Lucian's Top Directors

1. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.79

Inception - 10.0 The Dark Knight - 9.9 The Prestige - 9.8 Interstellar - 9.7 Memento - 9.3 The Dark Knight Rises - 9.2 Batman Begins - 8.4 Dunkirk - 7.9 Tenet - 7.8 Following - 7.5 Insomnia - 7.2

2. Taika Waititi

Producer | What We Do in the Shadows

Taika Waititi, also known as Taika Cohen, hails from the Raukokore region of the East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand, and is the son of Robin (Cohen), a teacher, and Taika Waititi, an artist and farmer. His father is Maori (Te-Whanau-a-Apanui), and his mother is of Ashkenazi Jewish, Irish...

Average rating: 8.8

Thor: Ragnarok - 9.6 Jojo Rabbit - 8.6 Hunt for the Wilderpeople - 8.5 What We Do in the Shadows - 8.5

3. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.63

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - 10.0 For a Few Dollars More - 9.6 Once Upon a Time in the West - 9.2 A Fistful of Dollars - 8.2 Once Upon a Time in America - 7.9 Duck, You Sucker - 6.9

4. 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...

Average rating: 8.57

Pulp Fiction - 10.0 Inglourious Basterds - 9.3 Reservoir Dogs - 9.2 Kill Bill: Vol. 2 - 8.9 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 - 8.8 Django Unchained - 8.7 Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood - 8.5 The Hateful Eight - 7.9 Jackie Brown - 7.3 Death Proof - 7.1

5. Frank Darabont

Writer | The Shawshank Redemption

Three-time Oscar nominee Frank Darabont was born in a refugee camp in 1959 in Montbeliard, France, the son of Hungarian parents who had fled Budapest during the failed 1956 Hungarian revolution. Brought to America as an infant, he settled with his family in Los Angeles and attended Hollywood High ...

Average rating: 8.55

The Shawshank Redemption - 9.9 The Green Mile - 9.6 The Mist - 7.6 The Majestic - 7.1

6. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.49

2001: A Space Odyssey - 10.0 The Shining - 9.7 Spartacus - 9.5 Full Metal Jacket - 9.2 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - 8.9 A Clockwork Orange - 8.8 Paths of Glory - 8.3 Barry Lyndon - 7.9 The Killing - 7.6 Eyes Wide Shut - 7.6 Lolita - 7.5 Killer's Kiss - 6.9

7. Andrew Stanton

Writer | WALL·E

Andrew Stanton has been a major creative force at Pixar Animation Studios since 1990, when he became the second animator and ninth employee to join the company's elite group of computer animation pioneers. As Vice President, Creative he currently oversees all shorts and feature projects at the ...

Average rating: 8.48

Finding Nemo - 10.0 WALL·E - 9.5 Finding Dory - 8.2 A Bug's Life - 7.7 John Carter - 7.0

8. Franklin J. Schaffner

Director | Planet of the Apes

Franklin J. Schaffner was one of the most innovative creative minds in the early days of American network television, utilizing a moving camera in the days when most television directors kept the camera static. His eye for visuals was developed in the dozens of live television programs he directed ...

Average rating: 8.48

Planet of the Apes - 9.9 Patton - 9.6 Papillon - 8.6 The Boys from Brazil - 7.5 The Best Man - 6.8

9. David Lean

Director | Lawrence of Arabia

An important British filmmaker, David Lean was born in Croydon on March 25, 1908 and brought up in a strict Quaker family (ironically, as a child he wasn't allowed to go to the movies). During the 1920s, he briefly considered the possibility of becoming an accountant like his father before finding ...

Average rating: 8.47

Lawrence of Arabia - 10.0 The Bridge on the River Kwai - 9.9 Doctor Zhivago - 9.2 Great Expectations - 8.4 A Passage to India - 8.2 Brief Encounter - 7.9 Hobson's Choice - 7.8 Summertime - 7.7 Blithe Spirit - 7.2

10. Alfonso Cuarón

Producer | Gravity

Alfonso Cuarón Orozco was born on November 28th 1961 in Mexico City, Mexico. From an early age, he yearned to be either a film director or an astronaut. However, he did not want to enter the army, so he settled for directing. He didn't receive his first camera until his twelfth birthday, and then ...

Average rating: 8.47

Children of Men - 9.2 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - 9.1 Gravity - 8.7 Roma - 6.9

11. Pete Docter

Writer | Up

Pete Docter is the Oscar®-winning director of "Monsters, Inc.," "Up," and "Inside Out," and Chief Creative Officer at Pixar Animation Studios. He is currently directing Pixar's feature film "Soul" with producer Dana Murray, which is set to release June 19, 2020.

Starting at Pixar in 1990 as the ...

Average rating: 8.47

Monsters, Inc. - 9.1 Soul - 8.5 Up - 8.4 Inside Out - 7.9

12. 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...

Average rating: 8.46

Seven Samurai - 10.0 The Hidden Fortress - 10.0 Ran - 9.7 Yojimbo - 9.4 Ikiru - 9.3 Stray Dog - 8.9 High and Low - 8.9 The Bad Sleep Well - 8.8 Throne of Blood - 8.8 Dersu Uzala - 8.8 Rashomon - 8.7 Kagemusha - 8.7 Red Beard - 8.5 Sanjuro - 7.9 Drunken Angel - 7.9 Sanshiro Sugata - 7.6 Dreams - 7.8 The Idiot - 7.7 Scandal - 7.6 I Live in Fear - 7.4 One Wonderful Sunday - 7.3 Dodes'ka-den - 7.3 The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail - 6.9

13. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.43

Memories of Murder - 9.9 Parasite - 9.8 Snowpiercer - 8.2 Mother - 7.8 The Host - 7.6 Okja - 7.3

14. Tom Hooper

Director | Cats

Tom Hooper was educated at one of England's most prestigious schools, Westminster. His first film, Runaway Dog, was made when he was 13 years old and shot on a Clockwork 16mm Bolex camera, using 100 feet of film. At age 18, he wrote, directed and produced the short film Painted Faces (1992), which ...

