Sun 1989: Always 1989: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 1991: Hook 1993: Jurassic Park 1993: Schindler's List 1997: Jurassic Park: The Lost World 1997: Amistad 1998: Saving Private Rua 2001: A.I. Artificial Intelligence 2002: Minority Report 2002: Catch Me if You Can 2004: The Terminal 2005: War of the Worlds 2005: Munich 2008: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull 2011: The Adventures of Tin Tin 2011: War Horse 2012: Lincoln
34. 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 ...
films: 1967: Who's That Knocking at My Door? 1972: Boxcar Bertha 1973: Mean Streets 1974: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore 1976: Taxi Driver 1977: New York, New York 1980: Raging Bull 1983: The King of Comedy 1985: After Hours 1986: The Color Of Money 1988: The Last Temptation of Christ 1989: New York Stories 1990: Goodfellas 1991: Cape Fear 1993: The Age of Innocence 1995: Casino 1997: Kundun 1999: Bringing Out the Dead 2002: Gangs of New York 2004: The Aviator 2006: The Departed 2010: Shutter Island 2011: Hugo 2013: The Wolf of Wallstreet
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