The Best and Most Influental Directors of all time
by adipietro14 | created - 07 Sep 2011 | updated - 14 Oct 2013 | PublicThis is mostly in order and includes what i think their two best movies were from a directing standpoint. Please comment and check out my other lists.
1. 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 ...
Kubrik is the man, when most directors only make comedies or horror he made one of each. The Shining was horror, Dr. Strangelove was comedy (and the best satire), 2001 was a sci-fi, Clockwork Orange was thriller, and Full metal Jacket was war. 1. 2001: A Space Odyssey 2. The Shining (every shot is symmetric and perfect with his unique backdrops)
2. 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 ...
From the slow motion scene of Joe Pesci standing over the man in Goodfellas and shooting him through the head, to the blood bath opening scene that is Gangs of New York; this director found beauty in bloody violence, but he had other movies other then gangster films like Cape Fear or Raging Bull. 1. Gangs of New York 2. The Departed (x marks the spot, all the characters who are gonna die have an x over then somehow)
3. 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 ...
The man could take terrible actors and a terrible script and still make a great movie out of it by using his array of amazing camera angles. No other director nails dialogue scenes like him. 1. Psycho 2. Rear Window
4. 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 ...
This is for both of them, they don't called them "The two-headed director" for nothing. The authentic feel from their movies is unmatched and the characters the great are simply amazing (the dude and Anton Chigurh). 1. No Country for Old Men 2. Fargo
5. 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...
The man has balls. Some of his ideas are crazy and racy but his expertise in understanding movies makes them come to life in a way that leaves them as being regarding as some of the best movies ever made. 1. Pulp Fiction 2. Kill Bill vol.1
6. 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 ...
The man has an eye and knows what he's doing. They tried to fire him everyday off the Godfather because they thought his actors sucked and were to young and because they weren't happy with him personally. Then the Godfather got nominated for 11 Oscars including best director and three best actors. I guess he was right. 1. Apocalypse Now: Redux 2. The Godfather
7. 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...
David Fincher is one of Hollywood's smartest directors. He has an eye for what movie will be good. Who else would of seen the potential in The Social Network? He is the Kubrik of my generation and keeps making groundbreaking films. My prediction is the release of his newest film, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, will be equivalent to Kubrik's releasing of A Clockwork Orange, but hopefully without the stone dildo. 1. Fight Club 2. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (very underrated)
8. 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 ...
Christopher Nolan's movies include plots so complicated, it takes a master storyteller to be able to make movies like he does. Memento and Inception had almost five stories happening at once. His original screenplays (I count Memento as one because it was only a short story from his brother before that Chris made his own) keep proving there are still great untold stories still left in Hollywood. 1. Memento 2. The Dark Knight
9. 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 ...
Maybe not as technically good as some others but i doubt any director could of done a better job on the Lord of the Ring movies. Plus when you get Jackson you get his very talented scribe wife, Fran Walsh. His eye for detail is unmatched and his movies are never lacking in excellent editing or breath taking cinematography. 1. Lord of the Rings: Return of the King 2.Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
10. 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 ...
When you hire Zemeckis you receive an oscar winning visionary who can also write and is amazing with special effects. His movies transcend time and are loved by all audiences. His animated work was enjoyable but I can't wait for his return back to feature films. 1. Forest Gump 2. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
11. Milos Forman
Director | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Milos Forman was born Jan Tomas Forman in Caslav, Czechoslovakia, to Anna (Svabova), who ran a summer hotel, and Rudolf Forman, a professor. During World War II, his parents were taken away by the Nazis, after being accused of participating in the underground resistance. His father died in ...
Very few directors can make a movie like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest that makes you laugh hysterically for the first hour and a half then by the end you are speechless. Milos did though. His actors always perform excellent and his very straightforward way of directing makes the movie easy and enjoyable to watch. 1. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 2. The People vs. Larry Flynt
12. 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 ...
1. The Pianist 2. Chinatown
13. Clint Eastwood
Actor | Million Dollar Baby
Clinton Eastwood Jr. 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 Margaret Ruth Runner), a housewife turned IBM clerk. He grew up in nearby Piedmont. At school Clint took ...
1. Million Dollar Baby 2. Unforgiven
14. 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 ...
1. Black Swan 2. Requiem for a Dream
15. 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 ...
1. Alien 2. American Gangster
16. 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...
1. Magnolia 2. Boogie Nights
17. 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 ...
18. Terrence Malick
Writer | Days of Heaven
Terrence Malick was born in Ottawa, Illinois. His family subsequently lived in Oklahoma and he went to school in Austin, Texas. He did his undergraduate work at Harvard, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in philosophy in 1965.
A member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, he attended Magdalen ...
19. Bryan Singer
Director | X-Men
Bryan Singer is an American film director and producer who got his start writing and co-directing the short film Lions Den with his classmates while he attended USC. He was hired by 20th Century Fox to direct X-Men, which helped kick-start the superhero renaissance. He later directed three sequels....
20. 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 ...
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