“I would like respect for difficult work well done” – Olivia De Havilland

This past July we bid farewell to one of the last conduits of Hollywood’s Golden Age, the great Olivia De Havilland. She lived to the ripe old age of 104 and left behind an enduring and remarkable film legacy. She was a smart, assertive and classy individual who believed in the power of the acting craft and her ability to contribute to it.

Her career spanned over 50 years, leaving and indelible mark on cinema in various genres of film. There’s nary a performance in which she doesn’t shine, even if the material may have been subpar. Who else could bring some regal authenticity to a movie about killer bees (The Swarm) or a downed airplane sinking in the ocean (Airport 77)?

Her kindly and approachable demeanor became one of her hallmarks, but De Havilland suffered no fools. She was honest about her troublesome relationship with her sister, fellow actress Joan Fontaine, and once her career gained momentum she fought for the quality of her roles. In 1944 she sued Warner Bros for violating labor laws within their length of contracts. She won and De Havilland Law was born and is still in use today.

De Havilland’s continued working until 1988 and eventually retired completely and lived out the rest of her life in her Paris home. Upon her passing many mourned not only her death but also the last living connection to the days of classic Hollywood. But isn’t that what movies are all about? To have those incredible, life changing moments captured forever on celluloid. Ready to be revisited whenever we are so inspired.

Here are some of the most unique and memorable performances of Olivia De Havilland’s career. Some of the titles are well known, others slightly more obscure but all are worthy of mention. So much has been said about Gone with The Wind and her classic portrayal of Melanie Wilkes through the years so that title will not be on this list. Instead, let’s take a nostalgic look back at some other significant roles in Olivia’s unforgettable career.

10. In This Our Life (1942)

Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Ellen Glasgow, this was the third of six films Bette Davis and Olivia De Havilland made together. Davis didn’t want to do the picture, believing she was miscast and later labeling it “a most disgraceful film”. Despite Bette’s unhappiness with being involved and De Havilland’s affair with director John Houston during shooting, the final product was well received and made a good showing at the box office.

Davis plays Stanley, a spoiled and calculating young woman who dumps her fiancé Craig and runs of with her sister Roy’s (De Havilland) husband Peter. After an unhappy marriage, which ends with Peter’s suicide, Stanley returns home to wreak havoc on the lives of those she left behind.

The film is a bombastic showcase for Bette Davis who plays the rotten and unredeemable Stanley with her trademark vengeance. She’s fun to watch and the movie as a whole, is an enjoyable, if predictably melodramatic affair. Dangerous sibling rivalry, adultery, blackmail and suggestions of incest are all par for the course.

Perpetuating the “good relative” persona she so memorably fashioned in Gone with The Wind three years earlier, De Havilland is in a familiar place here. She has the less showy role, but she gives the character of Roy a solid, stoic quality. While Davis chews up the scenery, De Havilland keeps it steady. The film is a strong example of Olivia’s ability to hold her own against flashier performances by simply connecting to the truth of the character. The earth might shake under her feet, but she keeps her steady footing with masterful focus.

9. The Screaming Woman (1972)

The 1970s proved to be a fertile ground for suspense TV movies. Shot economically but with care, many of these 90-minute films achieved cult status in years to come.

While not in the same league as minor TV classics like Duel and Trilogy of Terror, The Screaming Woman is a slight and rather enjoyable TV film from Universal. A wealthy matriarch (De Havilland), having recently returned from a mental institution, hears a woman crying for help under the ground in an area of her estate. Horrified, she seeks help in saving the buried victim, but no one believes her.

Loosely inspired by a Ray Bradbury story, the movie has some effective tension and some creepy moments. There’s nothing technically memorable here and that’s to be expected. It does, however, feature a score by John Williams and costumes by Edith Head.

As the 1970s rolled around, De Havilland began to slow down her work in features and began to appear more steadily in television. The Screaming Woman maybe a footnote in her legendary filmography but it’s a strong example that no matter what the medium, she always treated the material with expertise and commitment. Her performance is predictably strong. Her empathy and frustration ring true in every moment. The film is on this list chiefly to illustrate that even a basic TV movie can benefit greatly from an actor who takes their work seriously.

8. Lady in a Cage (1964)

Released the same year as “Hush…Hush Sweet Charlotte” and subtly banking of the hagsploitation subgenre of the time, “Lady in a Cage” was yet another vehicle originally planned for Joan Crawford. Due to scheduling conflicts, Crawford backed out and the film was offered to Olivia De Havilland.

Due to an electrical problem, a wealthy woman (De Havilland) gets stuck in an elevator in the middle of her large home. A young thug (James Caan in his first starring role) and his unsavory friends proceed to taunt and terrorize the hapless woman in her own home.

A dark thriller, ahead of its time is mostly successful albeit with some plot holes and a penchant for exploitive sleaze. It is unflinchingly grim and violent for its time and does manage to be a mostly gripping piece of film.

Having the main character trapped in the cage-like elevator feels gimmicky but it offers an exceptional challenge to the actor. De Havilland rises to this challenge in spades. The performance could have become repetitive or meandering but in Olivia’s expert hands, it crackles and pops. Starting helpless and frightened she eventually works her survival instinct to a fever pitch. It is impressive how she tailors her performance to match the tone of the film, beat by beat. It’s the work of a true expert.

7. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935)

The sparkling adaptation of William Shakespeare’s comedic fantasy is mostly remembered for its ingenious cinematic imagery and for being De Havilland’s screen debut. Joining a stellar cast which included the likes of James Cagney, Mickey Rooney and Dick Powell, Olivia was cast as Hermia after having been seen playing the role in a grandiose production of the play at the Hollywood Bowl.

The story of Athenian lovers and their forest exploits at the hands of the mischievous sprite Puck is given the royal treatment in this fanciful opus. It’s a sumptuous production featuring impressive sets, exquisite costumes and some truly awe-inspiring visuals (Hal Mohr’s sterling black and white cinematography received an Academy Award). It feels a bit long and it is, of course, expectedly verbose but its charms outweigh any of its minute flaws.

De Havilland feels right at home alongside her more seasoned co-stars. She displays a confidence and comfort which belies the fact that this is her screen debut. And, probably due to her previous experience with the source material, she delivers Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter with the greatest of ease (often more so than some of her fellow cast). At only 18 years of age, Olivia delivers sizeable charm and screen charisma right out of the gate. It was to be the start of a most impressive screen career.

6. The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland had a magnetic chemistry and it’s never more evident than in “The Adventures of Robin Hood”. Their third of eight films together, it’s a lively and energetic adventure which still holds up over 80 years after its release.

The familiar story of Robin Hood who steals from the rich and gives to the poor has been immortalized by the visuals of this film. Famously shot in gorgeous Technicolor and featuring some thrilling set pieces, the movie is exciting in an unabashedly cheerful way. Helmed by Michael Curtiz, the film also features spirited performances by the likes of Basil Rathbone and Claud Rains.

Errol Flynn is a pitch perfect screen hero, handsome and charismatic. But he’s matched every step of the way by Olivia De Havilland as Marion. Her beauty and smile are almost hypnotic but it’s her charm and confidence which sell the role. And her skillful portrayal, along with Flynn’s, makes Robin’s and Marion’s conversion from adversaries to lovers surprisingly believable.

There’s thrilling swashbuckling and vibrant visuals. There’s high adventure and an exciting hero. But there’s also a sparkling Oliva De Havilland, reminding audiences that great actors are part of the magic of the movies.

Let’s face it; the first year into the second decade of the 21st century hasn’t been exactly promising for cinema. In fact, the movie business is in a slump unlike ever before because of the recent pandemic that has seen the release of many films being pushed back or even cancelled completely.

While I remain optimistic that once everything is relatively back to normal, until then I have taken the opportunity to go back and see what are the best movie performances of the 21st century so far. I will be splitting the list into two, male and female performances, simply because we have been treated to so much great acting over the past two decades that I decided that just one list was not going to be enough.

I’m sure lists like these will encourage readers to leave comments reprimanding me for leaving off their favourite performances. So in the interest fairness, here is a shortlist of female performances that just missed my top ten but should still be recognized for the huge impact that they left. In no particular order, the runners up are: Leila Hatami (A Separation), Björk (Dancer in the Dark), Viola Davis (Fences), Katie Jarvis (Fish Tank), Anamaria Marinca (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days), Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose), Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird), Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia), Kim Hye-ja (Mother) and Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin).

10. Yalitza Aparicio – Roma

Every now and then, an actor/actress bursts onto the scene with a performance so special that the whole world takes notice. One such performance was in 2018 with Alfonso Cuarón’s semi-autobiographical film Roma. But rather than making the film about this own childhood within a middle-class household in Mexico City, the film instead follows the family’s housekeeper Cleo. The role is one required a true breakout star as Cuarón auditioned 110 indigenous women for over a year before he finally found his leading lady. A twenty-four year old aspiring pre-school teacher called Yalitza Aparicio.

Aparicio admitted that before Roma she had zero acting experience or training and even stated that the only reason she auditioned for the role was because she had nothing better to do. These statements are incredibly hard to believe while watching the film, as it is immediately made clear that Aparicio has been blessed with the skill and talent that would take most performers a lifetime to perfect. Despite the many hardships Cleo faces over the film’s runtime, she always tackles her labours with extreme grace. She is seen as not only the moral centre of the film but also for the family that employs her.

