Since learning about what a director does and is, below are my list of five influential directors over my lifetime. This will be just the first of many director spotlights (more coming about that in 2023), as I love films and will soon be publishing a spotlight and rundown of every director’s films on this site. The first director I want to highlight is on the list below, can you guess who the first will be? Here are five directors who have influenced my creative process, whether it be from fun memories their films created for me, to how they have made me think about storytelling and writing.
1) Steven Spielberg: Anyone who loves movies has some work from Spielberg in their collection and their hearts. From amazing family fun films to intensely dark and emotional films, I think Spielberg can do it all. A Spielberg film, to me, is an event - From Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Saving Private Ryan and so much more makes picking up tickets to see his newest film The Fablemans so easy. Spielberg has always been a great director but as you delve more and more into the behind the scenes of each film, you see that he is not trying to change the way every job on set is done, but how to make sure every job in his film contributes to the vision. That is a huge and hard thing for some artists to take,understand and use suggestions to make the film better. His focus on how to make a story the best telling it can be and how to make it special is a reason I think his films have been timeless and will continue to be. The ego and fame you sense with other directors or their process isn’t part of the core of Spielberg’s equation, and I think this really appeals to his fans.
2) Ridley Scott: This director has been a favorite of mine even before I knew his name. His films for me have always resonated and growing up anytime I saw a film of his I always wanted to go back and see it again and I still feel the same to this day. Then growing up and putting the pieces together, seeing how he uses his style and different actors and writers and genres to meld themes and important messages, but still have a great movie.. Even if every movie in his filmography doesn’t work at 100 percent, every movie has something interesting going for it from the acting to the directing to the story of how the movie got made - it’s always a masterclass in filmmaking with Scott. I highly recommend Kingdom of Heaven, the director’s cut; this is an overlooked gem for those who have seen many of Scott’s more mainstream films. The studio cut a lot out of the movie for the theatrical version, and while I still enjoy that version, in my opinion the director’s cut takes the movie from an B plus to an A. Most of the background and relationship bases were what was taken out but with technology and time we can now watch the longer movie and HIGHLY recommend it.
3) Guillermo Del Toro: This director has recently become a super influential artist in my journey. I loved Blade 2 and went to the theaters to see Hellboy 1 and 2, and always found his films to be enjoyable. Over the past few years, I’ve paid attention to his body of work and how it all fits together and he has rapidly become a favorite of mine. Pacific Rim rekindled a love of Kaiju (Japanese word for “monsters”) stories which are one of my favorite genres. His early films and films like Shape of Water juxtapose the beauty of life, love, and relationships with awesome creatures and horror, while still remaining a fun watch. This sort of mentality fits right into where I hope to be for my audience as a creator. No matter what story you are telling, making the people and the emotion of the story real and making the world as fun and interesting as you can helps keep fans engaged and coming back for more.
4) Quentin Tarantino: Like any film fan who grew up in the 1990’s, I find myself influenced by Tarantino. A fan turned professional director, he speaks to my path, and remains a beacon of fandom and movies with references throughout his work to other creators. Following his career over the years has been both a treat and learning experience seeing how such a fan can make the transition to “famous creative person”.. He may be one of the best dialogue writers to ever live; being a huge fan of talking in movies and trying to make dialogue a huge part of my own writing, there’s no way I cannot shout out Tarantino. I think that his last film as of this writing, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, is one of his best and will probably keep that reputation after he retires. You can see Mr. Tarantino has always been sharp but continues to sharpen his writing blade even further with experience and time, and I can’t wait to see where he takes us next.
5) Martin Scorsese: When I started watching movies “seriously” in high school (during that fun time where we all start getting into and finding out who we are), being a creative person and a lover of books, comics and of course movies, I gravitated to the works of Scorsese. His film The Departed (which came out while I was in high school) was the first movie I ever took a date to. He is one of the true masters of cinema; all his movies are events, and all have something to say about their time and continue to remain relevant today. Every film he makes has his stamp as a creator, he has learned how to meld quality and style. He understands himself and the stories of his characters, and how they best fit together.
I hope you enjoyed this small list - next time you are looking for something new or old to watch, maybe one of these directors has a movie meant for you!