Paradoxically, the eternal child of Hollywood is now making more mature films than any of your so-called Dogme school of directors. Has...
Turned a dime-store horror novel into a milestone of modern cinema. Mark Kermode writes: ‘Not only is The Exorcist the scariest film...
Always ‘the Master’. He painted the broad canvas of the American west with the meticulous brush of personal dignity. ‘Of course, the...
In a wry article for the Guardian Guide, make mocking references to Nescafe adverts.
Always ‘the Master’. Philip French writes: ‘Fellini’s La Dolce Vita marks the consummation of his ‘mature’ style. Gone are the self-conscious neo-realist...
A decidedly wayward comic talent. Consistency may elude him, but on his day he can turn a pool cue, a toilet roll...
The Dauphin of decomposition. Make reference to his ‘Freudian use of prosthetics’. Can’t adapt books for toffee. His catalogue of aesthetic obsessions...
Always ‘British cinema’s prodigal son, the much-maligned maverick Alex Cox’. His films may not be to anyone’s taste, but you have to...
The budget behemoth. Personally oversaw more than two thousand motion pictures from 1960-65 alone, on an average budget of fifty dollars apiece....
Always ‘the bearded colossus of the sprawling American saga’. The director’s director. In a wry article for the Guardian Guide, speculate on...
Always ‘those enigmatic sibling auteurs, the mysterious Coen brothers’. Only they truly understand their own films. In a wry article for the...
The folie de grandeur that was Heaven’s Gate may have put paid to the idea of the true Hollywood auteur once and...
The no-budget polymath. Never happier than when directing a high- octane action sequence with one hand and simultaneously playing the score on...
Mention his ‘unmatched on-set generalship’. The De Mille de nos jours. He may not know one end of a camera from the...
The spindly small-town elf who made Goth respectable. The Obergruppenfuhrer of odd. ‘When he was a little boy, the circus left to...
Scourge of the establishment. He knew better than anyone the dark, perverted heart beating at the centre of the Catholic church. ‘Of...
A decidedly wayward comic talent. Consistency may elude him, but on his day he can turn a plate of beans, a comfort...
He only makes a film every six years, but every one is a masterpiece. If someone mentions Exorcist II: the Heretic, say:...
The stylist’s stylist. So confident of his own talent he thinks nothing of spending $50 million filming an idle daydream he had...
In a wry article for the Guardian Guide, always ‘the sombre Swede’. More people have filmed humorous sketches parodying The Seventh Seal...
An institution. Always ‘the indefatigable Sir Dickie’. The professional’s professional. Never approaches the cinematic wicket at half-cock, however small the job. Only...
The baron of bloodshed. His colleagues advised him that using contemporary synthesised prog rock to soundtrack his films would cause them to...
The socialist Eisenstein. Had a rough time of it at school, by all accounts. ‘The introverts always scream the loudest.’ ‘Not true!...
The king of ensemble satire. Never happier than when filming twenty simultaneously yammering actors from atop a giant crane. His films reflect...
The most gravely serious of celluloid clowns. Always ‘New York’s neurotic nebbish’. In a wry article for the Guardian Guide, pick September...
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