Your Favorite Up-And-Coming Directors

[Boom]

Who do you think are some directors that people need to watch out for? Try to limit your list to directors who have 3 or less films on their resume.

I'll kick off:

Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation)
Ari Aster (Hereditary)
Jennifer Kent (The Babadook)
Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin, You Were Never Really Here)
Robert Eggers (The VVitch)

 

[Drizzle]

Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Creed)
John Krasinski (A Quiet Place)
Jordan Peele (Get Out)

 

[David H.]

I’m in for whatever the Safdies decide to next. Ditto Anna Biller.

 

[-JKR-]

Adam Wingard (You're Next, The Guest, Death Note)
Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation)
David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2)
David Robert Mitchell (It Follows)
Joe Cornish (Attack the Block)
John Krasinski (A Quiet Place)
Jordan Peele (Get Out)
Jordan Vogt-Roberts (Kings of Summer, Kong)
Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin, You Were Never Really Here)
Tim Miller (Deadpool)

*Special mention:
Hiro Murai (Atlanta, Legion) - Hasn't directed any feature films yet

 

[Moridin]

Top 3 for me right now would probably be:
Taylor Sheridan (Wind River) - Next project is on TV though, Yellowstone, starts this month.
Alex Garland (Dredd, Ex Machina, Annihilation) - Also going to TV, Devs.
Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods) - Next up Bad Times at the El Royale, and X-Force.

I don't think I'd include the likes Shane Black, though a favourite of mine, and has directed 3 films (KKBB, IM3 & Nice Guys), when you get a billion dollar film under your belt the phrase "up and coming" I think no longer really applies. Same for Coogler.

Martin McDonagh, similarly has made 3 films (In Bruges, 7 Psychopaths, Three Billboards) although doesn't have that major box office clout, is still very popular (at least in this part of the world) and feels quite established and not really "up and coming". I'll still give him a shout out though.

But those would be my Top 5 for "3 films or less"; Sheridan, Garland, Goddard, Black, & McDonagh.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Top 3 for me right now would probably be:
Taylor Sheridan (Wind River) - Next project is on TV though, Yellowstone, starts this month.
Alex Garland (Dredd, Ex Machina, Annihilation) - Also going to TV, Devs.
Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods) - Next up Bad Times at the El Royale, and X-Force.

I don't think I'd include the likes Shane Black, though a favourite of mine, and has directed 3 films (KKBB, IM3 & Nice Guys), when you get a billion dollar film under your belt the phrase "up and coming" I think no longer really applies. Same for Coogler.

Martin McDonagh, similarly has made 3 films (In Bruges, 7 Psychopaths, Three Billboards) although doesn't have that major box office clout, is still very popular (at least in this part of the world) and feels quite established and not really "up and coming". I'll still give him a shout out though.

But those would be my Top 5 for "3 films or less"; Sheridan, Garland, Goddard, Black, & McDonagh.

Not disputing his abilities (I loved Ex Machina) but Garland didn't actually direct Dredd. That was Pete Travis.



Edit: Okay, I see there's actually some dispute about that.

 

[Moridin]

Not disputing his abilities (I loved Ex Machina) but Garland didn't actually direct Dredd. That was Pete Travis.



Edit: Okay, I see there's actually some dispute about that.

Yeah, earlier this year Karl Urban came out and said it was actually Garland who directed Dredd regardless of official credits, so I figured from there on out I'd just go with that.

 

[Milk Tray Guy]

Yeah, earlier this year Karl Urban came out and said it was actually Garland who directed Dredd regardless of official credits, so I figured from there on out I'd just go with that.

Gotcha

 

[The Chris]

I wasn't surprised when Urban revealed that too because style and story telling wise Dredd has way more in common with Ex Machina and Annihilation than stuff like Vantage Point.

 

[Aximili86]

Yeah, you can tell it wasn't all-Garland as in having resources and time and final-cut, but the movie does feel very Garland.