Average rating: 8.42

The King's Speech - 9.6 Les Miserables - 8.7 The Damned United - 7.8 The Danish Girl - 7.6

15. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.41

Gangs of New York - 10.0 The Departed - 9.9 Taxi Driver - 9.8 The King of Comedy - 9.7 Shutter Island - 9.6 Casino - 8.9 The Irishman - 8.9 After Hours - 8.9 The Last Temptation of Christ - 8.8 Hugo - 8.6 The Aviator - 8.5 Goodfellas - 8.4 Mean Streets - 8.1 Raging Bull - 7.9 Cape Fear - 7.9 The Color of Money - 7.6 Silence - 7.5 Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - 7.5 The Age of Innocence - 7.3 The Wolf of Wall Street - 7.2 Bringing Out the Dead - 7.0 Who's That Knocking at My Door - 6.9

16. James Gunn

Writer | Guardians of the Galaxy

James Gunn was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, to Leota and James Francis Gunn. He is from a large Catholic family, with Irish and Czech ancestry. His father and his uncles were all lawyers. He has been writing and performing as long as he can remember. He began making 8mm films at the age ...

Average rating: 8.38

Guardians of the Galaxy - 10.0 The Suicide Squad - 9.6 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - 9.1 Super - 6.8 Slither - 6.4

17. 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 (...

Average rating: 8.38

The Double Life of Veronique - 9.2 Three Colors: Red - 9.1 Camera Buff - 8.3 Three Colors: White - 8.2 A Short Film About Love - 8.1 Three Colors: Blue - 8.0 A Short Film About Killing - 7.8

18. Michael Powell

Director | Peeping Tom

The son of Thomas William Powell and Mabel (nee Corbett). Michael Powell was always a self-confessed movie addict. He was brought up partly in Canterbury ("The Garden of England") and partly in the south of France (where his parents ran a hotel). Educated at Kings School, Canterbury and Dulwich ...

Average rating: 8.37

Stairway to Heaven - 9.7 Peeping Tom - 9.1 Black Narcissus - 8.8 The Red Shoes - 8.3 'I Know Where I'm Going!' - 8.2 A Canterbury Tale - 7.9 The Thief of Bagdad - 7.7 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp - 7.3

*+ Emeric Pressburger

19. Robert Aldrich

Director | Emperor of the North Pole

Robert Aldrich entered the film industry in 1941 when he got a job as a production clerk at RKO Radio Pictures. He soon worked his way up to script clerk, then became an assistant director, a production manager and an associate producer. He began writing and directing for TV series in the early ...

Average rating: 8.36

The Dirty Dozen - 9.7 What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? - 9.6 The Flight of the Phoenix - 8.4 Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte - 7.8 Kiss Me Deadly - 7.6 Emperor of the North - 7.1

20. 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, ...

Average rating: 8.36

Saving Private Ryan - 10.0 Jurassic Park - 10.0 Raiders of the Lost Ark - 10.0 Jaws - 9.9 Schindler's List - 9.9 Close Encounters of the Third Kind - 9.7 E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial - 9.0 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - 8.9 Ready Player One - 8.8 A.I. Artificial Intelligence - 8.8 Lincoln - 8.7 Bridge of Spies - 8.7 Empire of the Sun - 8.7 Minority Report - 8.6 War of the Worlds - 8.5 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - 8.3 The Color Purple - 8.2 Munich - 8.1 Amistad - 7.9 Duel - 7.9 War Horse - 7.8 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 7.6 The Adventures of Tintin - 7.6 The Lost World: Jurassic Park - 7.5 The BFG - 7.3 The Post - 7.2 Catch Me If You Can - 7.1 Hook - 6.9 The Terminal - 6.8 Always - 6.6

21. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.35

Star Wars - 10.0 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - 9.1 THX 1138 - 8.5 American Graffiti - 7.6 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace - 7.6 Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones - 7.3

22. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.35

Sunset Blvd. - 10.0 Stalag 17 - 9.9 The Apartment - 9.8 Witness for the Prosecution - 9.7 Double Indemnity - 9.6 Some Like It Hot - 9.4 The Lost Weekend - 9.1 Ace in the Hole - 9.0 The Fortune Cookie - 8.1 One, Two, Three - 7.8 A Foreign Affair - 7.8 The Major and the Minor - 7.6 The Seven Year Itch - 7.5 Sabrina - 7.2 Irma la Douce - 7.1 Five Graves to Cairo - 7.1 The Front Page - 6.9 Love in the Afternoon - 6.8

23. Andrei Tarkovsky

Writer | Offret

The most famous Soviet film-maker since Sergei Eisenstein, Andrei Tarkovsky (the son of noted poet Arseniy Tarkovsky) studied music and Arabic in Moscow before enrolling in the Soviet film school VGIK. He shot to international attention with his first feature, Ivan's Childhood (1962), which won the...

Average rating: 8.34

Stalker - 9.4 Solaris - 9.1 The Mirror - 8.8 Nostalghia - 8.2 Andrei Rublev - 8.0 Ivan's Childhood - 7.7 The Sacrifice - 7.2

24. Mel Gibson

Actor | Braveheart

Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson was born January 3, 1956 in Peekskill, New York, USA, as the sixth of eleven children of Hutton Gibson, a railroad brakeman, and Anne Patricia (Reilly) Gibson (who died in December of 1990). His mother was Irish, from County Longford, while his American-born father is ...

