Favorite Directors
by watmorejake | created - 07 Jan 2020 | updated - 13 Feb 2020 | PublicTrying to Reach 100. Working towards it, but these really are my favorite. The top 10 is pretty solid and most likely won't change.
1. John Ford
Director | The Quiet Man
John Ford came to Hollywood following one of his brothers, an actor. Asked what brought him to Hollywood, he replied "the train". He became one of the most respected directors in the business, in spite of being known for his westerns, which were not considered "serious" film. He won six Oscars, ...
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Searchers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Fort Apache, My Darling Clementine, 3 Godfathers, Tobacco Road, The Informer, The Long Voyage Home, Donavan's Reef, The Iron Horse, Stagecoach.
2. 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...
Rashomon, High and Low, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, Ran, Kagemusha, Stray Dog, Drunken Angel, Sajuro, The Quiet Duel, The Lower Depths, The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail, Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood.
3. 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 ...
Taxi Driver, Goodfells, After Hours, Raging Bull, Mean Streets, Guess Who's Knocking at my Door?, The Departed, Bringing out the Dead, Wolf of Wall Street, The Irishman, Casino.
4. 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 ...
Some Like it Hot, The Lost Weekend, Double Indemnity, The Apartment, Sunset Blvd, Ace in the Hole, The Front Page, Buddy Buddy.
5. 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 ...
Vertigo, Rear Window, Dial m for Murder, Psycho, Marnie, Blackmail, Rope, Notorious, Shadow of a Doubt, The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps,Foreign Correspondent, North by Northwest, Rebecca, The Birds, The Wrong Man.
6. 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 (...
Persona, The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Hour of the Wolf, The Virgin Spring, The Silence, Autumn Sonata, Through a Glass Darkly, Fanny and Alexander.
7. Yasujirô Ozu
Writer | Tôkyô monogatari
Tokyo-born Yasujiro Ozu was a movie buff from childhood, often playing hooky from school in order to see Hollywood movies in his local theatre. In 1923 he landed a job as a camera assistant at Shochiku Studios in Tokyo. Three years later, he was made an assistant director and directed his first ...
There Was a Father, Late Autumn, Late Spring, Early Summer, Tokyo Story, I Was Born, but..., An Inn in Tokyo, An Autumn Afternoon, Dragnet Girl, Good Morning.
8. Satyajit Ray
Writer | Pather Panchali
Satyajit Ray was born in Calcutta on May 2, 1921. His father, Late Sukumar Ray was an eminent poet and writer in the history of Bengali literature. In 1940, after receiving his degree in science and economics from Calcutta University, he attended Tagore's Viswa-Bharati University. His first movie ...
Pather Pancheli, The World of Apu, Cahrulata, The Chess Players, The Golden Fortress, The Big City, Devi, Aparajito, Days and Nights in the Forest, The Stranger.
9. 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 ...
For a Few Dollars More, Once Upon a Time in the West, Once Upon a Time in America, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, A Fistful of Dollars.
10. 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 ...
The Shining, The Killing, Paths of Glory, Killer's Kiss, Dr Strangelove Or: How I Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Full Metal Jacket, Barry Lyndon, Eyes Wide Shut.
11. 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 ...
Talk to Her, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, Pepi, Luci, Bom and the Other Girls, All About My Mother, Bad Education, Skin I Live In, Broken Embraces, Volver.
12. Guillermo del Toro
Writer | El laberinto del fauno
Guillermo del Toro was born October 9, 1964 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Raised by his Catholic grandmother, del Toro developed an interest in filmmaking in his early teens. Later, he learned about makeup and effects from the legendary Dick Smith (The Exorcist (1973)) and worked on making his ...
Cronos, The Devil's Backbone, Pans Labyrinth, Hellboy 2, Shape of Water.
13. Giuseppe Tornatore
Director | La migliore offerta
Giuseppe Tornatore was born on May 27, 1956 in Bagheria, Sicily, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for The Best Offer (2013), Cinema Paradiso (1988) and The Legend of 1900 (1998). He is married to Roberta Pacetti.
Cinema Paradiso, Malena, Everybody's Fine, The Legend of 1900, The Star Maker, The Unknown Woman, Pure Formality.
14. Asghar Farhadi
Writer | Forooshande
Asghar Farhadi was born in 1972 in Iran. He became interested in cinema in his teenage years and started his filmmaking education by joining the Youth Cinema Society of Esfahan in 1986 where he made 8mm and 16mm short films. He received his Bachelors in Theater from University of Tehran's School of...
About Elly, A Separation, Fireworks Wednesday, The Salesman, Everybody Knows, The Past.
15. Werner Herzog
Director | Fitzcarraldo
Director. Writer. Producer. Actor. Poet. He studied history, literature and theatre for some time, but didn't finish it and founded instead his own film production company in 1963. Later in his life, Herzog also staged several operas in Bayreuth, Germany, and at the Milan Scala in Italy. Herzog has...
