Film directors

See also Film, and other roles in a film crew.

A Film director directs the artistic and dramatic aspects of a film. The role typically includes:

• Defining the overall artistic vision of the film
• Controlling the content and flow of the film's plot
• Directing the performances of actors, both mechanically by putting them in certain positions, and dramatically by eliciting the required range of emotions.
• Organizing and selecting the locations in which the film will be shot.
• Managing technical details such as the positioning of cameras, the use of lighting, and the timing and content of the film's soundtrack?.
• Any other activity that defines or realizes the artistic vision the director has for the film.

In practice the director will delegate many of these responsibilities. For example, the director may describe the mood he or she wants from a scene, then leave it to other members of the film crew to find a suitable location, or to set up the appropriate lighting.

The degree of control that a director exerts over a film varies greatly, ranging from some who like to outline a general plot line and let the actors improvise dialog (such as [Robert Altman]?), to those who control every aspect, and demand that the actors and crew follow instructions precisely (such as Stanley Kubrick).

Directors often work closely with [film producers]?, who are responsible for the non-artistic elements of the film, such as financing, contract negotiation and marketing. Directors will often take on some of the responsibilities of the producer for their films (e.g. Steven Spielberg), or work so closely with the producer that the distinction in their roles becomes blurred (as is the case with Joel and Ethan Coen).

A

[Robert Aldrich]?

Woody Allen

[Pedro Almodovar]?

[Robert Altman]?

Lindsay Anderson

[Theo Angelopoulos]?

[Michelangelo Antonioni]?

Alfonso Arau

[Hal Ashby]?

[Anthony Asquith]?

[Richard Attenborough]?

Bille August

[John Avildsen]?

B

[Lloyd Bacon]?

[Marco Bellocchio]?

Ingmar Bergman

[Busby Berkeley]?

[Bernardo Bertolucci]?

[Peter Bogdanovich]?

[John Boorman]?

[Frank Borzage]?

John and Roy Boulting

[Kenneth Branagh]?

[Robert Bresson]?

Mel Brooks

[Clarence Brown]?

[Tod Browning]?

[Luis Bunuel]?

[Tim Burton]?

C

James Cameron

[Jane Campion]?

Frank Capra

[Marcel Carne]?

[John Carpenter]?

[John Cassavetes]?

[Claude Chabrol]?

Charlie Chaplin

[Michael Cimino]?

[Rene Clement]?

Jean Cocteau

Joel and Ethan Coen

Francis Ford Coppola

[Roger Corman]?

[John Cromwell]?

David Cronenberg

Alfonso Cuaron

George Cukor

D

[Delmar Davies]?

Brian De Palma

Vittorio De Sica

Guillermo Del Toro

Cecil B. DeMille

Jonathan Demme

[Javques Demy]?

[Andre de Toth]?

[William Dieterle]?

[Mark Donskoi]?

[Carl Theodor Dreyer]?

[Julien Duvivier]?

Allan Dwan

E

[Clint Eastwood]?

[Blake Edwards]?

Sergei Eisenstein

F

[John Farrow]?

[Rainer Fassbinder]?

[Federico Fellini]?

[Louis Feuillade]?

[Mike Figgis]?

David Fincher

[Terence Fisher]?

Robert J. Flaherty

[Richard Fleischer]?

John Ford

[Milos Forman]?

John Frankenheimer

[William Friedkin]?

G

[Lewis Gilbert]?

Terry Gilliam

[Jean-Luc Godard]?

[Heinosuke Gosho]?

[Peter Greenaway]?

[Jean Gremillon]?

D. W. Griffith

[John Guillermin]?

H

Howard Hawks

[Monte Hellman]?

Werner Herzog

[George Roy Hill]?

[Walter Hill]?

Alfred Hitchcock

Dennis Hopper

[John Hughes]?

[John Huston]?

I

Kon Ichikawa

[Rex Ingram]?

[James Ivory]?

J

[Peter Jackson]?

[Miklos Jancso]?

[Derek Jarman]?

Jim Jarmusch

[Norman Jewison]?

Spike Jonze

K

[Lawrence Kasdan]?

[Philip Kayfman]?

[Elia Kazan]?

[Buster Keaton]?

[Krzysztof Kieslowski]?

[Keisuke Kinoshita]?

[Teinosuke Kinugasa]?

[Zoltan Korda]?

Stanley Kubrick

Akira Kurosawa

L

Fritz Lang

[Walter Lang]?

[David Lean]?

Ang Lee

Spike Lee

[Mike Leigh]?

[Claude Lelouch]?

[Sergio Leone]?

[Richard Lester]?

Jerry Lewis

Ken Loach

[Ernst Lubitsch]?

George Lucas

[Sydney Lumet]?

David Lynch

M

[Louis Malle]?

[Joseph Leo Mankiewicz]?

[Anthony Mann]?

Chris Marker

[George Marshall]?

[John Milius]?

[George Miller]?

[Vincente Minnelli]?

[Kenji Mizoguchi]?

[Friedrich Murnau]?

N

[Gregory Nava]?

[Fred Niblo]?

[Mike Nichols]?

O

[Max Ophuls]?

[Nagisa Oshima]?

[Yasujiro Ozu]?

P

[Alan J. Pakula]?

[Alan Parker]?

[Pier Paolo Pasolini]?

Sam Peckinpah

[Arthur Penn]?

Wolfgang Petersen

[Elio Petri]?

Roman Polanski

[Sydney Pollack]?

[Michael Powell]?

[Otto Preminger]?

Q

[Richard Quine]?

R

[Nicholas Ray]?

Satyajit Ray

Rob Reiner

[Jean Renoir]?

[Tony Richardson]?

Leni Riefenstahl

[Jacques Rivette]?

Robert Rodriguez

[Nicholas Roeg]?

[Eric Rohmer]?

[Roberto Rossellini]?

[Ken Russell]?

S

John Sayles

[Franklin Schaffner]?

[John Schlesinger]?

[Joel Schumacher]?

Martin Scorsese

Ridley Scott

[Don Siegel]?

[Robert Siodmak]?

[Douglas Sirk]?

[Kevin Smith]?

Steven Soderbergh

Steven Spielberg

Oliver Stone

[John Sturges]?

T

Andrei Tarkovsky

Quentin Tarantino

[Jacques Tati]?

[John Lee Thompson]?

Francois Truffaut

U

[Peter Ustinov]?

V

[Roger Vadim]?

[Luis Valdez]?

[Paul Verhoeven]?

[King Vidor]?

Thomas Vinterberg

[Luchino Visconti]?

[Erich von Stroheim]?

Lars von Trier

W

The Wachowski brothers

[Andrzej Wajda]?

[Peter Weir]?

Orson Welles

Wim Wenders

James Whale

[Billy Wilder]?

John Woo

[William Wyler]?

Y

[Zhang Yimou]?

Z

[Robert Zemeckis]?

[Fred Zinnemann]?