Though they may underappreciate Cleo at times, in the end they realise the significance she holds to all of them after she almost sacrifices herself to save two of the children from drowning in perhaps the most famous scene in the movie. Overnight, Roma catapulted Aparicio as both a worldwide star and an icon for indigenous Mexicans. Although it is unlikely that she will continue her career as an actress, at least she leaves behind a single role that will live in the memory of cinephiles forever.

9. Kate Winslet – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Kate Winslet is certainly one of the most unique as well as acclaimed actresses working today. She achieved fame very early on in her career with her performance in James Cameron’s megahit Titanic. But with the exception of the film that launched into stardom, you will be hard pressed to find her in big studio releases.

In fact, over the years she has tended to gravitate towards smaller independent films that focus more on fully developed characters than outlandish special effects. However, one such film from her filmography that managed to blend both these traits presented the actress with her best performance yet, this is the highly influential 2004 sci-fi romance masterpiece Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

Directed by the visionary Michel Gondry and the screenplay by the genius Charlie Kaufman, the film follows an estranged couple that falls back in love despite erasing their memories of each after their relationship broke up the first time. During this stage in her career, Winslet already had a reputation as specializing in playing unsympathetic ‘difficult’ women, so in a deliberate attempt to play against type she plays Clementine Kruczynski, a free spirit who frequently changes her hair colour depending on her mood.

While it is easy on the surface to disparage the role as playing into the ‘Manic Pixie Dream Girl’ stereotype, Winslet does justice to the script by reiterating that Clementine is a deeply flawed character, what with her reckless behavior and alcohol dependence. Despite these traits, the audience can’t help but find themselves falling for Clementine just her partner does, after all she is as much fascinating as she is endearing. Needless to say, Eternal Sunshine is a special film that defines a generation of filmmakers and Winslet’s performance is certainly a huge part of the movie’s enduring legacy.

8. Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

While we have seen plenty of breakout stars from the past decade, both male and female, I can’t think of one who made such an incredible impact in their first role in a major motion picture than Lupita Nyong’o. She has enjoyed plenty of success so far in her career; including supporting roles in box office titans such as the Star Wars sequel trilogy, The Jungle Book and Black Panther. Her leading role in Jordan Peele’s Us also deserves a mention as it was one of the best pieces of acting I’ve ever seen in a horror film. But if you want to see her finest performance to date then you will have to go back to Steve McQueen’s 2013’s slavery-based epic 12 Years a Slave.

Nyong’o plays Patsey in a role that would be incredibly difficult if not traumatic for any actress to play, as she is the victim in many brutal scenes involving sexual, physical and emotional abuse. With that being said, it is a testament to Nyong’o’s strength and resiliency as she fully commits to the role, which leaves the audience scarred from her harrowing performance.

There is one scene in particular that stands out as the moment Nyong’o solidifies herself as one of the leading actresses of her generation, this is where she stands up to her monstrous master after leaving the plantation simply to get a bar of soap so she can bathe herself. The scene is so gut wrenching that it is enough to turn even the most hardened critic to tears. 12 Years a Slave is undeniably an uncomfortable film but it is one that everyone should watch all the same and while it is full of brilliant performances, it is Nyong’o who at the heart of the story steals every scene she’s in.

7. Charlize Theron – Monster

If I had to say which actress defined the last decade in cinema, I would have to say Charlize Theron. Given her success in both blockbuster tent poles as well as earning the reputation as an indie darling, it is no surprise how Theron became one of the most valuable stars in Hollywood today. Her output in the past decade has been nothing short of impressive; whether it being as an alcoholic depressive in Young Adult, a badass feminist icon in Mad Max: Fury Road or just simply hilarious in Long Shot. However, despite her fantastic work in the 2010s, she is yet to produce a performance as close to perfection that she did in her portrayal of Aileen Wuornos in Patty Jenkins’ 2003 biopic of the notorious serial killer.

Aileen Wuornos was a former prostitute who murdered seven of her male clients within a single year and was subsequently executed for her crimes. Theron’s performance of Wuornos has been described over the years as perhaps the greatest transformation any actor has undergone to play a role. Theron gained thirty pounds, shaved her eyebrows and wore prophetic teeth for role, making her completely unrecognizable from the glamorous starlet people saw her as at the time.

But to me, what makes the performance so legendary is how she shows Wuornos as a woman plagued by personality disorders; it may in fact the most realistic depiction of mental illness in film history. Theron is both frightening and sympathetic in the role of a woman who at no point seems comfortable in her own mind and body. Unsurprisingly, it earned Theron her only Academy Award to date, but with an actress as talented and fearless as her it won’t be long until she adds another Oscar to her already vast collection of awards.

6. Sandra Hüller – Toni Erdmann

It is exceedingly rare for a foreign language comedy to breakout into English speaking markets, even rarer for one with a run time twenty minutes shy of three hours. But somehow, Maren Ade’s German comedy-drama Toni Erdmann managed to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

It was met with acclaim from critics both in Europe and America and won big at the Cannes Film Festival and European Film Awards before earning an Oscar nomination for Best Film in a Foreign Language. Much of the film’s praise was for it’s impressive character development, especially when it came to the character of Ines Conradi, played by Sandra Hüller in one of the finest performances of a comedic foil in recent memory.

The film follows a practical joke loving father who tries desperately hard to reconnect with his estranged work-driven daughter by creating an outlandish alter ego named Toni Erdmann. At first Hüller plays the straight-laced Ines as exasperated by her father antics and frustrated by her sexist work environment, however as the film progresses she gradually removes her mask by allowing herself to be taken in by her Father’s absurd antics.

This leads to her taking more power in the work place as well as seeing the pain behind her Father’s comedy. What is so impressive about her performance is that she never allows herself to fall into cliché as the humourless career woman, if anything the audience takes her side throughout the film and wants her to break out of the mundane structure of her life and accept the world’s craziness just as her father has. Hüller is the beating heart of a film that’s as beautifully funny as it is a masterpiece of complex character study.

Let’s face it; the first year into the second decade of the 21st century hasn’t exactly been promising for cinema. In fact, the movie business is in a slump unlike ever before because of the recent pandemic that has seen the release of many films being pushed back or even cancelled completely.

While I remain optimistic that everything will be relatively back to normal soon, I have taken the opportunity to go back and see what are the best movie performances of the century so far. I will be splitting the list into two, one for male and another for female, simply because we have been treated to so much great acting that I decided that just one list was not going to be enough.

I’m sure lists like these will encourage readers to leave comments reprimanding me for leaving out their favourite performances. So in the interest of fairness, here is a shortlist of male performances that just missed my top ten but should still be recognized for the huge impact that they left. In no particular order, the runners up are: Tom Hanks (Cast Away), Bruno Ganz (Downfall), Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Tony Leung (In the Mood for Love), Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis), Mahershala Ali (Moonlight),  Michael Fassbender (Shame) and Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street).

10. Denis Lavant – Holy Motors

You will be hard pressed to find a stranger movie that came out in the past decade, or perhaps the past century, than Leos Carax’s 2012 fantasy comedy Holy Motors. The film follows a man who appears to be an actor that inhabits multiple roles throughout a single day. These roles include a range of characters including a homeless beggar, a motion capture artist, a man on his deathbed and in a notably surreal scene a Chinese gangster and his doppelganger that each end up killing each other. To plays these roles would take a character actor of such chameleonic quality that hasn’t been seen since Peter Sellers. Enter Denis Lavant.

Carax described the casting of Lavant as “If Denis had said no, I would have offered the part to Lon Chaney or to Chaplin. Or to Peter Lorre or Michel Simon, all of whom are dead.” After watching the film, it is easy to understand the point he was making. Lavant possesses one of the most distinctive faces ever put on film, along with his impressive physicality which would make him a dream actor for any director to work with.

Out of all the characters Lavant plays in the film, one in particular stands out. That of course being Monsieur Merde, a grotesque sewer dweller that bears more similarities with a Chaney-esque monster than an actual human being. What is so impressive about Lavant’s performance is that every role he plays feels completely grounded no matter how absurd they are on the surface. Holy Motors is a surreal masterpiece that everyone should watch, if not just for Lavant alone who proves to be the modern day ‘Man of a Thousand Faces’.

9. Denzel Washington – Training Day

Not many actors have earned as much praise and respect over their career from both critics and audiences as Denzel Washington has. A titan of both stage and screen, Washington has earned almost every major award there is for an actor to win. His performances in Glory, Malcolm X and Fences should especially be regarded as some of the best work any actor has ever put on film. However, Washington’s crowning achievement came in 2002 with the film Training Day, where he played Detective Sergeant Alonzo Harris who is perhaps the most corrupt cop in the history of cinema.

It’s very rare for Washington to play the role of a villain, so watching him give a performance that’s so cruel and despicable should almost be seen as the modern equivalent of Henry Fonda in Once Upon a Time in the West. Over the film’s runtime, we see Harris convince his rookie partner into smoking marijuana laced in PCP, dispensing his own twisted sense of justice on criminals and intimidating the local neighborhoods so much that he resembles a mob kingpin than a police officer.

