Entertainment Weekly has made a list of their top “25 Greatest Working Directors” and it’s a curious list as I think the “Working” aspect of it could be debated on a few of them. There are also some omissions I would assume the folks at EW are probably a little embarrassed about at this point now that their list has been published and people are beginning to weight in.
First, let me give you a look at the list.
- David Fincher
- Christopher Nolan
- Steven Spielberg
- Martin Scorsese
- Darren Aronofsky
- Joel and Ethan Coen
- Quentin Tarantino
- Terrence Malick
- Clint Eastwood
- Pedro Almodovar
- Paul Thomas Anderson
- Guillermo del Toro
- Roman Polanski
- Danny Boyle
- Kathryn Bigelow
- David O. Russell
- David Lynch
- James Cameron
- Peter Jackson
- Edgar Wright
- Spike Lee
- J.J. Abrams
- Brad Bird
- Mike Leigh
- Wes Anderson
Now remember, we’re discussing “working” directors. That is a loose descriptor as you could take it to mean directors making films every one to two years, directors currently making films, but may not have made a film in a while, or directors that have made films, are still alive and may potentially make another film some time down the line.
That said, my most notable omissions are Woody Allen, Sofia Coppola, David Cronenberg, Michael Haneke, Michael Mann and Sam Mendes. The question now is who do you replace? It’s easy to begin naming people not on the list, but when it comes time to pushing others aside it becomes a little more difficult. In terms of great filmmakers that could be bumped down a few notches to make way for the six I named I’d easily bump J.J. Abrams. Kathryn Bigelow and David O. Russell could easily be moved to slots 26 and 28. I’d also move Spike Lee out of the top 30 if we’re discussing just the films made in the last ten years and in that case I’d also argue whether or not Steven Spielberg deserves to be so high. Then again, that opens a whole other can of worms as I’d already debate the ranking of the entire list for that matter.
Finally, not to pick exclusively on the lower half but both Peter Jackson and Wes Anderson are two names I would have no problem bumping below the twenty-fifth slot.
From there I’m not sure what I would do. It begins to get harder and harder and obviously comes down to one’s own taste. However, don’t you agree it’s a bit of a weird list when it comes to international names. Sure, other than the U.S. the UK is represented, but outside of Guillermo del Toro and Pedro Almodovar this list doesn’t get too diverse. I guess there aren’t too many people at EW rushing out to see the latest films from Alfonso Cuaron, Jean-Luc Godard, Werner Herzog, Wong Kar Wai, Ang Lee, Fernando Meirelles, Hayao Miyazaki or Lars von Trier.
Now I’m not picking on EW, they’re obviously an American based outlet with a readership that would probably rather know the majority of the names on the list rather than think it’s some hoity-toity bunch of art house freaks that put it together, but we can’t ignore the elephant in the room can we?
I have more names on a quick list I put together such as Jacques Audiard, Stephen Frears, Mike Nichols, Jason Reitman, Ridley Scott, Steven Soderbergh, Oliver Stone, Lee Unkrich, Peter Weir and Nicolas Winding Refn, but I don’t want to go on forever. I also don’t want to steal the spotlight and leave a few names on the board for you to discuss.
All that said, let’s open the floor to your thoughts. Agree with the list? Disagree? If you disagree, don’t only name the directors that were overlooked, but be sure to name the directors you would replace with those names.