 

[childeroland]

Robert Eggers (The Witch is a masterpiece)
AJ Edwards (I may be the only person besides Malick who likes The Better Angels, but we're right; I doubt he'll get to make another film, though)
Lazlo Nemes (Son of Saul is phenomenal, and his new film Sunset looks promising).

 

[2kt09]

Garland is basically my go-to for any genre feature.
These foreign guys have been on the rise over here:
Yorgos Lanthimos (Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Lobster)
Joon-ho Bong (Okja, Snowpiercer)

I can't get enough of McDonagh (3 Billboards..7 Psychopaths, In Bruges) and Gareth Evans (Raid series)
I recently caught wind of Chazelle (La La Land) and Sean Baker (The Florida Project).
I really want Bill Watterson (Dave Made a Maze) to do more.

 

[LvtLeeTDK]

Cant believe Chazelle has been rarely mentioned here. The guy has the potential to be an all time - great director.

 

[OutOfBoose]

Alex Garland (Dredd, Ex Machina, Annihilation)
Jordan Peele (Get Out)
Tim Miller (Deadpool)

 

[moviedoors]

Yeah, earlier this year Karl Urban came out and said it was actually Garland who directed Dredd regardless of official credits, so I figured from there on out I'd just go with that.

Garland's go-to composers also said the same thing on the Soundtracking podcast. It's a compromised Garland movie (for the example, those composers where let go on Dredd for what they implied was a studio decision. They turned their unused score into an album called Drokk, which is fantastic), but the consensus seems to be that it's his film.

-------

Many, many good names in this thread. After seeing Upgrade last night, I'm throwing Leigh Whannell in.

 

[David H.]

Cant believe Chazelle has been rarely mentioned here. The guy has the potential to be an all time - great director.

Technically he got a best picture win already.

 

[Luigi]

Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation)
Chad Stahelski (John Wick 1&2)
Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead 2013, Don't Breathe)
Gareth Evans (The Raid 1&2)
Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin, Green Room)
Julia Ducournau (Raw)
Michael Dougherty (Trick 'r Treat, Krampus)
Robert Eggers (The Witch)
Ryan Coogler (Creed, Black Panther)
Safdie Brothers (Good Time)
S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99)

 

[Moridin]

Completely forgot to mention John Maclean who wrote/directed Slow West, the Fassbender/ Kodi Smit-McPhee western. Damn good film, one of my favourites of 2015. He doesn't seem to have signed on for anything since, unfortunately.


Nat Faxon & Jim Rash for the co-written/co-directed The Way, Way Back, which I thought was really good. I know they were trying to get another film going with Sam Rockwell but it didn't come together.

Don Jon I also thought was well made, so I'm interested to see what Joe Gordon-Levitt directs next, apparently a film called Wingmen.

Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation)
Chad Stahelski (John Wick 1&2)
Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead 2013, Don't Breathe)
Gareth Evans (The Raid 1&2)
Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin, Green Room)
Julia Ducournau (Raw)
Michael Dougherty (Trick 'r Treat, Krampus)
Robert Eggers (The Witch)
Ryan Coogler (Creed, Black Panther)
Safdie Brothers (Good Time)
S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99)

I watched The Witch a few days ago, very well made. I'll definitely keep an eye out for him going forward.
Also watched Krampus recently... no thanks...

Green Room and Bone Tomahawk are ones I've been meaning to watch for a while now, will probably get to them over the next couple of weeks.

Garland's go-to composers also said the same thing on the Soundtracking podcast. It's a compromised Garland movie (for the example, those composers where let go on Dredd for what they implied was a studio decision. They turned their unused score into an album called Drokk, which is fantastic), but the consensus seems to be that it's his film.

-------

Many, many good names in this thread. After seeing Upgrade last night, I'm throwing Leigh Whannell in.

Cool, I might check out that podcast.

 

[Boom]

Bone Tomahawk is such a hard film to get through. There's one sequence in particular that is deeply upsetting.

 

[Bobber]

I really fail to see how 48 year old Lynne Ramsay, who made her debut film in 1999, is an up-and-coming director?