But the scene that solidifies this role as Washington’s greatest to date is where the people who once lived in fear finally turn on him. Washington plays the scene with so many emotions that it’s like he’s going through the five stages of grief. From empty boasts of grandeur to offering money to the crowd to do his bidding before finally accepting that his empire has truly crumbled. Most actor’s dream of a role like this in that it acts a full showcase for their talents and Washington took that opportunity and made himself a legend with it.

8. Choi Min-sik – Oldboy

Perhaps the single biggest breakthrough in film from the past two decades has not been from a single actor or director, but in fact an entire movement. I am talking about the astounding global success of South Korean cinema, which eventually culminated earlier this year with the success of Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite being the first foreign film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. However, all movements needed a starting point and this came with Park Chan-wook’s 2003 thriller Oldboy. A film known for its impressive action sequences, powerful themes and especially an extraordinary performance from it’s leading man, Choi Min-sik.

Choi plays Oh Dae-su, a man who has mysteriously been imprisoned for fifteen years until being released from captivity for seemingly no reason. A now mentally unhinged Dae-su seeks revenge for his kidnapping and subsequent torture but instead unveils a conspiracy that will eventually strip him of the last strand of his sanity. Choi plays a man possessed with the sense of vengeance, with his unkempt hair and wild, burning eyes he is a man who will seemingly go to the ends of the earths and is prepared to kill anyone who stands in his way of learning the truth.

Choi proves to be an actor capable of such unpredictability that it would be impossible to guess what he’s going to do next, whether it’s the scene of him scoffing down a live octopus to battering an almost endless stream of thugs with a hammer. He delivers a haunting performance of such unadulterated madness, perfectly encapsulated by the shot his demented smiling face that will be haunt the minds of film lovers forever.

7. Christoph Waltz – Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino is a director who is famous for many things; one of the most notable is the ability to create instantly iconic roles for actors to give the best performance of their careers. Some of the most acclaimed of these being Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Uma Thurman in Kill Bill and Samuel L. Jackson is just about every movie he’s done with QT.

However, to me the finest character Tarantino ever created was Col. Hans Landa, a high ranking Nazi officer and the personification of the banality of pure evil. The director said himself that he believed no actor could be capable of pulling off the role. That was until he met Christoph Waltz, and the rest as they say is history.

To say that playing Landa was a breakout performance for Austrian native would be putting it mildly, it damn near catapulted him to superstardom. He won almost every major acting award going, including the Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor, as well as Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival. And it’s easy to understand why Waltz was met with so much adulation.

The audience is immediately intimidated by Landa but can’t help but drawn in by his playful charm. His meticulous and cerebral way in which the ‘Jew Hunter’ catches his prey is similar to a cat toying with it’s food, sadistic to his very core. What is most unsettling about Waltz’s performance of Landa is how he shows that the SS officer doesn’t really care about the Nazi ideology; he just does his job because he’s good at it.

6. Antonio Banderas – Pain and Glory

Throughout it’s history, cinema has produced some truly wonderful partnerships between a director and an actor. One of the most celebrated that is still going strong to this day is Pedro Almodovar and Antonio Banderas, two names synonymous with Spanish cinema. Previous team-ups by the two have led to some of the best works of the two’s careers; films like Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and The Skin I Live In. But their most recent work together, 2019’s Pain and Glory may very well be both men’s magnum opus.

Banderas plays Salvador Mallo, a celebrated director loosely based on Almodovar himself. Mallo is very much on the decline not just in his career as a filmmaker but also in his health as he is in throws of a heroin addiction as well as suffering from multiple physical ailments. At a time in his life where he feels such isolation and emptiness, the director relives some of the most vivid memories from his life. There, Mallo looks back at these key moments; from his childhood spent with his adoring mother, his first adult love and its heartbreaking end, as well as his discovery of film and subsequent success.

Banderas is effectively playing Almodovar and while he sports the director’s trademark spiked hair and eccentric clothes, the actor bears his soul on screen delivering a performance that perfectly balances realism with romanticism. In a career full of great performances, this is easily Banderas’ most challenging role to date and one that will live in the memory for many years to come.

A good director can absorb the best of their actors in service of the film, but a great director is the one that makes actors in their roles unimaginable to be replaced by any other actor. Not because they are great actors, or because the role is written for them, but because the frequent collaboration between actors and directors create this subconscious bond in the director’s mind, making them able to fit a certain actor to a certain role even if no one else can see it.

This strong bond between actors and directors can be more than just in front of and behind the camera; some directors can give birth to acting greatness that the actors themselves didn’t know they had. It’s all about the vision, and one of the things that define great directors is their ability to choose actors and create this bond over time, whether in one film or across multiple projects. Here’s a list of 10 great non-mainstream collaborations that are more than just “typical” acting and directing jobs:

1. François Truffaut – Jean-Pierre Léaud (1959 – 1979)

Number of Collaborations: 7
Most Known: “Two English Girls”, “The 400 Blows” & “Stolen Kisses”

The name Antoine Doinel shall always be one of the most significant fictional characters in the history of French and world cinema, conceived by François Truffaut and portrayed by Jean-Pierre Léaud in four feature films and one short film. The character, as Truffaut described it, is his own alter ego, and Jean-Pierre Léaud was the one to express Truffaut’s thoughts and unconventional ideas. It started with “The 400 Blows” in 1959, the film that declared a new era of French cinema, the “Nouvelle Vague,” written and directed by Truffaut and starring Léaud at the age of 14 as this clumsy troublesome kid.

Léaud became one of the most significant figures in film history and one of the faces that defined the movement. From there, a long collaboration began between Truffaut and Léaud, giving birth to the underrated forgotten sequel to “The 400 Blows,” “Stolen Kisses,” “Bed & Board,” “L’amour en fuite,” and the short segment film “Antoine et Colette,” which all stars Léaud as an adult.

He had this eccentric awkward style in his acting; he wasn’t a devoted basic actor who stuck to the script like everyone else, his performances were a mix of improvisations and outtakes, a unique and different approach to his roles that came from his unconventional personality, and Truffaut found his gem in this freakish extraordinary actor. From a young age they became friends; Truffaut tamed Léaud’s peculiarity and created “The Adventures of Antoine Doinel” that was composed of both Truffaut and Léaud’s real life.

François Truffaut shall always be one of the greatest names in the history of cinema, with his revolutionary fresh take on different subjects and ideas, and his creative cinematic approach that gave birth to the French New Wave. And as Truffaut said, when he wants to make a film he has to find an idea, but with Jean-Pierre Léaud, he just wanted to work with him. Aside from “The Adventures of Antoine Doinel,” Truffaut and Léaud had made other great films such as “Two English Girls” and “Day for Night.”

2. George Cukor – Katharine Hepburn (1932 – 1979)

Number of Collaborations: 10
Most Known: “Holiday”, “The Philadelphia Story” & “Adam’s Rib”

George Cukor was one of the most versatile and solid directors in classic Hollywood; he’s the one who gave us essential films like “The Women,” “Holiday,” “My Fair Lady,” “A Star is Born” and “The Philadelphia Story,” and so many others. He quickly earned the reputation of being a director who could hoax mesmerizing performances from actresses and was known as a “woman’s director.” He had a fast-paced approach to films, with light satire and beautiful (sometimes long) shots.

The four-time Academy Award winner Katharine Hepburn was one of the most eccentric and genius actresses in classic Hollywood. Her class was charming and her strong talent and charisma were one of a kind; she paved her way into becoming one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood and maybe the greatest ever. It was Cukor who gave her first role in “A Bill of Divorcement” (1932). From this film, Cukor and Hepburn had a long-lasting friendship that gave birth to some of the greatest classical comedies such as “Holiday,” “The Philadelphia Story,” “Adam’s Rib,” “Sylvia Scarlett” and “Little Women,” and many others. Both Cukor and Hepburn brought out the best of each other; with Cukor’s romanticizing vision and Hepburn’s solid theatrical performances and limitless talent, the pair created their style and uniqueness to make light-hearted comedies that survived and will survive the test of time.

3. Tsai Ming-Liang – Lee Kang-sheng (1992 – 2020)

Number of Collaborations: 10 Feature films
Most Known: “Good Bye, Dragon Inn” “Vive L’Amour” & “Rebels of the Neon God”

For anyone familiar with the one and only Tsai Ming-Liang, one of the most celebrated “Second New Wave” film directors of Taiwanese cinema, then the face of Lee Kang-sheng is what defines the works of the great dictator. Tsai delivers sophisticated films that don’t play by the normal rules of narratives of mainstream cinema; he explores the unspoken feelings and desires of human nature. The state of loneliness and loss are one of the themes usually used in his work, for his vision sees what lies beneath the skins of the people.

Tsai rose to world cinema from his debut “Rebels of the Neon God,” and from there started a years-long collaboration between him and his favorite actor Lee Kang-sheng with 10 feature films and many short and segments films. Lee became the essential brand for the cinema of Tsai; this kind of meditative cinema that explores loneliness, boredom, existential dilemmas, and sexual desires had Lee representing all of those deep emotions with his mood and his beautiful acting with the sentimentality and the melancholic atmosphere Tsai created. This actor-director collaboration is more than a mere collaboration; it’s a rare state of spiritual merging that resulted in a great one-of-a-kind type of cinema that transcended the normal cinematic rules, romanticizing the melancholic emotions and desires, and exploring the human condition.

