8. Guy Ritchie
After breaking through with crime capers Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, Guy Ritchie survived a couple of missteps and eventually transitioned into the blockbuster business with the two highly entertaining Sherlock Holmes movies. Proven to be as capable directing from his own scripts as he is working within the studio system, based on his previous work Ritchie would likely deliver a witty and stylish entry in the Bond franchise with more in common with the lighter 1960s efforts than the grittier recent efforts. Lock, Stock and Snatch have both been accused of being style over substance, but there is no denying that Ritchie has a sharp ear for dialogue and knows when to play things for laughs. A career low came with the awful Swept Away and misjudged Revolver, but Rocknrolla saw the director starting to find his feet again before the Sherlock Holmes movies answered any lingering doubts about his ability to work with a large budget and stage massive-scale action sequences, taking over a billion dollars at the box office in the process. The upcoming Man From U.N.C.L.E. sees Ritchie tackle a spy adventure movie, in what could be the perfect dry-run for a tilt at cinema's most famous secret agent.