Average rating: 8.34

Braveheart - 9.9 Hacksaw Ridge - 8.9 Apocalypto - 8.5 The Passion of the Christ - 7.3 The Man Without a Face - 7.1

25. Duncan Jones

Director | Moon

Duncan Jones was born on May 30, 1971 in Bromley, Kent, England, UK. He is a director and writer, known for Moon (2009), Source Code (2011) and Mute (2018). He has been married to Rodene Ronquillo since November 6, 2012. They have two children.

Average rating: 8.34

Warcraft - 8.7 Source Code - 8.6 Moon - 8.2 Mute - 7.8

26. Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Director | Un long dimanche de fiançailles

Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a self-taught director who was very quickly interested by cinema, with a predilection for a fantastic cinema where form is as important as the subject. Thus he started directing TV commercials and video clips (such as Julien Clerc in 1984). At the same time he met designer/...

Average rating: 8.33

Delicatessen - 9.8 The City of Lost Children - 8.8 Amelie - 8.7 A Very Long Engagement - 7.9 Alien: Resurrection - 7.6 Micmacs - 7.2

27. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.32

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - 10.0 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - 10.0 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - 10.0 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - 8.9 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - 8.7 King Kong - 8.6 The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - 8.4 The Frighteners - 7.9 Dead Alive - 7.3 Heavenly Creatures - 7.1 Bad Taste - 6.7 The Lovely Bones - 6.3

28. Sidney Lumet

Director | 12 Angry Men

Sidney Lumet was a master of cinema, best known for his technical knowledge and his skill at getting first-rate performances from his actors -- and for shooting most of his films in his beloved New York. He made over 40 movies, often complex and emotional, but seldom overly sentimental. Although ...

Average rating: 8.31

12 Angry Men - 9.8 Serpico - 9.4 Dog Day Afternoon - 9.2 Fail-Safe - 8.9 Murder on the Orient Express - 8.7 The Verdict - 8.2 The Hill - 7.7 Network - 7.6 The Pawnbroker - 7.5 Before the Devil Knows You're Dead - 7.3 Deathtrap - 7.1

29. 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...

Average rating: 8.3

Zodiac - 9.7 Fight Club - 9.4 Se7en - 9.2 The Game - 8.8 Gone Girl - 8.7 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - 8.5 The Social Network - 8.2 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 7.6 Mank - 7.2 Alien 3 - 7.1 Panic Room - 6.9

30. James Mangold

Producer | Logan

James Mangold is an American film and television director, screenwriter and producer. Films he has directed include Girl, Interrupted (1999), Walk the Line (2005), which he also co-wrote, the 2007 remake 3:10 to Yuma (2007), The Wolverine (2013), and Logan (2017).

Mangold also wrote and directed Cop...

Average rating: 8.26

Logan - 9.6 Ford v Ferrari - 9.5 Walk the Line - 8.7 3:10 to Yuma - 8.6 The Wolverine - 7.8 Identity - 7.7 Kate & Leopold - 7.3 Cop Land - 6.9

31. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.07

Pacific Rim - 9.4 Pan's Labyrinth - 9.2 Hellboy II: The Golden Army - 8.9 The Devil's Backbone - 8.7 The Shape of Water - 7.9 Blade II - 7.8 Hellboy - 7.5 Crimson Peak - 7.4 Cronos - 7.3 Mimic - 6.6

32. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.26

The Gold Rush - 9.3 The Great Dictator - 8.2 Modern Times - 8.1 The Circus - 7.9 The Kid - 7.8 City Lights - 7.7

33. 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...

Average rating: 8.26

Fitzcarraldo - 9.1 Aguirre: The Wrath of God - 9.4 Nosferatu the Vampyre - 7.9 Rescue Dawn - 7.8 Stroszek - 7.1

34. Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Writer | All About Eve

Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on February 11, 1909, Joseph Leo Mankiewicz first worked for the movies as a translator of intertitles, employed by Paramount in Berlin, the UFA's American distributor at the time (1928). He became a dialoguist, then a screenwriter on numerous Paramount ...

Average rating: 8.25

All About Eve - 10.0 Sleuth - 8.9 The Ghost and Mrs. Muir - 8.3 Suddenly, Last Summer - 7.9 A Letter to Three Wives - 7.6 Cleopatra - 7.6 Guys and Dolls - 7.5

35. Anthony Russo

Producer | Everything Everywhere All at Once

Anthony J. Russo is an American filmmaker and producer who works alongside his brother Joseph Russo. They have directed You, Me and Dupree, Cherry and the Marvel films Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Endgame is one of ...

Average rating: 8.25

Avengers: Endgame - 9.6 Avengers: Infinity War - 9.5 Captain America: Civil War - 8.9 Captain America: The Winter Soldier - 8.7 Welcome to Collinwood - 6.5 Cherry - 6.3

+ Joe Russo

36. 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....

Average rating: 8.25

The Usual Suspects - 9.8 X-Men: Days of Future Past - 9.7 X2 - 9.4 X-Men - 8.9 Bohemian Rhapsody - 8.6 Apt Pupil - 7.9 X-Men: Apocalypse - 7.4 Valkyrie - 7.1 Superman Returns - 6.9 Jack the Giant Slayer - 6.8

37. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.21

Black Swan - 9.1 Pi - 8.5 The Fountain - 8.4 Requiem for a Dream - 8.1 The Wrestler - 8.0 Mother! - 7.8 Noah - 7.6

38. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.24

Rear Window - 10.0 Psycho - 9.9 Rebecca - 9.8 North by Northwest - 9.8 Dial M for Murder - 9.6 Strangers on a Train - 9.5 Vertigo - 9.4 Shadow of a Doubt - 9.1 Lifeboat - 8.9 The Birds - 8.8 Rope - 8.8 The Lady Vanishes - 8.7 The 39 Steps - 8.2 Foreign Correspondent - 8.1 Notorious - 8.0 Frenzy - 7.9 The Man Who Knew Too Much - 7.9 The Wrong Man - 7.8 Suspicion - 7.8 Spellbound - 7.7 To Catch a Thief - 7.7 Sabotage - 7.6 Family Plot - 7.6 Marnie - 7.4 Saboteur - 7.4 The Trouble with Harry - 7.3 I Confess - 7.2 The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog - 7.1 The Man Who Knew Too Much - 7.0 Stage Fright - 6.9 Torn Curtain - 6.9

39. Denis Villeneuve

Director | Dune

Denis Villeneuve is a French Canadian film director and writer. He was born in 1967, in Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada. He started his career as a filmmaker at the National Film Board of Canada. He is best known for his feature films Arrival (2016), Sicario (2015), Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2013), ...