Aguirre; Wrath of God, Nosferatu The Vampire, Grizzly Man, Enigma of Kasper Hauser, The White Diamond, The Wild Blue Yonder, Rescue Dawn, Even Dwarfs Start off Small, Where the Green Ants Dream, Fitzcarraldo, Herdsmen of the Sun.
16. Luis Buñuel
Writer | Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie
The father of cinematic Surrealism and one of the most original directors in the history of the film medium, Luis Buñuel was given a strict Jesuit education (which sowed the seeds of his obsession with both religion and subversive behavior), and subsequently moved to Madrid to study at the ...
Viridiana, The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, Belle de Jour, The Phantom Liberty, The Exterminating Angel.
17. Yimou Zhang
Director | Ying xiong
Yimou Zhang was born on November 14, 1951 in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China. He is a director and writer, known for Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Curse of the Golden Flower (2006). He has been married to Ting Chen since December 2011. They have three children. He was previously married to ...
To Live, House of Flying Daggers, Ju Dou, Coming Home, Under the Hawthorne Tree, Raise the Red Lantern, Shanghai Triad, Curse of the Golden Flower, A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop, Flowers of War, Hero, Shadow.
18. 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 ...
Dead Alive, Heavenly Creatures, Meet the Feebles, The Frighteners, They Shall Not Grow Old, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Bad Taste.
19. 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 ...
Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, The Elephant Man, Inland Empire, The Grandmother, Lost Highway, Rabbits, Dune.
20. Krzysztof Kieslowski
Writer | Trois couleurs: Bleu
Krzysztof Kieslowski graduated from Lódz Film School in 1969, and became a documentary, TV and feature film director and scriptwriter. Before making his first film for TV, Przejscie podziemne (1974) (The Underground Passage), he made a number of short documentaries. His next TV title, Personnel (...
No End, Three Colors: Red, Three Colors: Blue, A Short Film about Killing, Blind Chance, A Short Film about Love, The Double Life of Veronique, Decalog.
21. Spike Lee
Director | Do the Right Thing
Spike Lee was born Shelton Jackson Lee on March 20, 1957, in Atlanta, Georgia. At a very young age, he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. Lee came from artistic, education-grounded background; his father was a jazz musician, and his mother, a schoolteacher. He attended ...
Do the Right Thing, Mo Better Blues, Crooklyn, Summer of Sam, He Got Game, Jungle Fever, 4 Little Girls, Inside Man, Blackkklansman, Clockers, 25th Hour.
22. 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 ...
Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Frankenweenie, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Big Fish, Batman, Batman Returns, Mars Attacks!, Vincent, Beetlejuice.
23. 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, Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight, Death Proof, Inglorious Bastards.
24. Guy Ritchie
Director | Sherlock Holmes
Guy Ritchie was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK on September 10, 1968. After watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) as a child, Guy realized that what he wanted to do was make films. He never attended film school, saying that the work of film school graduates was boring and ...
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Sherlock Holmes, The Gentlemen, RocknRolla, Revolver.
25. 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 ...
28 Days Later, Transporting, Shallow Grave, Steve Jobs, Sunshine, Trance, A Life Less Ordinary, T2.
26. 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...
Gone Girl, Se7en, Fight Club, The Social Network, Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Game, Panic Room, Alien 3.
27. Terry Gilliam
Writer | Brazil
Terry Gilliam was born near Medicine Lake, Minnesota. When he was 12 his family moved to Los Angeles where he became a fan of MAD magazine. In his early twenties he was often stopped by the police who suspected him of being a drug addict and Gilliam had to explain that he worked in advertising. In ...
Brazil, Baron Munchosen, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, The Fisher King, The Holy Grail, Time Bandits, 12 Monkeys.
28. Brian De Palma
Director | Body Double
Brian De Palma is one of the well-known directors who spear-headed the new movement in Hollywood during the 1970s. He is known for his many films that go from violent pictures, to Hitchcock-like thrillers. Born on September 11, 1940, De Palma was born in Newark, New Jersey in an Italian-American ...
Dressed to Kill, Scarface, Raising Cain, Femme Fatale, Sisters, Phantom of the Paradise, Carrie, Carlito's Way, Body Double,
29. Bong Joon Ho
Writer | Snowpiercer
Bong Joon-ho is a South Korean filmmaker. The recipient of three Academy Awards, his filmography is characterized by emphasis on social themes, genre-mixing, black humor, and sudden tone shifts. He first became known to audiences and achieved a cult following with his directorial debut film, the ...
Parasite, Memories of Murder, Snowpiercer, The Host, Mother.
30. 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 ...
Clerks, Chasing Amy, Clerks 2, Mallrats, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, Jersey Girl, Tusk.
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