Entertainment Weekly has come out with their list of the “50 Greatest Active Film Directors”, as opposed, I guess, to the “50 Greatest Inactive Film Directors.” Here’s the list:
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. Sydney Lumet
It’s a good list, but where’s John Sayles (Brother From Another Planet, Matewan, Eight Men Out, City of Hope, The Secret of Roan Inish, Lone Star)?
How about you? What director faves of yours are missing from the list?
UPDATE: The Daily Variety’s Anne Thompson weighs in on EW’s list.
No Gus Van Sant?
And as a Jersey girl at heart, I would have liked to see Kevin Smith up here.
And Michael Moore did make the list, but does a documentary filmmaker really count as a director?
Jeez, no Alan Smithee?
Surprised, but kind of expected to see no love for horror directors on the list like, from old (George Romero) to new (Alexander Aja).
Maybe it is because of his seven year hiatus but it is a grave oversight by EW not to mention Australian filmmaker Peter Weir; at least the Academy Awards (four nominations) and BAFTAs (honoured for THE TRUMAN SHOW) are aware of him.