Average rating: 8.24

Dune: Part One - 9.7 Blade Runner 2049 - 9.5 Prisoners - 8.8 Sicario - 8.6 Arrival - 7.8 Incendies - 7.2 Enemy - 6.1

40. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.24

Tokyo Story - 9.6 Late Spring - 8.7 Early Summer - 8.0 Floating Weeds - 7.7 Tokyo Twilight - 7.2

41. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.23

Slumdog Millionaire - 9.6 Trainspotting - 9.3 Sunshine - 8.9 28 Days Later... - 8.7 127 Hours - 8.7 T2 Trainspotting - 8.2 The Beach - 7.6 Shallow Grave - 7.5 Yesterday - 7.5 Steve Jobs - 7.3 Trance - 7.3

42. Jean-Pierre Melville

Writer | Le Samouraï

The name "Melville" is not immediately associated with film. It conjures up images of white whales and crackbrained captains, of naysaying notaries and soup-spilling sailors. It is the countersign to a realm of men and their deeds, both heroic and villainous. It is the American novel, with its ...

Average rating: 8.22

Le Samourai - 9.2 Le Cercle Rouge - 8.6 Army of Shadows - 8.2 Bob le Flambeur - 7.6 Le Doulos - 7.5

43. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.22

The Others - 9.2 Open Your Eyes - 8.9 Tesis - 8.4 The Sea Inside - 7.6 Agora - 7.0

44. 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...

Average rating: 8.22

Hot Fuzz - 9.2 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - 8.3 Shaun of the Dead - 8.2 The World's End - 7.8 Baby Driver - 7.6

45. John Huston

Director | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

An eccentric rebel of epic proportions, this Hollywood titan reigned supreme as director, screenwriter and character actor in a career that endured over five decades. The ten-time Oscar-nominated legend was born John Marcellus Huston in Nevada, Missouri, on August 5, 1906. His ancestry was English,...

Average rating: 8.21

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - 9.9 The Maltese Falcon - 9.8 The Man Who Would Be King - 9.5 The African Queen - 8.9 The Asphalt Jungle - 8.6 The Night of the Iguana - 8.2 Moby Dick - 7.9 Victory - 7.8 Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison - 7.7 Key Largo - 7.6 Fat City - 7.6 Prizzi's Honor - 6.8 The Dead - 6.5

46. Fritz Lang

Actor | Le mépris

Fritz Lang was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1890. His father managed a construction company. His mother, Pauline Schlesinger, was Jewish but converted to Catholicism when Lang was ten. After high school, he enrolled briefly at the Technische Hochschule Wien and then started to train as a painter. ...

Average rating: 8.21

Metropolis - 10.0 M - 8.9 Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler - 7.8 The Big Heat - 7.7 Fury - 7.6 By Rocket to the Moon - 7.3

47. Frank Capra

Director | It's a Wonderful Life

One of seven children, Frank Capra was born on May 18, 1897, in Bisacquino, Sicily. On May 10, 1903, his family left for America aboard the ship Germania, arriving in New York on May 23rd. "There's no ventilation, and it stinks like hell. They're all miserable. It's the most degrading place you ...

Average rating: 8.21

Arsenic and Old Lace - 9.9 It's a Wonderful Life - 9.8 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - 9.1 It Happened One Night - 8.9 You Can't Take It with You - 8.1 Meet John Doe - 8.0 Mr. Deeds Goes to Town - 7.9 Lost Horizon - 7.8 Lady for a Day - 7.6 The Miracle Woman - 7.5 The Bitter Tea of General Yen - 7.1 Pocketful of Miracles - 6.9

48. Stanley Kramer

Producer | Judgment at Nuremberg

Stanley Kramer was born on September 29, 1913 in Hell's Kitchen [now Clinton], Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer and director, known for Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and Inherit the Wind (1960). He was married to Karen Sharpe, Anne P. ...

Average rating: 8.21

Judgment at Nuremberg - 9.1 The Defiant Ones - 8.7 It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World - 8.7 Inherit the Wind - 8.5 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - 8.5 On the Beach - 7.7 Ship of Fools - 6.3

49. Matthew Vaughn

Producer | Kick-Ass

Matthew Vaughn is an English film producer and director. He is known for producing such films as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000) and for directing the crime thriller, Layer Cake (2004), the fantasy epic, Stardust (2007), the superhero comedy, Kick-Ass (2010), and the ...

Average rating: 8.2

X-Men: First Class - 9.1 Kingsman: The Secret Service - 8.8 Kick-Ass - 7.9 Stardust - 7.9 Kingsman: The Golden Circle - 7.8 Layer Cake - 7.7

50. Joseph Kosinski

Director | Top Gun: Maverick

Joseph Kosinski is a director whose uncompromising style has quickly made a mark in the filmmaking zeitgeist. His four theatrical releases have grossed $2.2 billion worldwide and been nominated for 7 Academy Awards and 2 Grammys.

His film debut, "Tron: Legacy" for Walt Disney Studios, grossed $400 ...

