Mark Romanek

Was so deeply affected by Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt", he offered (and begged) to shoot the video for free. Upon doing so, he sent the video to Trent Reznor, lead singer of Nine Inch Nails. Reznor was in session with Zack De La Rocha (of Rage Against the Machine fame) at the time, and they were reportedly so awestruck emotionally that they had to leave the room and recuperate, Reznor himself being moved to tears. The video itself features footage of a decrepit Cash at the flood ravaged House of Cash Museum interspersed with footage from Cash's personal collection of himself in his youth. This masterpiece of a video has since found itself in heavy rotation on both VH1 and MTV.

Be daring and sincere. -- referring to an interview he read with Stanley Kubrick when asked what his tenets are for first-time film directors