4. Steve McQueen – Michael Fassbender (2008 – 2013)

Number of Collaborations: 3
Most Known: “Shame” & “12 Years a Slave”

With only three films together, Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender became a very important and significant pair. They tackled topics such as sex addiction, slavery, and hunger strikes, all topics that are not easy to watch as the focus of a film. Their collaboration started in 2008 with the film “Hunger,” telling a shocking real story of an Irish republican inmate named Bobby Sands who goes on a hunger strike. “Hunger” is strong and powerful; McQueen’s mark was so obvious and powerful with a dedicated methodological actor, and with a strong story about the inhumane prison conditions.

A few years later, the amazing pair made “Shame,” another bold and shocking film about a man and sex addict with mysterious past. The film is about sex yet it’s not sexy; it’s a painful character study of a person in a condition of agony and trauma. “Shame” layered so many themes that it’s deep and hard to look at, telling a story that not any actor-director can tell.

Then came “12 Years a Slave” that was the best in its year, according to the Academy. The film earned Fassbender his first Oscar nomination for playing the role of Edwin Epps, a psychotic American slave owner. Although his roles in both “Hunger” and “Shame” deserved Oscar nominations more than this role, this film was an absolute achievement; not only in the making and realization of this brutal yet beautiful film about freedom and slavery, but it was the first film directed by a black director to win Best Picture.

Steve McQueen and Michael Fassbender are a dynamic duo, with Fassbender giving his best and McQueen actualizing his ideas; it’s one of the collaborations that needs to be considered, as a dedicated team that gave nothing but the best of each other.

5. Howard Hawks – Cary Grant (1938 – 1952)

Number of Collaborations: 5
Most Known: “Only Angels Have Wings”, “His Girl Friday” & “Bringing Up Baby”

Howard Hawks is a director responsible for great classic films such as “Scarface,” “The Big Sleep,” “Bringing Up Baby” and “Rio Bravo,” to name a few. Cary Grant is one of the most versatile actors from the Golden Age of Hollywood, known for his works with Hitchcock and his lighthearted comedic acting. His collaborations with Hawks are often overlooked; it was Hawks who gave Grant the mold of physical comedy, using Grant’s suaveness and giving him goofy yet amazing roles, with only five films, four comedies and one drama.

Hawks created a new form of screwball comedies that suited Grant’s style, and that can be easily seen in the comedies he made with Hawks as opposed to the comedies he made with other directors. Hawks managed to elevate Grant to the peak of his comedic performances, giving him both physical elements to work with and light comedic dialogues. The set designs in Hawks’ films were always special, and the costumes and the jokes in his films seemed natural, so all of that was fertile ground for Grant to express his comedic side.

Also, one of the things that defines Hawks was his choice of the stories he wanted to tell and the way in which he tells it; whether it’s comedy or drama or western, he had an eye for choosing scripts and actors. The strongest example is “Bringing Up Baby,” starring Grant and Katharine Hepburn in very silly roles on paper. Yet Hawks doesn’t make them silly; he knew the line between silliness, absurdity, and fun, and he always experimented with pushing the actors to give the best of their comedic personality.

Not all directors would know how to direct a comedy film with an actual leopard roaming around called “baby” in the 1930s, yet Hawks made some of the greatest and – dare to say – craziest fast-paced comedies that revolutionized the genre. Cary Grant was one of these tools to realize his vision, as in “His Girl Friday,” “Bringing Up Baby” and “Monkey Business.”

The year 2019 was a very good year for cinema, and this award season has been especially competitive with some exciting races. It’s obvious some actors may have even struggled to choose which film they should campaign for, as some of them even had more than one great film.

Some of them managed to show their acting range in those films as well. Laura Dern is always excellent, so it shouldn’t be surprising that she’s the frontrunner for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her wonderful work in “Marriage Story”; and then compare it with “Little Women,” and you have two totally different performances. Chris Evans may never return as one of our favorite superheroes after “Avengers: Endgame,” but he surprised audiences as a villain in “Knives Out,” one of the year’s most acclaimed films. So obviously this year was great for many actors. Here are 10 of them who had a great year with great films:

10. Kelvin Harrison Jr. – “Luce” / “Waves”

He may have caught your attention with his roles in “It Comes at Night” and “Mudbound,” but this is the year he managed to break through with even wider audiences. Sure, “Luce” and “Waves” are still independent movies and they both deserved wider and bigger audiences, but both got high acclaim and brought more spotlight to Harrison as an emerging talent. No doubt these two great films will help him to get even better roles in the future.

“Luce” was one of the best films of this summer and Harrison was excellent as was the rest of the cast, creating a character that is kind of ambiguous; he almost always keeps you guessing throughout the film and by doing that, he manages to deliver a  complex performance. And his performance is very central to why “Luce” works so well. Apart from that, he also appeared in one of the most acclaimed films by the studio A24 this year, “Waves.” The drama focuses primarily on the two teenagers: Tyler and his sister. Harrison portrays Tyler and like in “Luce,” he’s somewhat of a family star here again, but this is also a totally different kind of role than that and he absolutely nails it.

9. Scarlett Johansson – “Marriage Story” / “Jojo Rabbit”

Okay, “Jojo Rabbit” does not look like something that would be for all tastes, but given its reception, most of the critics and audiences did actually like it. No wonder it did well at the Academy Awards. Johansson started off the year great as one of the most touching aspects of “Avengers: Endgame,” one of the highest-grossing films of all time. But she didn’t stay there and appeared in this comedy-drama about Jojo Betzler, a 10-year-old boy living in Nazi Germany during the later stages of World War II with his mother, Rosie. He gets more confused when he finds out that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home.

Johansson serves as a total warm presence in “Jojo,” but it’s “Marriage Story,” Noah Baumbach’s most awarded and one of the most acclaimed films, where she plays an actress going through a painful divorce, and this may very well be the best performance of her career. The argument scene is probably the most memorable and since the second half of the film focuses on Adam Driver’s character, you may remember him more.

But Johansson has a lot of strong scenes in the first half; her first (long) scene with Laura Dern is especially touching and just beautiful to watch. Johansson has never been nominated for an Oscar, though she was often in contention with films like “Lost in Translation” and even “Her,” and these films are here to change that. She’s now both a Best Actress nominee as well as a Best Supporting Actress nominee.

8. Adèle Haenel – “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” / “Deerskin”

Six-time Cesar award nominee Adele Haenel is one of the best actresses of her generation, and she just keeps delivering and getting better and better. Just watch her being likably bratty in “Water Lilies” or being a totally compelling lead in “The Unknown Girl.”

This year she’s got one of her best parts ever – maybe even her best – in Celine Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” which got strong reception at Cannes but didn’t get the heat it deserved with awards season in North America. In this brilliantly shot, forbidden affair tale between an aristocrat and a painter commissioned to paint her portrait, Haenel absolutely shines as Héloïse, who is to be married off to a Milanese nobleman without her will. Even though it feels more like Noémie Merlant’s character’s story, Heloise’s story is as complex as hers. And watching Haenel’s subtle, sublime work is touching and heartbreaking.

Meanwhile, she also appeared in another Cannes-premiered film, Quentin Dupieux’s “Deerskin,” and as one can expect from its director, it’s a delightfully strange film full of his absurd and surreal humour. Even though the main star here is Jean Dujardin, Haenel somehow steals the show as the more mysterious aspect of the story, and she has a lovely presence. No wonder she’s turning into the best French actress of her generation.

7. Elizabeth Moss – “Us” / “Her Smell”

Elisabeth Moss is beloved for many works. For “Mad Men,” “The Handmaid’s Tale” and so on, and her film career has recently given her even more opportunities to prove her incredible range. In Jordan Peele’s much acclaimed box office success “Us,” the focus was more on Lupita Nyong’o’s excellent performance (which got snubbed by the Oscars!) but let’s not overlook Moss here; she was fantastic with what she was given. It’s a delicious work and one can argue if her screen time as a doppelganger would be longer, she’d get more attention this awards season, at least from the critics groups.

However, her strongest work this year comes in “Her Smell,” a film that is not an easy watch for everybody, but a total tour-de-force for Moss who’s in virtually every scene of the movie. The structure of the film can make it hard to relate at first, but Moss is such a force of nature that you cannot ignore her. When the film takes a more conventional approach in the third act, her performance remains great. The “Heaven” scene is especially one of the most beautiful scenes of the year, if not the most.

In this award season, “Her Smell” didn’t get enough attention, mostly because it’s not a release from a powerful studio; there wasn’t much of a campaign for it. It’s definitely is not an easy film to watch, but the director singlehandedly wrote a campaign letter for her performance, and his words make you feel fascinated by Moss’ incredible work once again.

6. Robert Pattinson – “High Life” / “The Lighthouse”

You know who else had a great year? That guy from “Twilight.” Robert Pattinson, like his co-star Kristen Stewart, went on to do more indie films and arthouse cinema since the Twilight movies ended and got a new fan base for his work in those. And his upcoming commercially appealing, big studio films (“Tanet,” “Batman”) sound exciting as well. So he’s seemingly having a nice balance.

As for this year, well, he had one failure; “Waiting for the Barbarians” was not well received at the Venice Film Festival, but that’s okay when his other film that premiered in Venice “The King” got much better reception and people found his supporting turn very entertaining and almost surprising. “I never thought Robert had it in him” was the common phrase people have used to describe his 2019 performances.