Average rating: 8.2

Only the Brave - 8.7 Oblivion - 8.2 Tron - 7.7

51. Elia Kazan

Director | On the Waterfront

Known for his creative stage direction, Elia Kazan was born Elias Kazantzoglou on September 7, 1909 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey). Noted for drawing out the best dramatic performances from his actors, he directed 21 actors to Oscar nominations, resulting in nine wins. He ...

Average rating: 8.2

A Streetcar Named Desire - 9.1 On the Waterfront - 8.7 A Face in the Crowd - 8.1 East of Eden - 8.0 Viva Zapata! - 7.8 Gentleman's Agreement - 7.5

52. Ben Affleck

Producer | Argo

Benjamin Géza "Ben" Affleck-Boldt was born on August 15, 1972 in Berkeley, California and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to mother Chris Anne (Boldt), a school teacher, and father Timothy Byers "Tim" Affleck, a social worker. Ben has a younger brother, actor Casey Affleck, who was born in 1975...

Average rating: 8.16

Argo - 9.3 The Town - 7.9 Gone Baby Gone - 7.3

53. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.15

Terminator 2: Judgment Day - 10.0 Aliens - 10.0 The Terminator - 9.5 Avatar - 9.3 The Abyss - 8.9 Titanic - 7.5 True Lies - 7.1 Piranha Part Two: The Spawning - 2.9

54. F.W. Murnau

Director | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

F.W. Murnau was a German film director. He was greatly influenced by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Ibsen plays he had seen at the age of 12, and became a friend of director Max Reinhardt. During World War I he served as a company commander at the eastern front and was in the German air ...

Average rating: 8.13

Faust - 9.5 Sunrise - 8.3 Nosferatu - 8.2 The Last Laugh - 8.0 Tabu: A Story of the South Seas - 7.7 Phantom - 7.1

55. Orson Welles

Actor | Citizen Kane

His father, Richard Head Welles, was a well-to-do inventor, his mother, Beatrice (Ives) Welles, a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died in 1924 (when he was nine) he traveled the world with his father. He was ...

Average rating: 8.11

The Trial - 9.2 Citizen Kane - 9.1 The Magnificent Ambersons - 7.8 The Stranger - 7.8 The Lady from Shanghai - 7.7 Othello - 7.6 Touch of Evil - 7.6

56. Rob Reiner

Actor | All in the Family

Robert Reiner was born in New York City, to Estelle Reiner (née Lebost) and Emmy-winning actor, comedian, writer, and producer Carl Reiner.

As a child, his father was his role model, as Carl Reiner created and starred in The Dick Van Dyke Show. Estelle was also an inspiration for him to become a ...

Average rating: 8.07

Stand by Me - 9.8 Misery - 9.2 This Is Spinal Tap - 8.9 When Harry Met Sally... - 8.7 A Few Good Men - 8.4 The Princess Bride - 8.3 The Bucket List - 7.3 LBJ - 6.9 North - 5.2

57. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.09

Apocalypse Now - 10.0 The Godfather - 10.0 The Godfather: Part II - 9.8 Dracula - 8.7 The Conversation - 8.4 Tucker: The Man and His Dream - 7.8 The Godfather: Part III - 7.6 The Outsiders - 7.2 The Rainmaker - 6.9 Jack - 6.7 Peggy Sue Got Married - 5.9

58. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.09

The Exterminating Angel - 9.2 Belle de Jour - 8.6 The Milky Way - 8.4 Viridiana - 8.3 That Obscure Object of Desire - 8.2 Diary of a Chambermaid - 8.0 The Phantom of Liberty - 7.9 The Young and the Damned - 7.9 Un Chien Andalou - 7.8 The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie - 7.7 Simon of the Desert - 7.7 Tristana - 7.4

59. John Sturges

Director | The Great Escape

John Sturges was an American film director, mostly remembered for his outstanding Western films. In 1992, Sturges was awarded a Golden Boot Award for his lifelong contribution to the Western genre.

Sturges was born in the village of Oak Park, Illinois, within the Chicago metropolitan area. By 1930, ...

Average rating: 8.06

The Great Escape - 9.9 The Magnificent Seven - 8.8 Bad Day at Black Rock - 7.3 The Eagle Has Landed - 7.2 The Old Man and the Sea - 7.1

60. 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, ...

Average rating: 8.09

The Grapes of Wrath - 10.0 Stagecoach - 9.1 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - 8.4 How the West Was Won - 8.1 The Searchers - 8.0 Mister Roberts - 7.9 How Green Was My Valley - 7.8 Young Mr. Lincoln - 7.6 The Quiet Man - 7.5 My Darling Clementine - 7.4 The Informer - 7.2

61. J.J. Abrams

Producer | Lost

Jeffrey Jacob Abrams was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles, the son of TV producer parents. At 15, he wrote the music for Don Dohler's Nightbeast (1982). In his senior year of college, he and Jill Mazursky teamed up to write a feature film, which became Taking Care of Business (1990)....

Average rating: 8.06

Star Trek Into Darkness - 9.3 Star Trek - 9.1 Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 8.6 Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker - 7.5 Super 8 - 7.2 Mission: Impossible III - 6.7

62. Neill Blomkamp

Director | District 9

Neill Blomkamp is a South African-Canadian film director and screenwriter who is known for the science fiction films District 9, Elysium and Chappie. He also directed the supernatural horror film Demonic and the 2007 short film Halo: Landfall, based on the Microsoft science fiction video game ...

Average rating: 8.06

District 9 - 9.5 Chappie - 7.8 Elysium - 6.9

63. John Sturges

Director | The Great Escape

John Sturges was an American film director, mostly remembered for his outstanding Western films. In 1992, Sturges was awarded a Golden Boot Award for his lifelong contribution to the Western genre.

