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Woody Allen and Miyazaki Not Included on EW’s 25 Greatest Active Film Directors List

Posted on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta

steven spielberg

Entertainment Weekly just published their list of the 25 Greatest Active Film Directors. It’s one of those really annoying slideshow stories, so we’ve done the legwork and printed the entire shortlist after the jump.

1. Steven Spielberg
2. Peter Jackson
3. Martin Scorsese
4. Christopher Nolan
5. Steven Soderbergh
6. Ridley Scott
7. Quentin Tarantino
8. Michael Mann
9. James Cameron
10. Joel and Ethan Coen
11. Guillermo del Toro
12. David Fincher
13. Tim Burton
14. Judd Apatow
15. Sam Raimi
16. Zack Snyder
17. Darren Aronofsky
18. Danny Boyle
19. Clint Eastwood
20. Ron Howard
21. Ang Lee
22. Paul Thomas Anderson
23. Paul Greengrass
24. Pedro Almodóvar
25. Jon Favreau

I could write a blog post on the placement on some of these named alone (Peter Jackson above Martin Scorsese? Zack Snyder over Paul Thomas Anderson and Clint Eastwood?) but I thought I’d take this space to complain about some of the filmmakers not included on the list. Like what about Woody Allen? Surely he is greater active director than Pedro Almodóvar, right? Where is Wes Anderson? Spike Lee? The lack of aniamtion directors is crazy. What about Hayao Miyazaki, John Lasseter or Brad Bird?

Comments

MAO

Not to mention the fact that they sprinkled in Almodovar to make up for their complete disregard for international directors. Where is Claire Denis, Christophe Honore, Jia Zhanke, Alejandro Gonzales Iñarritu or Alfonso Cuaron? Are half the directors on that list 'relevant'/'innovative' anymore anyway? Isn't James Cameron on that list as a PR thing anyway considering he hasn't made anything in years (even Terry Malick can be considered 'prolific' compared to him). Where is Terry Malick anyway? What about Francis Ford Coppola, Sofia Coppola, or Spike Jonze?

These lists are annoying.

August

What the hell is Zack Snyder doing on there? Where's Spike Jonze or Terry Gilliam or Lars Von Trier?

Kent

Paul Greengrass and Pedro Almodovar out. Zach Snyder shouldn't be on there either.

Also where is Tony Scott, Rob Zemeckis, Oliver Stone?

THIS LIST IS BOGUS!

Jerry Grant

#1 Steven Spielberg, #2 Woody Allen, #3 Terrence Malick, #4 Paul Thomas Anderson...

WHERE ARE WOODY ALLEN AND TERRENCE MALICK

Name

These lists are always inane...

I'm glad someone remembered Coppola (Francis, not his untalented daughter)
Spike Jonze would be an interesting choice...
but no African Americans? Spike Lee as the obvious choice, Singleton as the runner-up. Zach Snyder? For what? Woody Allen first. Malick perhaps. And women...? The only one that comes to mind is maybe Kathryn Bigelow, but honestly, there are way more than 25 male directors that would come before her.

Terry Gilliam is another missed name, Lars Von Trier as well. Judd Apatow is very talented, but I don't know that it's his direction that has made him a star. His tv shows, which have every bit the comic flair he has become famous for, were directed by who knows how many people.

And I had to look up who Peter Greengrass even is...some good movies but nothing on par with those left off. Same with Jon Favreau. He's capable but doesn't have any defining style. If he just written Swingers, I'm sure it would've come out fine...and Iron Man...

Peter Jackson is way too high on this list.

Josh

Peter, how many Almodovar films have you seen? Because he is a much better director RIGHT NOW than Woody Allen.

sosgemini

I bleed in honor of David Lynch.

PATG LLC

Hi there commenters and readers of comments. Which of the above directors (in the list and/or in the comments) would do a good job of Directing Poepi and the Giant? see http://www.poepiandthegiant.com

SamWasson

Well, the best thing about this is the utter absence of Wes Anderson. There was one time when it seemed he was going to be a great director, but now it's looking more like he's become something like a once-hip DJ, just playing his favorite songs for an ever dwindling crowd.

evilninjax

A few Asian directors to mention:

Lee Chang-dong
Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Hirokazu Kore-eda
Yamada Yoji
Johnny To
Ryo Seung-wan
Miike Takashi

Although John Woo's US and latter production have been poor, his ouvre overall is amazing.

It's not surprising that the list is very Hollywood-centric.

-goro-

lukewarmavenger

Great list! I would add Kim Ki-Duk and Park Chan-Wook, two very consistent and original directors (which most of the directors on this list cannot boast).

Vanston

I had to look up half the names on the list and noticed imediately that several were missing. Also, who ever the moron was that created this list put Peter Jackson, Christopher Nolan, and Steven Soderbergh WAY to high. While arguments can be made why all three might deserve to be on the list, they just don't have enough films under their belts to be ranked so highly.

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Woody Allen and Miyazaki Not Included on EW’s 25 Greatest Active Film Directors List

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