7. Spike Jonze (43)
Filmography Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation (2002), Where The Wild Things Are (2009). Best known to some for his appearances on cult television series Jackass, Spike Jonze also has a background in skateboarding, music videos and acting, with perhaps his most prominent role in front of the camera being in David O. Russells Three Kings, the Gulf War piece that also starred George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube. His first feature film behind the camera was Being John Malkovich, the highly bizarre yet thoroughly engaging film that saw John Cusacks puppeteer character discover a portal into the head of actor John Malkovich. Turned down by many studios before its release, the film, written by Charlie Kaufman, received near universal acclaim. Jonze directed another of Kaufmans scripts in 2002, which is as strange in premise as its predecessor - Kaufman had been hired to write an adaptation of a novel called the Orchid Thief, but, struggling with writers block, instead wrote a film about his difficulties in adapting the novel, which starred Nicolas Cage as both Kaufman and his fictional twin brother Donald. There would be a break of seven years between Adaptation and Jonzes next piece, Where The Wild Things Are, his first film that wasnt a collaboration with Kaufman (who has gone on to direct films himself). He continued to make music videos and short films during his break from the big screen, however, and has kept making them in the four years since WTWTAs release, though he will return to cinemas later on this year with Her, a film about a relationship that develops between a writer and a computer operating system.