Sturges was born in the village of Oak Park, Illinois, within the Chicago metropolitan area. By 1930, ...

Average rating: 8.26

The Great Escape - 10.0 The Magnificent Seven - 9.1 Bad Day at Black Rock - 7.8 The Old Man and the Sea - 7.3 The Eagle Has Landed - 7.1

64. Howard Hawks

Director | Rio Bravo

What do the classic films Scarface (1932), Twentieth Century (1934), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Sergeant York (1941), To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Red River (1948) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and Rio Bravo (1959) have in...

Average rating: 8.06

Rio Bravo - 8.9 His Girl Friday - 8.8 Bringing Up Baby - 8.6 Scarface - 8.6 Sergeant York - 8.2 Red River - 8.1 The Big Sleep - 7.9 To Have and Have Not - 7.8 El Dorado - 7.8 Only Angels Have Wings - 7.6 Twentieth Century - 7.6 Monkey Business - 7.5 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes - 7.4

65. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.06

The Pianist - 10.0 Rosemary's Baby - 9.9 The Tenant - 9.3 Repulsion - 9.1 Chinatown - 8.7 Death and the Maiden - 7.8 The Ghost Writer - 7.8 Frantic - 7.7 Carnage - 7.2 Cul-de-sac - 7.1 The Fearless Vampire Killers - 7.0 The Ninth Gate - 6.7 Oliver Twist - 6.5

66. Peter Weir

Director | Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

Peter Weir was born on August 21, 1944 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is a director and writer, known for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), The Way Back (2010) and Witness (1985). He has been married to Wendy Stites since 1966. They have two children.

Average rating: 8.06

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World - 10.0 Dead Poets Society - 9.8 The Truman Show - 8.1 The Way Back - 7.9 Gallipoli - 7.9 Witness - 7.5 The Mosquito Coast - 7.4 Fearless - 7.1 Picnic at Hanging Rock - 6.9

67. 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 ...

Average rating: 8.06

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - 10.0 Amadeus - 9.8 Man on the Moon - 8.6 The People vs. Larry Flynt - 7.1 The Firemen's Ball - 6.7 Goya's Ghosts - 6.2

68. Martin McDonagh

Writer | In Bruges

Martin McDonagh was born on March 26, 1970 in Camberwell, London, England, UK. He is a writer and director, known for In Bruges (2008), Seven Psychopaths (2012) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017).

Average rating: 8.06

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - 9.1 In Bruges - 8.2 Seven Psychopaths - 6.9

69. Park Chan-wook

Director | Oldeuboi

Park Chan-wook was born on August 23, 1963 in Seoul, South Korea. He is a producer and director, known for Oldboy (2003), The Handmaiden (2016) and Decision to Leave (2022). He is married to Eun-hee Kim. They have one child.

Average rating: 8.06

J.S.A.: Joint Security Area - 8.7 Oldboy - 8.4 Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance - 8.0 Lady Vengeance - 7.7 Stoker - 7.5

70. John Lasseter

Writer | Toy Story 2

Although born in Hollywood, John and his twin sister Johanna were raised in Whittier near Los Angeles. His parents were Jewell Mae (Risley), an art teacher, and Paul Eual Lasseter, a parts manager at a Chevrolet dealership. His mother's profession contributed to his interest in animation and ...

Average rating: 8.04

Toy Story - 10.0 Toy Story 2 - 8.6 A Bug's Life - 7.9 Cars - 7.6 Cars 2 - 6.1

71. George Miller

Producer | Mad Max: Fury Road

George Miller is an Australian film director, screenwriter, producer, and former medical doctor. He is best known for his Mad Max franchise, with Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) being hailed as amongst the greatest action films of all time. Aside from the Mad Max ...

Average rating: 8.0

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior - 10.0 Mad Max: Fury Road - 9.9 Mad Max - 8.3 Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome - 7.8 Babe: Pig in the City - 7.1 Happy Feet - 6.9 The Witches of Eastwick - 6.1

72. Zack Snyder

Director | 300

Zachary Edward "Zack" Snyder (born March 1, 1966) is an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter, best known for action and science fiction films. Snyder made his feature film debut with the 2004 remake Dawn of the Dead and has gone on to be known for his comic book movies and ...

Average rating: 8.01

Zack Snyder's Justice League - 9.6 Dawn of the Dead - 9.4 Watchmen - 9.3 Man of Steel - 8.9 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice - 7.6 300 - 7.1 Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole - 6.8 Army of the Dead - 5.4

73. 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...

Average rating: 7.98

Ratatouille - 9.6 Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol - 8.6 The Iron Giant - 8.1 The Incredibles - 7.7 The Incredibles 2 - 7.2 Tomorrowland - 6.7

74. David Yates

Director | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

David Yates was born on October 8, 1963 in St. Helens, Merseyside, England, UK. He is a director and producer, known for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) and The Legend of Tarzan (2016).

Average rating: 7.97

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 - 9.5 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 - 8.6 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - 8.2 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - 7.6 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - 7.5 Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - 7.3 The Legend of Tarzan - 7.1

75. Lilly Wachowski

Writer | The Matrix

Director, writer, and producer Lilly Wachowski was born in 1967 in Chicago, the daughter of Lynne, a nurse and painter, and Ron, a businessman. Lilly was educated at Kellogg Elementary School in Chicago, before moving on to Whitney M. Young High School. After graduating from high school, she ...

Average rating: 7.96

The Matrix - 10.0 Cloud Atlas - 9.5 The Matrix Reloaded - 7.6 The Matrix Revolutions - 7.1 Speed Racer - 5.6

*+ Laurence/Lana Wachowski

76. 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 ...

