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  3. 50 Greatest Active Movie Directors (No. 50-26)

50 Greatest Active Movie Directors (No. 50-26)

With the Oscars on our minds, we're counting down the most talented, in-demand filmmakers still behind the camera today. See who joins J.J. Abrams, Spike Lee, and Sofia Coppola on our list today (then click through for the top 25!)
By EW Staff Updated February 17, 2009 at 07:00 PM EST
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Dog Day Afternoon, Sidney Lumet
Credit: Everett

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American Psycho, Mary Harron
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Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore

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WALL-E, Andrew Stanton
Credit: Deborah Coleman

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Monsoon Wedding, Mira Nair | THE EVIDENCE: Monsoon Wedding (2001), The Namesake (2006) WHY HER: Known for her lush visuals, Nair's films are all testaments to the resiliency of the…
Credit: Everett

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25. Wes Anderson

The Royal Tenenbaums, Wes Anderson | THE EVIDENCE: Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) WHY HIM: The knock on the corduroy-clad boy wonder is that his movies…
Credit: Everett Collection

THE EVIDENCE: Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

WHY HIM: The knock on the corduroy-clad boy wonder is that his movies lack heart — that he's more interested in set-design dioramas than the interior lives of his characters. We say, Baloney! Go back and watch Bill Murray in Rushmore or Gene Hackman in Tenenbaums again. Heck, he even eked emotion out of George Clooney as a stop-action fox. —Chris Nashawaty

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In the Mood for Love, Wong Kar-Wai
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Blue Velvet, David Lynch | THE EVIDENCE: Blue Velvet (1986), Mulholland Drive (2001), Inland Empire (2006) WHY HIM: Since the height of his Twin Peaks / Wild at Heart mainstream…
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23. Spike Lee

Do The Right Thing, Spike Lee | THE EVIDENCE: Do the Right Thing (1989), Malcolm X (1992), When the Levees Broke (2006) WHY HIM: A master stylist, Lee has carved out a…
Credit: Everett

THE EVIDENCE: Do the Right Thing (1989), Malcolm X (1992), When the Levees Broke (2006)

WHY HIM: A master stylist, Lee has carved out a niche for himself in American cinema as an activist filmmaker dedicated to social commentary as mythology. His masterpiece, Do the Right Thing, with its bold colors and thumping soundtrack, proves racism to be as unendingly cyclical as the phases of the giant moon hanging in the sky when Klansmen attack Malcolm's family in Malcolm X. And he's never lost his edge. Case in point: When the Levees Broke, Lee's apocalyptic elegy to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, a documentary as epic poetry. —Christian Blauvelt

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Dazed And Confused, Richard Linklater | THE EVIDENCE: Dazed and Confused (1993), Before Sunrise (1995), Waking Life (2001) WHY HIM: If anyone can make you nostalgic for high school, or have…
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Spike Jonze

Spike Jonze, John Malkovich, ... | Being John Malkovich (1999) Jonze had been known for directing visually tricky, pop culture-savvy music videos (Beastie Boys' ''Sabotage,'' Weezer's ''Buddy Holly''), but in 1999,…
Credit: Everett Collection

Being John Malkovich (1999)
Jonze had been known for directing visually tricky, pop culture-savvy music videos (Beastie Boys' ''Sabotage,'' Weezer's ''Buddy Holly''), but in 1999, he broke into features in a big way: as an actor, playing a gung-ho soldier in Three Kings, and as a director, with this wild and sad Charlie Kaufman-scripted fantasy about celebrity, identity, and puppetry.

Adaptation (2002)
Jonze and Kaufman reunite for another meta-tale, a meditation on the nature of truth and art that's also a wickedly funny parody of mainstream Hollywood filmmaking. Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep get to show off their versatility, but the film is stolen, aptly enough, by toothless orchid thief Chris Cooper, in his Oscar-winning performance.

