13. Wes Anderson (43)
Filmography Bottle Rocket (1996), Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (2004), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Hotel Chevalier (2007), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Moonrise Kingdom (2012). Another Anderson, though he and Paul Thomas are not related, is Wes, whose quirky films are hardly in the mainstream, but have been critically lauded. His first film, Bottle Rocket, was written in collaboration with his college roommate, Owen Wilson, who starred in the film with his brother Luke as well as James Caan. Though a financial flop, it put Anderson on the map and, in tandem with his follow-up film, Rushmore, saw him championed by Martin Scorsese. Rushmore was one of the first films that saw Bill Murray succeed in a dramatic role, and the actor has starred in all of Andersons films since. Their second collaboration was the Royal Tenenbaums, which remains the directors most commercially successful film to date, taking in $71 million in cinemas. It was also one of Gene Hackmans final films. The Life Aquatic and The Darjeeling Limited followed, giving Anderson the opportunity to work with the likes of Cate Blanchett and Adrien Brody in addition to regular collaborators such as Murray, Wilson and Jason Schwartzman. His two most recent films are vastly different in style, but share a level of quality. These are Fantastic Mr. Fox, a stop-motion adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic, and Moonrise Kingdom, a film about a pair of scouts. They will be followed by The Grand Budapest Hotel, a 1920s period piece, next year.