Critics and many cinephiles were impressed by Claire Denis’ ambitious, original “High Life,” the story of an astronaut on an odyssey to a distant black hole who faces the challenges of parenting – and existential panic. The film used Pattinson’s calm presence quite well for a leading role. However, those who want to see Pattinson doing more showy and less subtle, unusual work were more impressed with his performance in “The Lighthouse,” Robert Eggers’ much acclaimed follow-up to “The Witch.” Appearing in nearly every scene of the film, Pattinson uses a different accent and overall gives a physically challenging performance that may very well be his best work to date. He holds his own against someone as legendary as Willem Dafoe, which is never an easy task.

It’s pretty straightforward. You need a script to make a film or a story that translate to the screen. And for some iconic directors, they would not be where they are today without some of their closest collaborators – the writer(s).

Sure, auteurs or the writer-director can state his or her vision straight from themselves, but it’s two different forms of the craft. Regardless, it all eventually starts with the story, the characters, the narrative, themes, dialogue, and all the components between the director and the screenwriter.

Some relationships were intense, others strictly for the work with no personal relationship involved, but regardless, these films stand the test of time between the work of the two positions. Here are 10 of the greatest relationships between the writer and the director.

10. Burt Kennedy and Budd Boetticher (1956 – 1960)

Highlighted works: Seven Men from Now, The Tall T, Ride Lonesome

Kennedy would eventually direct himself, but started to collaborate with Boetticher in the mid-to-late 1950s, strictly on western films. Boetticher would later state his films with Kennedy were “not B movies but C movies,” meaning they were so small in budget in the Hollywood era that they could risk more, and they certainly did.

They worked on four westerns together, but explored adult themes of isolation, sexual innuendo, morality, and redemption. They were able to get away with certain acts of violence or slightly critiqued parallels to modern-day American society at the height of the Cold War because despite the fact people were watching, it wasn’t the studios but the audiences. Their films were tight and no-nonsense, just like the characters and usually under 80 minutes. They both had something to say and tell, and they did just that.

All of their films star Randolph Scott, which shows how two collaborators can write and direct one actor in different roles and use the actor’s persona and bravado to tell their story. Though the collaboration was brief, it’s a greatly underappreciated partnership that the western owes a few things to.

9. Paul Schrader – Martin Scorsese (1976 – 1999)

Highlighted works: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ

How does a script, written in an observant and objective fashion, translate to a highly subjective and personalized style and result in a masterpiece? We don’t know nor essentially care, but “Taxi Driver” changes a few things. Schrader, a masterful director himself, started out as writer in Hollywood while Scorsese was looking for material.

They shared a shorthand due to their love of cinema and understanding of the form and are still friends to this day. Schrader knows how to write a script; whether for himself or somebody else, he truly writes pages for the screen. And then Scorsese elevates them into a kinetic form of storytelling whether it’s about a boxer or Christ himself. Maybe it’s the contradiction of their two styles that make the writer – director duo work? In the end, it did.

Unfortunately, Schrader felt that their last collaboration, “Bringing Out the Dead,” would be their last, because he stated, “What was a writer and director in a room was now two directors in the room.” Well, at least they continue to praise one another, share a friendship, having left behind a couple of masterpieces in the process.

8. Tonino Guerra – Andrei Tarkovsky (1983)

Highlighted works: Nostalghia, Voyage in Time

Yes, despite only one year and one film and one documentary, they were a stunning pair. Living in exile from his native Russia and making “Nostalghia” in Italy, Tarkovsky befriended the poet and writer Guerra where they created a film soaked in poetry and personal angst.

Guerra was no stranger to working with giant European directors such as Fellini, Antonioni, the Taviana Brothers, and Angelopoulos, but why has only one film with Tarkovsky become a groundbreaking event? Maybe it was the mix of Italian and Russian cultures? The meddling of two artist geniuses expressing the same point of view?

The themes of loneliness, lack of communication, separation, and the suffering of a Russian in Italy correspond directly from life to art. Or just take any scene where Guerra and Tarkovsky discuss cinema, art, life and death and everything in between in “Voyage in Time.” Maybe it’s because we see the actual collaboration of opposed to co-writing with the others.

Regardless of the minimal work output, their togetherness can last enough writer-and-director prowess for future duos to be inspired.

7. Charles Lederer – Howard Hawks (1940 – 1953)

Highlighted works: His Girl Friday, I Was a Male War Bride, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Monkey Business

Howard Hawks was able to jump from action to thriller to western to screwball comedy like no one else. And how he made so many iconic comedies was because to his go-to writer Charles Lederer for those works.

Hawks was always on the move in the studio system so he needed great material, which Lederer provided. Their razor-sharp dialogue, witty characters, and scenes that people ooze over and can watch over and over again made them a staple. Despite their relationship being professional, unlike Lederer and Orson Welles and such, Lederer knew how Hawks worked so he didn’t try to do anything out of the ‘screwball’ arena for his director.

Despite only a few other writer-director combos in the Hollywood system, such as John Ford and Frank Nugent, where writers were hired to write and directors to direct, they never crossed boundaries as Lederer and Hawks were always onto the next project. Maybe if it were different times, they could have made more screwball zany comedies but for a little over a decade, they were just fine together.

6. Kobe Abe – Hiroshi Teshigahara (1962 – 1968)

Highlighted works: Pitfall, Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another

Probably the most original duo on this list is Abe and Teshigahara, who created postmodernist works dealing with surrealism, absurdism, and a critique on Japanese society. Despite only four films together where Abe adapted from his own novels, they left behind a puzzle of creativity to never tire.

Each of their films deal with repetitive themes as mentioned above but always in a situation with a unique eerie mood and atmosphere. According to archival interviews, they worked very closely together, not necessarily in the writing but the discussion of themes and the feel of the film they wanted to create. Since Abe was bringing his own work to the screen, he was able to sit with it for years even before knowing Teshigahara.

How they were able to get so many outer-worldly yet completely internal ideas in each of their works is truly beyond most viewers, but again, maybe that’s just one of the points of their work together. It wouldn’t be surprising if Charlie Kaufman had this with Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry years after.

Let me start off by saying that this should in no way be considered the final word but rather the beginning of a long discussion. There are so many great directors out there that it’s almost ridiculous to narrow it down to only 10.

For that matter it’s seemingly ridiculous to give all the credit of a film’s success to just the person who directed it because every film has thousands of people who make it what it is. But with that being said any director truly in control of their median knows exactly who to work with, how to direct their skills into their vision, and give a signature to their films that makes it their own.

There are many great examples I can point to in regards to the greatest auteurs in cinema history: from the beginning of film as an art form with the likes of Méliès and Griffith, to the innovators like Welles and Godard, to the modern influences of Spielberg and Tarantino. Needless to say this conversation can go on forever but for this current space of time and the mind frame of just myself these are the 10 Greatest Film Auteurs. (In Alphabetical Order)

1. Ingmar Bergman

“Sometimes when I’m dreaming I think ‘I’ll remember this, I’ll make a film of it, it’s a sort of occupational disease.’” This quote by Ingmar Bergman better explains the fundamentals of his work than anything else. He was a dreamer, but more specifically the quote itself sets up a larger question. Being, could Bergman actually control his dreams while asleep? When you watch his films the quick realization one might have is that Bergman is filming the thoughts that lie in his subconscious. His films had a clear dream like haze to them, whether or not they took place inside a characters dreams or not.

The ideas of profound existential fears, sexual anxieties, demonic visitations. Bergman cited August Strindberg’s 1901 “A Dream Play” as a major inspiration. It was written after the playwright suffered a mental breakdown, it was praised for following a dream logic and calling towards modern Freudian psychology. Bergman’s films strived on this type of ambiguity, a fascinating dissection between dreams, reality, and psychology. And how much each one of them can intertwine with one another.

Bergman said “No other art medium, neither painting nor poetry, can communicate the specific quality of the dream as well as the film can. In a dream time and space no longer exist and cinema is uniquely equipped to alter viewers perceptions of those properties. An unconventional camera angle, an abrupt cut, an unexpected sound. The very basics of filmmaking can clue us in that what we’re watching cannot be trusted as real.”

When you watch his films like “Persona”, “Cries and Whispers” among many others it becomes abundantly clear that Bergman’s philosophy is that dreaming is cinema’s natural state. Whether it be the battle between life and death in “The Seventh Seal”, a reflection on one’s existence in “Wild Strawberries”, or any number of countless masterworks he made throughout his career. Bergman was a dreamer and could make dreamers out of all of us.

2. Federico Fellini

One of the strange facts of Fellini’s work was his own observations. He felt his greatest achievements were in the beginning of his career then he felt as though he had abandoned his craft in favor of personal reflection. Gone was the neorealism of his works like “La Strada” and then came semiautobiographical fantasies like “La Dolce Vita”, “8½”, and “Amarcord”.

According to Fellini himself his works got worse, delving into Christian and sexual roots of his mindset. It’s funny hearing this from the man himself because it couldn’t be farther from the truth, what we categorize as ‘Felliniesque’ was his fantasy dreams of his own life.

What better inspiration to draw from than one’s self? His early films in the wake of Italian Neorealism were good but were weighed down by the grounded material of reality. Fellini’s true calling card was fully realizing the capabilities of film, he preferred images over anything else because image is what gives films its artistic edge over any other art form.