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Chinatown, Roman Polanski
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JFK, Oliver Stone
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Happy-Go-Lucky, Mike Leigh | THE EVIDENCE: Secrets & Lies (1996), Vera Drake (2004), Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), Another Year (2010) WHY HIM: The bearded Brit has arguably the strangest working method…
Credit: Simon Mein

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Spirited Away, Hayao Miyazaki | 10. HAYAO MIYAZAKI THE EVIDENCE: Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), Princess Mononoke (1999), Spirited Away (2002), Ponyo (2008) WHY HIM: Most filmmakers would feel quite content…

10. HAYAO MIYAZAKI

THE EVIDENCE: Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), Princess Mononoke (1999), Spirited Away (2002), Ponyo (2008)

WHY HIM: Most filmmakers would feel quite content to give audiences at least one thing — a story, a character, a place, an image — that we've never seen before. At his best (and he usually is), Miyazaki creates entire film experiences we've never seen before. From his films' lushly tweaked landscapes to the sublimely eccentric creatures who populate them, there's a reason the man is considered a true animation master by no less than the geniuses at Pixar. — Adam B. Vary

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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Alfonso Cuaron | THE EVIDENCE: Y tu mama tambien (2001), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Children of Men (2006) WHY HIM: You could say it's…
Credit: Murray Close

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22. J.J. Abrams

Mission: Impossible III, J.J. Abrams | THE EVIDENCE: Star Trek (2006), Mission: Impossible III (2006) WHY HIM: Who else could have revived Star Trek as blockbuster mainstream entertainment? Thanks to Trek…

THE EVIDENCE: Star Trek (2009), Mission: Impossible III (2006)

WHY HIM: Who else could have revived Star Trek as blockbuster mainstream entertainment? Thanks to Trek — not to mention TV shows like Lost and Fringe and the 2008 monster mash, Cloverfield, which he conceived and produced — Abrams is viewed as Hollywood's go-to dude for making geek stuff cool and compelling for both genre fans and the masses. His storytelling voice is pure of-the-moment pop, but he also seems (for now) to have a sixth sense for what's next. Upcoming: the Spielberg-inspired Super 8. —Jeff Jensen

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The Matrix, Andy Wachowski, ...
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The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson
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American Beauty, Kevin Spacey, ...
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X-Men, Bryan Singer

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Lost in Translation, Sofia Coppola | THE EVIDENCE: Lost in Translation (2003), Marie Antoinette (2006) WHY HER: There's nothing surprising about a Hollywood kid trying to follow in her famous daddy's…
Credit: Everett

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A History of Violence, David Cronenberg | THE EVIDENCE: Videodrome (1983), The Fly (1986), A History of Violence (2005) WHY HIM: Few directors get under your skin like Cronenberg. In fact, getting…
Credit: Takashi Seida

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22. Brad Bird

The Incredibles, Brad Bird | THE EVIDENCE: The Iron Giant (1999), The Incredibles (2004), Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol (2011) WHY HIM: Even in a place as hallowed as Pixar…
Credit: Eric Charbonneau

THE EVIDENCE: The Iron Giant (1999), The Incredibles (2004), Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol (2011)

WHY HIM: Even in a place as hallowed as Pixar Animation, Bird's got the Midas touch. After doing the impossible with the old-school toon The Iron Giant — he got us to shed real tears at a movie with Vin Diesel in it — the writer-director hatched a pair of Oscar winners for the CG dream factory. Then he made the leap to live-action — emphasis on the action — and revitalized Tom Cruise's spy franchise. —Marc Bernardin

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Woody Allen

Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, ... | Annie Hall (1977) After several very funny movies in which he directed and played the nebbishy romantic lead, Allen made a more serious, impressionistic romantic…
Credit: Everett Collection

Annie Hall (1977)
After several very funny movies in which he directed and played the nebbishy romantic lead, Allen made a more serious, impressionistic romantic comedy-drama — and it was a rambling mess. He saved it in the editing room, cutting an hour and reshuffling the pieces to create this sparkling kaleidoscope about a mismatched New York couple (Allen and Diane Keaton, at their most autobiographical). Allen won Best Director and Best Picture for his first real masterpiece.

Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Allen not only cast his 1980s girlfriend/muse Mia Farrow as the Earth-mother-y Hannah, who tries to keep dithery sisters Dianne Wiest and Barbara Hershey grounded, but he also shot much of this delightful, poignant comedy-drama in her sprawling apartment.

Match Point (2005)
After years of hit-or-miss movies, Allen recharged his creative batteries by ditching New York for London and casting Scarlett Johansson as a tempestuous aspiring actress who has the bad luck to fall for an amoral social climber (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who's already engaged to an heiress. A reworking of Allen's 1989 drama Crimes and Misdemeanors, the movie is both a suspenseful thriller and a chilling meditation on a universe without justice. —Gary Susman

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    6 of 25 25. Wes Anderson
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