Entertainment Weekly's 50 Greatest Living Directors

[Thomas Balkcom]

1. Steven Spielberg
2. Peter Jackson
3. Martin Scorsese
4. Christopher Nolan
5. Steven Soderbergh
6. Ridley Scott
7. Quentin Tarantino
8. Michael Mann
9. James Cameron
10. Joel and Ethan Coen
11. Guillermo del Toro
12. David Fincher
13. Tim Burton
14. Judd Apatow
15. Sam Raimi
16. Zack Snyder
17. Darren Aronofsky
18. Danny Boyle
19. Clint Eastwood
20. Ron Howard
21. Ang Lee
22. Paul Thomas Anderson
23. Paul Greengrass
24. Pedro Almodóvar
25. Jon Favreau
26. Woody Allen
27. Brad Bird
28. David Cronenberg
29. Sofia Coppola
30. Bryan Singer
31. Sam Mendes
32. Mel Gibson
33. The Wachowski Brothers
34. J.J. Abrams
35. Alfonso Cuaron
36. Hayao Miyazaki
37. Mike Leigh
38. Oliver Stone
39. Roman Polanski
40. Spike Jonze
41. Richard Linklater
42. Spike Lee
43. David Lynch
44. Wong Kar-Wai
45. Wes Anderson
46. Mira Nair
47. Andrew Stanton
48. Michael Moore
49. Mary Harron
50. Sidney Lumet

that is by far the most ridiculous list I've ever seen

Snyder at #16? Tons of other problems like Lynch and Kar-wai below Abrams? Woody Allen and Cronenberg below Favreau?

[Thomas Balkcom]

and Lumet at 50 is unforgivable

[TMS2787]

#1, no.

[IamTheINDUSTRY]

hahaha so many things wrong. i mean UNDENIABLY wrong.

-jackson above scorcese?
- cameron is to high
- tim burton is to low
- judd apatow and zack snyder are WAY to high
- aronofsky is to low
- favreau and gibson are to high
- mendes, cronenberg to low
- sofia coppola to high based off her body of work
- lynch at 43? polanski at 39? lumet at 50? hahahahha
- aronofsky below nolan? i would venture to say aronofsky should be in the top 5 and not nolan, but thats personal preference.

[TJ Wells]

burton is WAY too high
favreau is the most ridiculous thing i have ever seen.
love seeing coppola on there. with 3 great films under her belt on three tries (including one masterpiece), i actually think she should be higher. top 20 or 15 easy.

[TJ Wells]

Clearly this list is not based upon their entire body of work, but what they've done recently, because if it was Francis Ford Coppola would have to be in the top 5 instead of NOT ON THE LIST AT ALL.

[stayillogical]

I think #1 is right. But then #2 just ruins the whole list. No way should he even be in the top 10.

[Thomas Balkcom]

Clearly this list is not based upon their entire body of work, but what they've done recently, because if it was Francis Ford Coppola would have to be in the top 5 instead of NOT ON THE LIST AT ALL.

completely agree

[drudo182]

Tarintino is above Mann, Aronofsky, PT Anderson, Mendes, Fincher, ect.

Trahs.

[Ailite]

The people are good, order is all wrong. Glad to see Tarantino sitting pretty at 7 though.

[marrost]

was skeptical at 2, rolled my eyes at 4 and stopped at 7. what a joke.

[kshtoinks12]

Oh wow, they accidentally forget to put Michael Bay on the list.

[aminorthreat55]

Stopped reading at #2.

[batmannj]

was skeptical at 2, rolled my eyes at 4 and stopped at 7. what a joke.
I agree with number 7, in terms of how much of a joke it is. Tarantino is a one trick pony who has not made an above average film in years (I was not a fan of the Kill Bill series at all.)

[batmannj]

I like Peter Jackson a lot, I thought he did a great job with LOTR, but I don't think number 2 is where he should be at. King Kong was somewhat of a disaster, and other than that, he really has not done a whole lot of movies.

[live.]

Peter Jackson is dogshit.
Robert Zemeckis needs to be in there.

Scorsese is low because he chose Vincent Chase to be in his next movie...

[Drew Beringer]

Oh wow, they accidentally forget to put Michael Bay on the list.
haha

anyways, this is a horrible list from a horrible publication. nothing new to see here

[Drew Beringer]

Peter Jackson is dogshit.
Robert Zemeckis needs to be in there.

Scorsese is low because he chose Vincent Chase to be in his next movie...
hahahaha

[OtherBen]

why is peter jackson so high? lord of the rings was phenomenal but compared to lynch, lumet, polanski, allen, he's got a lot of work to do to be up there.

[Skadrist]

Judd Apatow above Cuaron no fucking way.

[Bob Payne]

No Mike Nichols? The man directed The Graduate, for christssake. And Closer, which a lot of people love, and The Birdcage, which has become a cult classic, and tons of other shit. He's the premier actors' director in the world, for sure.

[pinklipgloss]

holy fucking lol

[poppa Q]

love seeing coppola on there. with 3 great films under her belt on three tries.
Wrong.
No Mike Nichols? The man directed The Graduate, for christssake. And Closer, which a lot of people love, and The Birdcage, which has become a cult classic, and tons of other shit. He's the premier actors' director in the world, for sure.

Totally agree.

[pinklipgloss]

fuck yeah, SNYDER at number 16. First time I laid my eyes on 300, I knew this guy was special!

[Adeniz19]

i'm a huge fan of nolan, but putting him at #4 on a list like this is pretty funny