50 Greatest Directors of the 21st Century

40. Roman Polanski

21st Century Filmography:The Pianist (2002), Oliver Twist (2005), The Ghost Writer (2010), Carnage (2011) Roman Polanski's name may be forever synonymous with a former felony that refuses to stay out of the papers, but as far as filmmaking goes, the 21st century has been kind to the French-Polish born auteur. In 2002, Polanski directed The Pianist, a WW2 story about the invasion of Poland, and garnered his greatest achievement to date: the Oscar for Best Director. He also led Adrien Brody, then only 29, to becoming the youngest male ever to win the Best Actor Oscar. Polanski's projects have remained varied over the course of the last 12 years, having directed a hilarious adaptation of play Carnage and pitch-perfect crime thriller The Ghost Writer. His interpretation of classic Dickens novel Oliver Twist, though described by many critics as overblown and impersonal, remains and underrated and beautifully directed slice of classic cinema. First Feature: Repulsion (1965)Cream of the Crop:The Pianist (2002)Next Up: -

39. Sam Mendes

21st Century Filmography:Road to Perdition (2002), Jarhead (2005), Revolutionary Road (2008), Away We Go (2009) Sam Mendes is a director you can count on. Since he impressed movie-goers in 1999 with the utter confidence of film debut American Beauty, Mendes has assured a 21st century career teeming with skillfully constructed, brilliantly entertaining and visually memorable motion pictures. Often pairing with master cinematographer Roger Deakins and composer Thomas Newman (you know a Sam Mendes film when you hear one), the director from Reading, England has tried his hand at a number of genres in his relatively short career - each to success. Road to Perdition, perhaps his best work in the last 12 years, is a haunting, vivid and violent adaptation of the similarly-named graphic novel - it also featured Tom Hanks in an unlikely gangster role. Then there was the underrated period drama Revolutionary Road, which re-teamed Titantic duo Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet (Mendes' wife at the time). Changing the pace, Mendes took to indie outing Away We Go in 2009, displaying a skill for both comedy and more natural material. How do you reward a director of such consistent chops? Well, you give him the next James Bond movie, of course. First Feature:American Beauty (1999)Cream of the Crop:Road to Perdition (2002)Next Up:Skyfall (2012)

38. Clint Eastwood

21st Century Filmography:Space Cowboys (2000), Blood Work (2002), Mystic River (2003), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), Changeling (2008), Gran Torino (2008), Invictus (2009), Hereafter (2010), J. Edgar (2011) The legendary western icon who made his name as a lawless man without one, Clint Eastwood has reinvented himself as an actor with all the capabilities of a great director. Whether you doubt that Eastwood deserves status as a working auteur because of the somewhat light and arguably voiceless tone of his frequently expanding output, its precisely that sense of breathing space that the director allows his films that lets them flourish and speak for themselves. 21st century highlights include: Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby and Gran Torino.First Feature:Play Misty For Me (1971)Cream of the Crop:Mystic River (2003)Next Up:Trouble With The Curve (2012)

37. Ridley Scott

21st Century Filmography:Gladiator (2000), Hannibal (2001), Black Hawk Down (2001), Matchstick Men (2003), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), A Good Year (2006), American Gangster (2007), Body of Lies (2008), Robin Hood (2010), Prometheus (2012) Ridley Scott is often considered one of the world's best directors, although the quality of his output remains a somewhat varied state of affairs. For every great film that Scott has made, he's made a bad and a mediocre one. That's especially true for the 90s: the only good film to come out of that period was Thelma & Louise. As a result, Scott's prime is often thought to have been somewhere between the 70s and 80s, but a brief glance at those periods reveals only Alien and Blade Runner as great works. It's arguable, then, that Scott's prime has been in recent years, over the course of the 21st century. It started strong with the ever-popular Gladiator in 2000, a film that pretty much revived the dead sword-and-sandal genre, and Black Hawk Down in 2001, now often considered somewhat of a modern war classic. A visual master known for his aesthetic attention to detail, Scott has found beauty in even his most mediocre efforts: Hannibal, Kingdom of Heaven, Body and Lies and Robin Hood may not be classics, but they can be appreciated for their epic production values. The same goes for Prometheus - perhaps the most hyped movie of 2012 - which managed to disappoint everybody who had seen the (better) trailers, but also remains an intriguing mess and SFX feast. He may not deliver the goods each and every time, but the announcement of a new Ridley Scott film still warrants an excitable grin - there's a good chance it'll reach great heights. First Feature: The Duelists (1977)Cream of the Crop: Gladiator (2000)Next Up: - The Counselor (2013)

36. Kim Ji-Woon

21st Century Filmography:The Foul King (2000), Coming Out (2000), A Tale of Two Sisters (2003), A Bittersweet Life (2005), The Good, the Bad and the Weird (2008), I Saw The Devil (2010), Doomsday Book (2012) This South Korean genre-maestro is big news in Asia. Perhaps it's his willingness to experiment with all types of cinema, or the assured technical proficiency that surrounds every aspect of his work. Whatever the reason, Kim Ji-Woon is one of the best directors to emerge from the Asian film scene this century. Like many directors, Kim Ji-Woon started out in the theater but has a natural knack for all things cinematic: every frame in a Kim Ji-Woon movie seems to have been placed with perfection precision. The results? That I Saw The Devil is one of the most beautifully-shot serial killer movies ever made. That The Good, the Bad and the Weird explodes all over the screen in a frenzy of colours and vivid set-pieces. Then there's A Tale of Two Sisters, a dark, haunting, twisted exercise in horror filmmaking that will leave you stunned. A director of all trades, there's no stopping this highly versatile artist as he hops between genres, creating one great film after the next. First Feature: The Quiet Family (1998)Cream of the Crop: I Saw The Devil (2010)Next Up: Last Stand (2013)
 
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