Fellini’s early work is certainly nothing to write off though, “La Strada” and “Nights of Cabiria” are wonderful classics. But more so they convey the same ideas Fellini would demonstrate in his later films as well, the constant battle of body, soul, and mind.

His films, whether obvious or not, contained Christian ideology to punctuate the events that unfolded. “La Strada” deals with sins regarding mistreatment and abandonment. Many have theorized that “La Dolce Vita” is symbolically about the seven deadly sins, each one of its stories revolving around these very concepts.

And then of course later on he would make films like “Fellini Satyricon” which held nothing back in its depictions of sinful nature. But all of this was combined with an equal amount of personal reflection. Many of his films were extensions of the chapters in his life.

“La Dolce Vita” was a portrait of the sweet life he had come to live, “8½” was so autobiographical he might as well of named the main character after himself, “Amarcord” was a reflection of the vast memories he has from his childhood. For as much as Fellini was artist for visual flare, a lecturer of religious warnings, and an author of his own life. He was also an extravagant man who made the most of life at every turn.

3. John Ford

Orson Welles once said in an interview where he was asked who his favorite directors were “well I prefer the old masters by which I mean John Ford, John Ford, and John Ford.” If Welles is the innovator of the language of cinema then Ford is the innovator of the innovator. Ford’s vision of the American West in his many films has become the definitive look of our national identity, the size and scale of his craft is what paints the pictures of our Western culture.

In one single year he made “Young Mr. Lincoln”, “The Grapes of Wrath”, and “Stagecoach”. All of which are very different in genre, tone, and execution but encompass the same theme of his work in which it details a significant transition period in American culture from the old west, to the civil war, to the great depression.

While his stories were large in scale they were simultaneously personal with characters, Ford had a simple way of telling his stories that were easy to latch onto which makes his films easy to watch and understand. But he’s a master because of the technique that went into making his grander visions.

Everything in a John Ford film is pretty easy to follow from point A to point B, but away from each story beat lied a moment that raised a sophisticated question in regards to American culture. Such as the relationship between the White man and Native Americans during these challenging eras. Many have noted with “The Searchers” the idea of justified racism in the face of adversity following the Civil War.

Whether intentional or not, and knowing Ford it likely wasn’t unintentional, the ideals of some of his films probably haven’t aged well as society has progressed with time. But nevertheless is a fascinating study that intrigues to this very day.

When President Woodrow Wilson saw the screening of “The Birth of a Nation” he supposedly said “It is like writing history with Lightning. And my only regret is that it is all so terribly true.” That was in regards to Griffith but I feel this can be applied to Ford as well. Regardless of whether it was politically correct or not, his works were a summation of history as it was happening.

4. Alfred Hitchcock

No matter how much I think I’ve got it I’m not sure what the secret behind Alfred Hitchcock is, and I’m not convinced anyone truly does either. While so many other great talents from his time seem to fade away Hitchcock has only gotten more popular, not to put anyone down but when’s the last time you heard a name like Cecil B. DeMille mentioned in casual conversation? Hitchcock understood his audience better than any director ever has, knowing exactly how to play off their intellect as well as their emotions.

William Friedkin is known for saying “don’t waste your time at film school, just go see Alfred Hitchcock’s movies. You’ll learn the techniques now it’s just a matter of finding your own voice, it’s what I did.” Hitchcock’s body of work encompasses nearly everything you could ask for.

He’s known for being “The Master of Suspense” but that’s very unfair to his skills, he was capable of far more than merely scaring us. Hitchcock’s old saying was that he wanted to play the audience like a piano, and naturally he had a way of tapping into humanity’s most primal ways to truly move us around in whatever way he wanted us to go.

A lot of this ability came from his personal revelations in his films, a lot of what went into his films were what he felt. His deepest fears, his deepest flaws, his desire for control over others, and of course his fascination with blonde women.

Much of this can be seen in films like “Rear Window” where we see his way of being a voyeur who watches others through the eyes of a camera, or in “Vertigo” where a man forces a woman to be made up in his ideal fantasy image of a blonde haired ghost. But one of the true marks of genius in Hitchcock’s repertoire was his ability to create public perception of himself, he would appear in trailers for his films and cameo all the time.

Hitchcock lived in an era where directors were predominantly behind the camera and the stars were the main attraction. Hitchcock broke this mold by raising his mystique while also making everyone aware of who he was, the next thing you know his name was synonymous with the movies as much as James Stewart was. Hitchcock knew how to make everyone aware of who he is, even after he’s long gone. And that’s the work of a true master.

5. Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick was one of the most fascinating individuals who’s ever lived and wouldn’t you know it his films were pretty great too. Possibly more than any other director in history, Kubrick had a complete vision of what his films were meant to be and utilized every aspect of film making like a brush that creates a portrait. I’m sure there will be debate over this statement but there’s probably no other director who’s furthered the mythos of the cinematic art form than Kubrick did.

The mark of what makes an auteur is that even if you don’t know who directed a film you can tell just by watching it, and that’s exactly what Kubrick had. Growing up with Jewish heritage but shifting more towards atheistic views, Kubrick understood a vast amount of religious literature and always had a fascination with larger concepts in our universe. From a young age he went into photography and continuously perfected his craft and his eye for detail, which as we all know would come to serve him extraordinarily well.

With Kubrick’s breakout film “The Killing” continuing into the 1960’s with the likes of “Spartacus”, “Dr. Strangelove”, and “2001: A Space Odyssey” (among many others) it was apparent he wasn’t just another great director but rather a true genius who was raising the craft to another level.

The coolest thing about Kubrick’s abilities however was his diverse reach for genre. He showed the darkest of humanity in war films like “Paths of Glory” and “Full Metal Jacket”, told history with films like “Spartacus” and “Barry Lyndon”, made us laugh with “Dr. Strangelove”, scared us with “The Shining”, made us question the puzzling ethics of morality in “A Clockwork Orange”, and took us on the experience of a lifetime in “2001: A Space Odyssey”.

Each film is uniquely different but still encompass the mythos of Kubrick we know and love. That we can be a part of something much larger than ourselves, that transcends our lives and existence, and goes where others refuse to go.

It has proven a challenge for filmmakers to resist the temptation of either repeating themselves unnecessarily or taking on projects that do not utilize their talents. Even the most influential directors like Hitchcock, Bergman, Welles and Chaplin, or more recently Scott, Lynch, Tarantino and the Coens have had their misfires. Creating a singular and fully realized vision, and being able to translate that time and again into a picture that finds an audience is a trait only very few have.

This list is a careful though incomplete selection of filmmakers. I´ve decided to only look at people who made at least seven features as a sole director, since that is the number of films a director can make during a generation and through which they can have a full cultural impact. Moreover, half of this list consists of older directors who have passed away and the other half is still alive.

In doing so, some did not make this list but can still be regarded as undeniably gifted filmmakers. The ones that did are directors who had an important hand in the writing and/or producing of their pictures, further cementing their status as complete auteurs or at least visionary writer-directors who in their least successful effort still delivered a good and unique film. Here is, in chronological order, a selection of 10 directors who never made a bad film.

1. Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998), Cinematic Painter
A giant with an unparalleled ability to draw visual masterpieces.

The oldest director on this list, Akira Kurosawa was trained as a painter before he focused on directing films. Many Japanese filmmakers were incredibly productive during their lifetime, given the 40+ films that Yasujirō Ozu made and the 94 credits that Kenji Mizoguchi has to his name. And Kurosawa is no stranger to this: every single one of his 32 films as a director during a 60 year-long career presents an exciting story.

Another reason for him being such an icon is his huge influence outside of Japan, counting a variety of accomplished directors as his closest admirers. From legends such as Kubrick to New-Hollywood directors like Spielberg, and from Italian masters such as Fellini to Scandinavian specialists like Bergman.

In fact, Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars was a remake of Yojimbo and Lucas’ Star Wars Saga was directly influenced by The Hidden Fortress. This is evidence of the enormous impact Kurosawa has made throughout the history of film. All of his works are signature pieces and it comes as no surprise that he is regarded as the first Asian auteur.

He is probably best known for his samurai stories like Seven Samurai, revolutionary for their epic scale. Psychological thriller Rashomon is equally brilliant for its point-of-view storytelling. Other masterpieces like High and Low are astonishing for their careful blocking to visually build dramatic tension, controlling the viewers’ attention on a single character, revealing who the characters truly are, and conveying this all into one unifying visual story.

His range is equally incredible: from historical action adventures like Ran to the romantic drama The Idiot, and from profound dramatic pieces such as Ikiru to contemporary crime films like Drunken Angel. He is the sensei of cinema´s other heroes who stand on his shoulders. Without him, many directors would not be the filmmaker they would have become.

2. Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999), Master of Adaptation
A complete filmmaker in complete control.

Even if you glance at Kubrick’s earlier work, it’s evident that he exhibited a meticulous control of his craft. His anti-war film Fear and Desire was more of an experiment, but worthy and effective as a debut. He made two solid noirs: Killer’s Kiss – his first adaptation – and The Killing using a nonlinear structure and featuring Sterling Hayden who would later play in the best war comedy ever written: Dr. Strangelove. A poignant political satire with a perfect look at the Cold War: razor-sharp and funny as hell up to this day.

