The best directors

1. Martin Scorsese

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 ...

watched: Mean streets 7.5/10 Taxi driver 8.5/10 Raging bull 8/10 Goodfellas 10/10 Casino 8.5/10 Gangs of NewYork 9.5/10 Aviator 7.5/10 The Departed 10/10 Shutter island 9.5/10

Still to watch: King of comedy Cape fear Age of innocence

2. 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 ...

watched: Psycho 10/10 Vertigo 10/10 North by northwest 9/10 Rear window 9.5/10 Rope 8/10 Strangers on a train 8.5/10 To catch a thief 8.5/10 Notorious 8.5/10 Shadow of a doubt 8.5/10 The man who knew too much 8/10 I confess 8.5/10

Still to watch: Birds

3. 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 ...

Watched:Sunset blvd. 9.5/10 Double indemnity 9/10 Witness for the prosecution 9.5/10 The apartment 9/10 Some like it hot 9/10 Stalag 17 9/10 Ace in the hole 8.5/10 Sabrina 8.5/10

Still to watch:The lost weekend

4. 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, ...

Watched: Lincoln 9/10 Schindler's list 9.5/10 Saving private ryan 10/10 Minority report 9.5/10 Catch me if you can 9/10 Raiders of the lost ark 8.5/10 Indiana Jones and last crusade 8/10 Indiana Jones and the temple of doom 8.5/10 Indiana Jones and kingdom of the crystall skull 6.5/10 E.T. the Extra-Terrestria 8.5/10

Still to watch: War of the worlds AI-Artificial inteligence

5. 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 ...

Watched: Barry Lyndon 7.5/10 Shining 8.5/10 A clockwork orange 8.5/10 Full metal jacket 9/10 The killing 8.5/10 2001: A space odyssey 10/10 Eyes wide shut 8.5/10 Paths of glory 9/10 Spartacus 7.5/10 Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb 10/10

Still to watch: Lolita

6. 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 ...

Watched: Batman begins 8/10 The dark knight 9.5/10 The dark knight rises 8/10 Insomnia 8/10 Prestige 10/10 Memento 9.5/10 Inception 10/10

Still to watch: Following

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...

Watched: Fight club 10/10 Se7en 9.5/10 The curious case of Benjamin Button 8.5/10 The game 8.5/10

Still to watch: Zodiac

8. 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...

Watched: Inglorious basterds 9/.510 Pulp fiction 10/10 Reservoir dogs 9/10 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 7.5/10 Django unchained 9/10

Still to watch: Kill Bill: Vol. 2 Jackie Brown

9. 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,...

Watched: The Maltese falcon 8.5/10 The treasure of the Sierra Madre 9/10 The african queen 8.5/10

Still to watch: The man who would be king

10. Ethan Coen

Producer | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

The younger brother of Joel, Ethan Coen is an Academy Award and Golden Globe winning writer, producer and director coming from small independent films to big profile Hollywood films. He was born on September 21, 1957 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In some films of the brothers- Ethan & Joel wrote, Joel...

Watched: Miller's crossing 9/10 The big Lebowski 9/10 No country for old men 9/10 Fargo 9/10 Burn after reading 7.5/10 Raising Arizona 8/10

Still to watch: True grit Barton Fink

Of course Joel Coen counts here...xD

11. 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 ...

Watched: The bridge on the river Kwai 10/10 Lawrence of Arabia 8.5/10

Still to watch: A passage to India Doctor Zhivago

12. 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 ...

Watched: Heat 8.5/10 The insider 9/10 Collateral 8.5/10

Still to watch: Public enemies The last of the Mohicans

13. 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 ...

Watched: Once upon time in the west 10/10 Once upon time in America 8.5/10 A fistful of dollars 8/10 For a few dollars more 8.5/10 The good,the bad and the ugly 9/10

14. 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 ...

Watched: Star wars 10/10 Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 8/10 Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones 8.5/10 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith 8.5/10

Still to watch: American graffiti THX 1138

15. 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 ...

Watched: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 9.5/10 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 9/10 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 10/10

Still to watch: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

16. 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 ...

Watched: Scarface 9/10 The untouchables 9.5/10 Carlito's way 9/10 Casualties of War 8.5/10

17. 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 ...

Watched: 12 monkeys 9.5/10 Fear and loathing in Las Vegas 8.5/10 Monty Python and the Holy Grail 8/10

Still to watch: Brazil

18. 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 ...

Watched: One flew over the cuckoo's nest 10/10 The people vs Larry Flint 8.5/10

Still to watch: Amadeus Man of the moon

19. 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 ...

