NOTE: This list has been updated from the previous version which only believed EW’s list was made up of 25 directors and not 50. A commenter has pointed out there is a list of directors 50-26 and they have now been added to the list below.
Entertainment Weekly has put together a list of the 25 Greatest Active Film Directors and obviously many of the names on the list are qualified additions, but the order in which they are presented and the fact names such as Tim Burton, Judd Apatow, Sam Raimi, Zack Snyder and Jon Favreau are on there really takes away from the quality of the list in my opinion. I’m not even sure Del Toro would make a list of mine or Ron Howard for that matter. On top of that having Spielberg and Jackson at the number one and two spots is is just wrong.
Below is the list from Entertainment Weekly and then below that are a few names they should have perhaps considered as replacements.
- Steven Spielberg
- Peter Jackson
- Martin Scorsese
- Christopher Nolan
- Steven Soderbergh
- Ridley Scott
- Quentin Tarantino
- Michael Mann
- James Cameron
- Joel and Ethan Coen
- Guillermo del Toro
- David Fincher
- Tim Burton
- Judd Apatow
- Sam Raimi
- Zack Snyder
- Darren Aronofsky
- Danny Boyle
- Clint Eastwood
- Ron Howard
- Ang Lee
- Paul Thomas Anderson
- Paul Greengrass
- Pedro Almodóvar
- Jon Favreau
- Woody Allen
- Brad Bird
- David Cronenberg
- Sofia Coppola
- Bryan Singer
- Sam Mendes
- Mel Gibson
- The Wachowski Brothers
- J.J. Abrams
- Alfonso Cuaron
- Hayao Miyazaki
- Mike Leigh
- Oliver Stone
- Roman Polanski
- Spike Jonze
- Richard Linklater
- Spike Lee
- David Lynch
- Wong Kar-Wai
- Wes Anderson
- Mira Nair
- Andrew Stanton
- Michael Moore
- Mary Harron
- Sidney Lumet
I love how for Favreau they use Elf as evidence and using Frost/Nixon as evidence for Ron Howard is like luring a five-year-old with a lollipop. Dawn of the Dead and 300 as evidence for Snyder is laughable.
EDIT: So, as you can see from the update some of the names I originally listed in my “for your consideration” addition were simply considered lesser directors, which doesn’t change much, but it means I have now removed the likes of Woody Allen, Brad Bird, David Cronenberg, Sam Mendes, Alfonso Cuaron, Hayao Miyazaki, Roman Polanski, Spike Jonze, Richard Linklater, Spike Lee, David Lynch, Wong Kar-Wai, Wes Anderson and Sidney Lumet from the list below leaving us with the following:
- Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
- Andrzej Wajda
- Gus Van Sant
- Joe Wright
- Jonathan Demme
- Lars Von Trier
- Michel Gondry
- Mike Nichols
- Park Chan Wook
- Stephen Frears
- Terrence Malick
- Terry Gilliam
- Werner Herzog
So, what do you think? It appears to me the biggest beef is with the placement now since they obviously considered many of the actual quality directors working.
A couple of other sites have already weighed in on the list with great reactions from JoBlo and FilmDrunk.