Kubrick became a coveted filmmaker with the raw Paths of Glory set in World War I and by helming the historical drama Spartacus. Furthermore, he never shied away from controversial topics to reveal the darker side of humanity like in the forbidden romance of Lolita and the dystopian crime satire that is A Clockwork Orange. He mastered other genres as well.

With his background in photography he lighted the elegant set designs like no other in period drama Barry Lyndon, he made psychological horror completely visual in The Shining, and he delivered an intense war drama with Full Metal Jacket. Although he perfected the art of adaptation, he was also able to create new concepts.

Together with author Arthur C. Clarke he developed his crown jewel, the enigmatic sci-fi spectacle 2001: A Space Odyssey. One the most analysed films of all time, Kubrick elevated the genre to unprecedented heights and created a sublime visual and philosophical work of art.

He dazzled audiences one last time in Eyes Wide Shut, an erotic thriller that is mysterious and unforgettable. It’s one of the most underrated of his works, and remains as haunting as any love story can be. He was able to secure his own place in the Hollywood system, only doing studio projects he chose and operating with a rarefied independence.

He completely controlled each stage of his work. Each picture added a new layer of intensity, originality and fearlessness to his track record. He envisioned his films with extreme focus and used every technique to his disposal, perfecting his actors, cameras, production design, soundtrack and editing. As Spielberg once said about Stanley Kubrick: nobody could shoot a picture better.

3. Sergio Leone (1929-1989), Capo of Close-up
A master who shattered genre conventions.

Sergio Leone is best-known for inventing the subgenre the Spaghetti Western. And rightly so, since his take on the Western was refreshing at the time: complex and morally ambiguous characters, inventive use of music and raw performances edited with a dynamite energy, never at the expense of entertainment value.

He manifested his style most vividly through the balance between long shots that took forever and extreme close-ups. He utilized the whole spectrum of the canvas. Italian-born Leone met composer Ennio Morricone in school, and the two became an illustrious duo behind unforgettable soundtracks. Their scores are guiding themes for certain characters and perfectly capture the rhythm of the story.

He was able to produce high-end spectacles on low-budgets, such as the Dollars trilogy which made Clint Eastwood a household name. It gave Leone the chance to go to Hollywood and work on Once Upon a Time in the West. Among a group of stars, Henry Fonda was brilliantly cast against type as the villain with a grin. The legendary film is a brilliant retribution drama following an unbearably long intro scene that cleverly sets up the tension. Duck You Sucker was overlooked when it was released, but has a great amount of detail, effects and tension.

His last work was his most ambitious and enigmatic. Over 10 years in the making, Leone set out to tell an epic tale of three generations of the Jewish mafia in New York City. He turned down an offer to direct The Godfather to focus on his own meditation on American mythology. Once Upon a Time in America could stand as his best yet most puzzling piece.

A confident departure from the Western, he created a story of enormous scope and depth. Morricone struck gold with the music and Leone´s masterpiece is a treat to experience. The long running time and slow pacing helps to evoke its transcendent feel and reveal its deeper meaning. The signature close-ups in all of his films are not only extreme; they evoke a distinct feeling and rhythm, a deeper understanding of the characters. All of his films are one of a kind.

4. Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986), Master of Dreams
Nobody got closer to visual philosophical art.

The life story of Andrei Tarkovsky is that of a great but tragic artist. Born in the Soviet Union, he became their foremost auteur, was banned from working in his beloved country, and he died at age 54. What Chekhov was to writers of short stories and plays, what Stanislavski was to actors, and what Eisenstein was to editors, fellow Russian Andrei Tarkovsky was to film directors. An artist in the deepest sense of the word who elevated the filmed medium to visual poetry.

Nothing sounded like his films, nothing looked like his films, and nothing felt like his films. He invented a new language, as Bergman noted: “capturing life as a dream”. His contribution was so influential that it became known as Tarkovskian.

A film theorist himself, he described his method as sculpting in time: expressing the course of time through the rhythm of film. His heart-breaking debut Ivan’s Childhood dealt with the horrors of war through the eyes of a young boy and brought the director international acclaim.

The historical drama about artist Andrei Rublev won him the first of many prizes at in Cannes. Solaris became a cult hit back home, but it was Stalker – his meditation on the metaphysics of life – that reimagined the sci-fi genre.

Mirror, his most autobiographical account, threw all notions about fabula (the order of events) and syuzhet (the narrative) of the table, and is Tarkovsky at his most inaccessible and inventive. He broke the rules of structure with an art piece that portrays human consciousness itself.

Mirror and Stalker were produced under such difficult circumstances and were treated so poorly by the local authorities that he decided to escape the motherland in exchange for Europe. Due to his illness, he only managed to finish two films: Nostalghia and The Sacrifice. Both films reveal how deeply he cared about his life and legacy.

Tarkovsky asks his audience a lot and no one comes closer to the deepest parts of the soul. His body of work consists of only seven films; it speaks volumes about the effort it took him and his impact on the medium.

5. Hayao Miyazaki (1941), Anime Hero
A pioneer of profound, emotionally-driven animation.

A magical thing happened in the world of animation when editor and producer Toshio Suzuki approached director Isao Takahata and animator Hayao Miyazaki to form Studio Ghibli, based on the Italian noun for “hot desert wind”. And a new wind started to blow. Miyazaki already had a successful career as a manga artist and animator, and improved the techniques of animation with Takahata.

Now they set out to create stories that weren’t just exciting to watch but had strong (female) characters, adult themes, and painted an expressionistic fantasy world that resembled the real world.

Entire generations are raised on these meaningful adventures stories about the relationships between people and with nature. Smoothly evolving from traditional animation to computer-based techniques, Miyazaki juggles roles as a storyboard artist, animator, screenwriter, director, and editor; carefully shaping his control throughout the process. Each of his 12 films is a wonderful story, dealing with varying themes.

By virtue of anime as an art form, no other filmmaker has been able to create such magical worlds for global audiences. He forged a capacity in which he could easily play with elements of biography, family, romance, adventure, and drama. His ability to combine transformational storytelling and quirky excitement has left critics and audiences in awe, delivering hit after hit.

His most successful films include Princess Mononoke, a great war fantasy that also works as a philosophical love story, and Spirited Away, an enchanting and fearless coming-of-age story.

The fact that in each of his works the level of technical craftsmanship never diminishes the scope and impact of its underlying story is utterly unique. Pixar may be Disney for adults, but it’s the little brother of Ghibli. And its hero Miyazaki is a giant who continues to thrive, capturing the human spirit in the most fascinating of ways.

The premise of this list seems accessible enough, and even dedicated film fans may be tempted to confidently rattle off some names that are sure to fit its description. But the number of actors who have made five great films in a row is surprisingly short.

Check your expectations at the door, because your favorite thespian may not have made the cut. In fact, upon closer inspection, some of the biggest names in film history failed to string together a handful of great movies in succession. For every three or four in a row, a flop usually rears its ugly head to break the streak.

Did these ten actors succeed as the result of talent, luck, or both? A skilled performer can lift a film to greatness on the merits of his or her ability, but even an average actor can stumble into a perfect storm of uninterrupted triumphs.

Nevertheless, the versatility required to play five different roles in a row without ruining any of them deserves our respect, whatever else may factor into the equation. This diverse and unpredictable list celebrates ten actors whose careers enjoyed the longest sustained applause for making five great films in a row.

1. John Cazale

John Cazale holds a unique and deservedly first place position on this exclusive list. During his tragically short acting career, Cazale appeared in only five films, and each one of them is a certified classic.

All five of the movies which were release during his lifetime were nominated for Best Picture, and three of them won the honor. Even a sixth film, released after his death, which featured archival footage of him was highly esteemed. The shrewd physical eyes of this actor were clearly matched by his shrewd eye for selecting worthy film projects, and his skill shines brightly in each one.

The fact that all five of these films are great is no accident, for Cazale contributed much to making them so. Projecting insecurity and confidence with the same reckless passion, Cazale made each of his roles unforgettable. While unavoidably mourning what might have been for this legendary actor, let us still fondly remember these five great films which he graced with his presence:

1) The Godfather – 1972
2) The Conversation – 1974
3) The Godfather Part II – 1974
4) Dog Day Afternoon – 1975
5) The Deer Hunter – 1978

2. Marlon Brando

Marlon Brando burst onto the cinematic scene with a succession of great movies whose legacies would have cemented his legendary status on their own. While his future career careened in and out of popular favor, the 1950s found Brando in indisputably top form. His passionate style of method acting, aided by his trademark and groundbreaking delivery, won him instant cultural fame as a sort of antihero.

Though he spent much of the rest of his career trying to shed some of that image, it nevertheless defined his persona for future generations of actors and fans. Brando made plenty of other great movies after these, but never quite so many classics in a row.

One senses that this was more than a little due to his own wishes, given his various disagreements with the Hollywood establishment over the years. But the career of one of the greatest actors of all time got off to a roaring start with these memorable movies:

1) A Streetcar Named Desire – 1951
2) Viva Zapata! – 1952
3) Julius Caesar – 1953
4) The Wild One – 1953
5) On The Waterfront – 1954

3. Ingrid Bergman

It’s difficult to think of anyone who more perfectly captures the spirit of the golden age of Hollywood than Ingrid Bergman. Possessed of an ethereal charm which could project both vulnerability and strength with ease, the graceful Swedish actress won the hearts of movie audiences all over the world.