Average rating: 7.96

The Grand Budapest Hotel - 9.2 Fantastic Mr. Fox - 8.8 Isle of Dogs - 8.6 The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - 8.4 Moonrise Kingdom - 7.7 Rushmore - 7.7 The Royal Tenenbaums - 7.4 Bottle Rocket - 7.1 The Darjeeling Limited - 6.8

77. 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 ...

Average rating: 7.95

Brazil - 9.9 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - 9.8 Twelve Monkeys - 9.8 Monty Python and the Holy Grail - 9.4 The Brothers Grimm - 7.9 The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus - 7.7 The Fisher King - 7.6 The Zero Theorem - 7.6 Time Bandits - 7.2 The Adventures of Baron Munchausen - 7.1 Jabberwocky - 6.2 Tideland - 5.3

78. 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 ...

Average rating: 7.95

Ed Wood - 10.0 Big Fish - 9.8 Sleepy Hollow - 9.7 Batman - 9.6 Batman Returns - 8.4 Beetlejuice - 8.2 Edward Scissorhands - 7.9 Frankenweenie - 7.9 Corpse Bride - 7.8 Alice in Wonderland - 7.6 Big Eyes - 7.6 Mars Attacks! - 7.5 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - 7.4 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - 7.4 Planet of the Apes - 7.1 Dark Shadows - 7.0 Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - 6.9 Pee-wee's Big Adventure - 6.9 Dumbo - 6.4

79. William Wyler

Director | The Best Years of Our Lives

William Wyler was an American filmmaker who, at the time of his death in 1981, was considered by his peers as second only to John Ford as a master craftsman of cinema. The winner of three Best Director Academy Awards, second again only to Ford's four, Wyler's reputation has unfairly suffered as the...

Average rating: 7.94

Ben-Hur - 10.0 Roman Holiday - 8.9 The Best Years of Our Lives - 8.2 Wuthering Heights - 8.1 The Collector - 7.9 The Little Foxes - 7.9 The Children's Hour - 7.9 Mrs. Miniver - 7.9 Dodsworth - 7.8 How to Steal a Million - 7.8 The Heiress - 7.7 The Letter - 7.7 The Desperate Hours - 7.6 The Westerner - 7.6 The Big Country - 7.5 Jezebel - 7.4 Dead End - 7.1

80. 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 ...

Average rating: 7.92

Adaptation. - 9.1 Being John Malkovich - 8.4 Her - 7.9 Where the Wild Things Are - 6.3

81. 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 ...

Average rating: 7.91

Alien - 10.0 Gladiator - 9.9 Blade Runner - 9.9 The Martian - 9.1 American Gangster - 8.9 Black Hawk Down - 8.7 Kingdom of Heaven - 8.7 Prometheus - 8.2 Robin Hood - 8.1 Body of Lies - 7.8 Alien: Covenant - 7.8 The Duellists - 7.7 Hannibal - 7.6 Matchstick Men - 7.5 1492: Conquest of Paradise - 7.1 Thelma & Louise - 7.1 All the Money in the World - 7.0 Black Rain - 6.9 A Good Year - 6.9 Exodus: Gods and Kings - 6.8 White Squall - 6.2 Legend - 6.1

82. Stephen Chow

Actor | Kung fu

Stephen Chow was the only boy of his family, and has grown up as a Bruce Lee fan and a martial arts addict. His career started on TV, where he presented a children show ( "430 Space Shuttle" (1983)) and started becoming popular. He got some supporting roles, after that, and won the Taiwanese Golden...

Average rating: 7.9

Shaolin Soccer - 9.3 Kung Fu Hustle - 8.3 Journey to the West - 7.9 The Mermaid - 7.7 CJ7 - 6.3

83. 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 ...

Average rating: 7.89

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels - 10.0 Sherlock Holmes - 9.5 Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - 9.1 Snatch. - 8.9 Wrath of Man - 8.7 The Gentlemen - 8.5 Aladdin - 7.8 King Arthur: Legend of the Sword - 7.6 The Man from U.N.C.L.E - 7.4 RocknRolla - 7.1 Revolver - 6.2 Swept Away - 3.9

84. 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 ...

Average rating: 7.88

The Elephant Man - 10.0 Mulholland Dr. - 8.3 Blue Velvet - 7.9 Eraserhead - 7.9 The Straight Story - 7.8 Inland Empire - 7.6 Dune - 7.1 Lost Highway - 6.9

85. S. Craig Zahler

Writer | Bone Tomahawk

S. Craig Zahler was born on January 23, 1973 in Miami, Florida, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Bone Tomahawk (2015), Dragged Across Concrete (2018) and Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017).

Average rating: 7.9

Dragged Across Concrete - 8.6 Bone Tomahawk - 7.6 Brawl in Cell Block 99 - 7.5

86. 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 ...

Average rating: 7.88

The Big Lebowski - 9.9 True Grit - 9.8 No Country for Old Men - 9.6 O Brother, Where Art Thou? - 9.3 Barton Fink - 9.1 Fargo - 8.8 The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - 8.5 Miller's Crossing - 7.9 Raising Arizona - 7.7 Hail, Caesar! - 7.5 The Hudsucker Proxy - 7.3 Intolerable Cruelty - 7.1 The Man Who Wasn't There - 7.1 Blood Simple. - 7.0 The Ladykillers - 6.9 Inside Llewyn Davis - 6.9 Burn After Reading - 6.3 A Serious Man - 5.9

*+ Ethan Coen

87. 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 (...

Average rating: 7.88

The Seventh Seal - 9.7 Wild Strawberries - 8.6 The Virgin Spring - 8.0 Fanny and Alexander - 7.9 Autumn Sonata - 7.4 Hour of the Wolf - 7.4 Through a Glass Darkly - 7.2 Persona - 6.9

88. Ernst Lubitsch

Director | To Be or Not to Be

From Ernst Lubitsch's experiences in Sophien Gymnasium (high school) theater, he decided to leave school at the age of 16 and pursue a career on the stage. He had to compromise with his father and keep the account books for the family tailor business while he acted in cabarets and music halls at ...