Watched: Bladerunner 7.5/10 Black hawk down 8.5/10 Allien 7.5/10 Gladiator 10/10 American gangster 9.5/10

Still to watch: Kingdom of Heaven Hannibal

20. 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 ...

Watched: Unforgiven 8.5/10 Gran Torino 8.5/10

Still to watch: Milion dollar baby J. Edgar Letters from Iwo Jima Flags of our fathers Mystic river Absolute power The Bridges of Madison County

21. 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 ...

Watched: The Godfather 10/10 The Godfather: Part II 8/10 The Godfather: Part III 8.5/10 The conversation 7/10 Apocalypse now 7.5/10

22. 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 ...

Watched: Chinatown 9/10 Pianist 7.5/10

Still to watch: The Ninth Gate

23. Steven Soderbergh

Director | Sex, Lies, and Videotape

Steven Andrew Soderbergh was born on January 14, 1963 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, the second of six children of Mary Ann (Bernard) and Peter Soderbergh. His father was of Swedish and Irish descent, and his mother was of Italian ancestry. While he was still at a very young age, his family moved to ...

Watched: Ocean's eleven 9.5/10 Ocean's twelve 8/10 Ocean's thirteen 8.5/10 Traffic 10/10 Still to watch: Erin Brokovich

24. Edward Zwick

Producer | The Last Samurai

Zwick moves deftly between the roles of writer, director and producer. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for his direction of the 1989 critically acclaimed Civil War drama, Glory. He received his second Golden Globe nomination as a director for Legends of the Fall. Zwick received an Academy Award...

Watched: Blood diamond 9/10 The siege 7.5/10 Glory 8/10 Still to watch: Legends of the fall

25. Gregory Hoblit

Producer | Hill Street Blues

Gregory Hoblit was born in Texas but moved to Northern California at a young age because of his father's job in law enforcement, a hint at what might have attracted the mystery/courtroom plots of his movie/TV credits. After graduating from UCLA, he worked as a TV co-producer with Steven Bochco ...

Watched: Primal fear 9/10 Fracture 8/10

Still to watch: Hart's war Frequency

26. 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 ...

Watched: Shawshank redemption 9.5/10 The green mile 9.5/10 The mist 7.5/10

27. George Roy Hill

Director | The Sting

George Roy Hill was never able to 'hit it off' with the critics despite the fact that 2 of his films - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and The Sting (1973) - had remained among the top 10 box office hits by 1976. His work was frequently derided as 'impersonal' or lacking in stylistic ...

Watched: The Sting 9.5/10 Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid 7/10

28. F. Gary Gray

Director | Set It Off

Felix Gary Gray is an African-American music video director, film producer and film director from New York City known for directing films such as Friday, Men in Black: International, Be Cool, The Fate of the Furious, Set It Off, The Negotiator, Straight Outta Compton and The Italian Job. He ...

Watched: The Italian Job 8.5/10 The Negotiator 8.5/10

Still to watch: Law Abiding Citizen

29. Barry Levinson

Director | Rain Man

Barry Lee Levinson was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Violet (Krichinsky) and Irvin Levinson, who worked in furniture and appliance. He is of Russian Jewish descent. Levinson graduated from high school in 1960, attended college at American University in Washington, DC. He did well, but decided he ...

Watched: Rain Man 10/10 Sleepers 8.5/10 Wag the dog 8.5/10

Still to watch: Good morning, Vietnam

30. Sam Mendes

Producer | 1917

Samuel Alexander Mendes was born on August 1, 1965 in Reading, England, UK to parents James Peter Mendes, a retired university lecturer, and Valerie Helene Mendes, an author who writes children's books. Their marriage didn't last long, James divorced Sam's mother in 1970 when Sam was just 5-...

Watched: American beauty 10/10

Stiil to watch: Road to perdition Skyfall

31. 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....

Watched: The usual suspects 10/10 Valkyrie 7.5/10

32. 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 ...

Watched: Forrest Gump 10/10 Back to the future 10/10 Back to the Future Part II 8.5/10 Back to the Future Part III 8.5/10

Still to watch: Cast Away Who framed Roger Rabbit Flight

33. David Cronenberg

Actor | The Fly

David Cronenberg, also known as the King of Venereal Horror or the Baron of Blood, was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1943. His father, Milton Cronenberg, was a journalist and editor, and his mother, Esther (Sumberg), was a piano player. After showing an inclination for literature at an early...

Watched: A history of violence 8.5/10 Eastern promises 8/10

Still to watch: The fly Videodrome

34. 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 ...