Forever immortalized for the masses in the fan favorite Casablanca, Bergman’s career is studded with plenty of other great films which showcase her versatility and charisma. Casablanca is at the heart of a string of great films which launched her into stardom, and opened a window of time in which she seemingly could do no wrong.

Though she later fell out of favor with some American audiences due to personal troubles, Bergman never stopped throwing her whole heart into each acting project she undertook. Here are five great early examples:

1) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde – 1941
2) Casablanca – 1942
3) For Whom the Bell Tolls – 1943
4) Gaslight – 1944
5) Spellbound – 1945

4. Al Pacino

A true legend whose body of work spans generations, Al Pacino began his career with a string of hits which guaranteed his status of one of acting’s elite. As storied as his future career would be, there’s something special about seeing a young Pacino act his heart out in these early timeless classics.

In this handful of great films, we witness Pacino exploring his full range of talents – from his unsteady vulnerability in Dog Day Afternoon to the firm resolve he finds in The Godfather films, an array of emotions is on display. Not only are these five movies some of the finest of Pacino’s career, they remain among the finest in film history. He helped to make them great, and they helped to establish his great career in return:

1) The Godfather – 1972
2) Scarecrow – 1973
3) Serpico – 1973
4) The Godfather Part II – 1974
5) Dog Day Afternoon – 1975

5. Anatoly Solonitsyn

A wonderful actor whose career was cut tragically short, Anatoly Solonitsyn left behind a body of work which has granted him cinematic immortality. He is most famous for his collaborations with director Andrei Tarkovsky, and three of these five films are partnerships between the two.

Solonitsyn’s thoughtful face and noble brow wore the imprint of Tarkovsky’s lofty concepts in a way that channeled those ideas perfectly; the great Russian director’s films needed actors who could effectively deliver profound lines of dialogue, and also navigate long stretches of silence and stillness.

But Solonitsyn’s work was not limited to these collaborations; At Home Among Strangers and The Ascent are classics in their own right, and both gave him additional room to showcase and expand his talents and range as an actor. As a testament to his life and his skill, these five great films capture his memory perfectly:

1) Solaris – 1972
2) At Home Among Strangers – 1974
3) Mirror – 1975
4) The Ascent – 1977
5) Stalker – 1979

For too long the world of cinema has been viewed as something of an elitist boys club –– should you doubt this, I dare you to name five male directors and then, without looking at this list, name five female directors. Wasn’t as easy as all that now, was it?

Women are so often underrepresented in film, despite being some of the most exciting, and important ad rem auteurs currently making movies. Consider this list a cure-all then, to patrist public attitudes and in celebration of stunning cinema.

And please feel free to join in the conversation by listing your favorite female filmmakers we may have overlooked in the comments section below, and don’t forget to check out our Honorable Mentions section at the end of the list. Enjoy!

15. Dee Rees

American director and screenwriter Diandrea “Dee” Rees first made a name for herself with her 2011 feature film Pariah, which she followed with her 2015 HBO picture Bessie, and then her 2016 breakthrough Mudbound firmly established her as a major talent. Adapted from Hillary Jordan’s best-selling 2008 novel, Mudbound earned Rees a much-deserved Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Up next for Rees is a feature film adaptation of Joan Didion’s 1996 political thriller “The Last Thing He Wanted”, with an A-list cast that includes Anne Hathaway, Rosie Perez, Ben Affleck, and Willem Dafoe as well as an ambitious and hotly anticipated adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s 1964 mindfuck, “Martian Time-Slip”.

14. Karyn Kasuma

LA-based filmmaker Karyn Kusama, originally from Brooklyn, became a major blip on Hollywood’s radar with her memorable and award-winning 2000 feature film debut Girlfight, which Kusama wrote, directed, and produced.

In the years since Girlfight, Kusama has firmly established herself as a formidable genre director (2005’s Æon Flux is something of a cult favorite for both Manga and sci-fi fans, and horror fans are very affectionate towards her high-concept films like Jennifer’s Body [2009] and The Invitation [2015]).

2018’s crime thriller Destroyer, much more than a Nicole Kidman vehicle, topped several critics lists last year, guaranteeing further attention on Kasuma’s current batch of in-development projects. Let’s hope further collaborations with Kidman, and a return to horror-thrillers are in the future for all of us Kasuma fans.

13. Deniz Gamze Ergüven

Turkish-French filmmaker Deniz Gamze Ergüven made a serious mark with her appealing and provocative debut film from 2016, Mustang (which she co-wrote with Alice Winocour, a French screenwriter and director who also deserves hefty praise).

An alternately joyous and upsetting tale of five orphaned sisters in a puritanical Anatolia village where arranged marriage is inescapable, many of the details of the film came from Ergüven’s own personal experiences, adding an authenticity that makes the rebellious nature of the film’s heroine’s all the more stirring.

A polarizing film in Ergüven’s native Turkey, due largely to how women are mistreated in the sticks, this also speaks to her fearlessness as a filmmaker. Mustang was followed by Kings (2017) which didn’t have the same critical acclaim as her previous film, but did feature A-list names in the cast, which included Halle Berry and Daniel Craig.

With a several projects currently in development, fans of Ergüven can whet their appetites in the meantime with her work on the big budget sci-fi series about an Earth-to-Mars mission lead by Sean Penn in The First, of which she directed several key episodes, including the pilot. Wherever Ergüven leads us next, we’re sure to follow.

12. Greta Gerwig

Triple threat Greta Gerwig (actress, writer, and director) first made her mark alongside influential mumblecore filmmaker Joe Swanberg, where she not only acted, but co-wrote and co-directed several films (including Hannah Takes the Stairs [2007], and Nights and Weekends [2008]) before her big breakthrough as an actor in several Noah Baumbach films (Frances Ha [2012], and Mistress America [2015] amongst them).

In 2017 Gerwig met with her biggest solo success to date with her critically adored coming-of-age picture Lady Bird, which she wrote and directed. Receiving two Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director, Gerwig has since rocketed to the A-list.

Later this year will see her Lady Bird follow up as she adapts the Louisa May Alcott classic “Little Women.” Gerwig’s adaptation, which she’s also written herself, will reunite her with several actors from her Lady Bird cast (including Saoirse Ronan and Timothée Chalamet) along with Laura Dern, Florence Pugh,, Meryl Streep, and Emma Watson. Wow, what a cast. Is it to early to predict another Oscar orgy from this incredible assemblage of talent?

11. Anna Biller

With two wonderfully original features to her name (Viva [2007], The Love Witch [2016]), a third feature on Bluebeard in the works, not to mention a wealth of wonderful art film 16mm shorts, LA-based filmmaker Anna Biller looks to be the savior that American indie cinema didn’t even know it hadt.

Fascinating to think about, stunning to look at, and awash with strange, vintage sensations, Biller’s films feel simultaneously sent from another era and yet are buoyed with beautiful modernistic designs.

Viva is a vividly colorful comedy of social mores and acts as something of an homage to the sexploitation films of the late 60s and 70s, but with a refreshingly sharp feminist edge. The Love Witch, like Viva, takes many cues from the swinging 60s and Technicolor melodramas, as it gleefully and ghoulishly splashes into thriller waters, with doses of Kenneth Anger occultism, Gothic horror elements, and some Lady Sheba brand love magick. How great does that sound?

Biller, intentionally or not, effectively embraces, authenticates and sustains auteur theory. Her delightfully subversive, legitimately unnerving, hilariously quotable, and visually rich films amount to a daring body of work.

10. Kathryn Bigelow

A major Hollywood player since her first string of hits in the 1990s, director, producer, and screenwriter Kathryn Bigelow is fluid in several film genres, though is perhaps best thought of for her intense military-thrillers, 2009’s The Hurt Locker (for which Bigelow broke serious ground as the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director) and 2012’s Zero Dark Thirty.

Long time fans of Bigelow have been rooting for her mainstream success ever since her early days with unforgettable films like the vampire Western Near Dark (1987), the “I am an FBI Agent”-declaring glory from Keanu Reeves in 1991’s Point Break, to the dystopian sci-fi thriller Strange Days (1995) as well as her post-Oscar successes like 2017’s Detroit.

An influential and original voice, Bigelow deserves mad props for her decidedly “macho” filmography, and wherever her sights my fall next you can bet it will be unexpected and fist-pumpingly exciting.

9. Patty Jenkins

Patty Jenkins’s distinguished directorial debut, Monster (2003), which she also wrote, was too disturbing to make her a household name as she detailed the harrowing real-life story of Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron, in a brilliant, Oscar-winning performance) but her huge 2017 success Wonder Woman, definitely announced her arrival as a mainstream maker of culturally relevant and utterly ass-kicking box-office blockbusters.

Currently in post on her Amazonian princess follow-up, Wonder Woman 1985 is already expected to be one of 2020’s biggest hits, and while it’s wonderful to see Jenkins come into her own as a big time director of mega-budget superhero excitation, it would be kind of cool, I think, to see her return to a small scale indie. Not that she has to though.

Like Bigelow, if high-octane, testosterone-addled mainstream studio fare is high-jacked by the likes of Jenkins then maybe the future of populist film is in a great place after all. Maybe the era of James Cameron and Michael Bay can finally sit the shit down.