Average rating: 7.88

To Be or Not to Be - 8.7 The Shop Around the Corner - 8.5 Ninotchka - 7.8 Trouble in Paradise - 7.5 Heaven Can Wait - 6.9

89. Gareth Edwards

Visual_effects | Monsters

Gareth James Edwards was born on June 1, 1975 in the English town of Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Growing up, he admired movies such as the 1977 classic "Star Wars", and went on to pursue a film career. He even cites George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as his biggest influences. Edwards studied BA (Hons) ...

Average rating: 7.86

Rogue One - 9.1 Godzilla - 7.6 Monsters - 6.9

90. Mervyn LeRoy

Producer | The Wizard of Oz

The great San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906 was a tragedy for Mervyn LeRoy. While he and his father managed to survive, they lost everything they had. To make money, LeRoy sold newspapers and entered talent contests as a singer. When he entered vaudeville, his act was "LeRoy and Cooper--Two...

Average rating: 7.86

I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang - 8.5 Mister Roberts - 8.1 Quo Vadis - 8.0 Little Caesar - 7.8 No Time for Sergeants - 7.6 The Bad Seed - 7.2

91. Fernando Meirelles

Director | The Constant Gardener

Fernando Meirelles was born in a middle class family in São Paulo City, Brazil.

He studied architecture at the university of São Paulo. At the same time he developed an interest in filmmaking. With a group of friends he started producing experimental videos and video art. They won a huge number of ...

Average rating: 7.85

City of God - 8.9 The Constant Gardener - 7.7 The Two Popes - 7.6 Blindness - 7.2

92. Michael Mann

Producer | The Insider

As a director, screenwriter, and producer, four-time Academy Award nominee Michael Mann has established himself as one of the most innovative and influential filmmakers in American cinema. After writing and directing the Primetime Emmy Award-winning television movie The Jericho Mile (1979), Mann ...

Average rating: 7.84

Heat - 8.9 The Last of the Mohicans - 8.7 Ali - 7.9 Collateral - 7.7 Manhunter - 7.6 The Insider - 7.1 Public Enemies - 7.0

93. John McTiernan

Director | Die Hard

John McTiernan was born on January 8, 1951 in Albany, New York, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Die Hard (1988), Rollerball (2002) and Last Action Hero (1993). He has been married to Gail Sistrunk since 2012. He was previously married to Kate Harrington, Donna Dubrow and Carol Land.

Average rating: 7.82

Die Hard - 9.4 Predator - 8.7 Die Hard: With a Vengeance - 8.5 The Hunt for Red October - 7.8 The 13th Warrior - 7.6 Last Action Hero - 6.5 Basic - 6.3

94. 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 ...

Average rating: 7.82

Inside Man - 8.7 Malcolm X - 7.7 Do the Right Thing - 7.6 25th Hour - 7.6 BlacKkKlansman - 7.5

95. Cameron Crowe

Writer | Almost Famous

Certainly idiosyncratic as a writer, Cameron Crowe has created a series of scripts that, while liked by the critics, were considered offbeat and difficult to market.

Cameron Bruce Crowe was born in Palm Springs, California, to Alice Marie Crowe (née George), a teacher and activist, and James A. ...

Average rating: 7.82

Almost Famous - 8.6 Say Anything... - 7.9 Jerry Maguire - 7.9 We Bought a Zoo - 7.6 Vanilla Sky - 7.1

96. Jon Favreau

Producer | Chef

Initially an indie film favorite, actor Jon Favreau has progressed to strong mainstream visibility into the millennium and, after nearly two decades in the business, is still enjoying character stardom as well as earning notice as a writer/producer/director.

The amiable, husky-framed actor with the ...

Average rating: 7.81

Iron Man - 9.7 The Jungle Book - 8.9 The Lion King - 7.8 Elf - 7.7 Iron Man 2 - 7.5 Chef - 7.5 Cowboys & Aliens - 7.1 Zathura: A Space Adventure - 6.3

97. Christopher Miller

Writer | The Lego Movie

Christopher Miller is an American filmmaker, producer and writer who collaborates with Philip A. Lord. They both worked on Clone High, a cult classic animated sci-fi teen comedy show, The Lego Movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street and Spider-Man: Into the ...

Average rating: 7.8

The Lego Movie - 8.8 21 Jump Street - 7.8 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - 7.5 22 Jump Street - 7.1

+ Phil Lord

98. 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...

Average rating: 7.8

The Breakfast Club - 8.8 Ferris Bueller's Day Off - 8.4 Planes, Trains & Automobiles - 8.1 Uncle Buck - 7.4 Curly Sue - 6.3

99. Jeff Nichols

Writer | Take Shelter

Jeff Nichols was born on December 7, 1978 in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. He is a writer and director, known for Take Shelter (2011), Mud (2012) and Midnight Special (2016).

Average rating: 7.8

Take Shelter - 8.6 Mud - 7.7 Midnight Special - 7.1

100. Mel Brooks

Actor | Spaceballs

Mel Brooks was born Melvin Kaminsky on June 28, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York. He served in WWII, and afterwards got a job playing the drums at nightclubs in the Catskills. Brooks eventually started a comedy act and also worked in radio and as Master Entertainer at Grossinger's Resort before going to ...

Average rating: 7.79

Robin Hood: Men in Tights - 9.9 Young Frankenstein - 8.2 Blazing Saddles - 7.9 Spaceballs - 7.7 The Producers - 7.6 History of the World: Part I - 7.6 High Anxiety - 7.1 Silent Movie - 7.0 Dracula: Dead and Loving It - 6.9