Watched: 25th hour 9/10 Inside man 9/10

Still to watch: Malcolm X

35. Gore Verbinski

Director | Rango

Gore Verbinski, one of American cinema's most inventive directors who was a punk-rock guitarist as a teenager and had to sell his guitar to buy his first camera, is now the director of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) which made the industry record for highest opening weekend of ...

Watched: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl 9.5/10 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 8.5/10 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End 8/10

36. Robert Rodriguez

Producer | El mariachi

Robert Anthony Rodriguez was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, USA, to Rebecca (Villegas), a nurse, and Cecilio G. Rodríguez, a salesman. His family is of Mexican descent.

Of all the people to be amazed by the images of John Carpenter's 1981 sci-fi parable, Escape from New York (1981), none ...

Watched: Desperado 8.5/10 From dusk till dawn 8/10 Sin city 9.5/10

Still to watch: Once upon time in Mexico Planet terror

37. 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 ...

Watched: Titanic 10/10 Alliens 7.5/10 Avatar 7.5/10 The Terminator 8/10 Terminator 2: Judgment Day 9.5/10

38. Luc Besson

Writer | Le Cinquième Élément

Luc Besson spent the first years of his life following his parents, scuba diving instructors, around the world. His early life was entirely aquatic. He already showed amazing creativity as a youth, writing early drafts of The Big Blue (1988) and The Fifth Element (1997), as an adolescent bored in ...

Watched: The fifth element 8/10 Leon 7.5/10

39. 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 ...

Watched: Lock,stock and two smoking barrels 8/10 Snatch 7.5/10

Still to watch: RocknRolla Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

40. Barry Sonnenfeld

Director | Men in Black

Barry Sonnenfeld was born and raised in New York City. He graduated from New York University Film School in 1978. He started work as director of photography on the Oscar-nominated In Our Water (1982). Then Joel Coen and Ethan Coen hired him for Blood Simple (1984). This film began his collaboration...

Watched: Men in black 7.5/10 Men in black II 8/10 Men in black 3 8/10 Get Shorty 8/10

41. M. Night Shyamalan

Producer | Lady in the Water

Born in Puducherry, India, and raised in the posh suburban Penn Valley area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, M. Night Shyamalan is a film director, screenwriter, producer, and occasional actor, known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots.

He is the son of Jayalakshmi, a Tamil ...

Watched: The sixth sense 9/10 Unbreakable 7.5/10

42. Martin Brest

Director | Scent of a Woman

Martin Brest was born on August 8, 1951 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He is a director and writer, known for Scent of a Woman (1992), Midnight Run (1988) and Beverly Hills Cop (1984).

Watched: Beverly Hills cop 8.5/10 Midnight run 8/10

Still to watch: Scent of woman Meet Joe Black

43. Tony Scott

Producer | Domino

Tony Scott was a British-born film director and producer. He was the youngest of three brothers, one of whom is fellow film director Ridley Scott. He was born in North Shields, Northumberland, England to parents Jean and Colonel Francis Percy Scott. As a result of his father's career in the British...

Watched: The taking of Pelham 1 2 3 8/10 Man on fire 8/10 Crimson tide 9/10 True romance 8.5/10

Still to watch: Spy game The last boy scout Enemy of a state

44. Oliver Stone

Director | JFK

Oliver Stone has become known as a master of controversial subjects and a legendary film maker. His films are filled with a variety of film angles and styles, he pushes his actors to give Oscar-worthy performances, and despite his failures, has always returned to success.

William Oliver Stone was ...

Watched: JFK 8.5/10 Platoon 8/10

Still to watch: Nixon Born on the fourth of July

45. Antoine Fuqua

Producer | The Magnificent Seven

Antoine Fuqua is an American film director, known for his work in the film Training Day as well as The Replacement Killers, Tears of the Sun, King Arthur, Shooter, Brooklyn's Finest, Olympus Has Fallen and The Equalizer.

He has directed music videos for such artists as Arrested Development, Prince, ...

Watched: Training day 8.5/10 Shooter 8.5/10

46. John Frankenheimer

Director | The Manchurian Candidate

Born in New York and raised in Queens, John Frankenheimer wanted to become a professional tennis player. He loved movies and his favorite actor was Robert Mitchum. He decided he wanted to be an actor but then he applied for and was accepted in the Motion Picture Squadron of the Air Force where he ...

Watched: Ronin 7.5/10 Reindeer games 7.5/10

47. Alex Proyas

Director | Dark City

Alex Proyas has moved effortlessly between helming TV commercials and music videos to feature films. Born to Greek parents in Egypt, Proyas relocated to Australia with his family when he was three years old. He began making films at age ten and went on to attend the Australian Film Television and ...

Watched: Dark city 8/10 I,Robot 7/10