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Scott Derrickson names his favourite directors of all time
Making a slow and steady rise to industry prominence, the American filmmaker Scott Derrickson is making all the right moves in contemporary Hollywood.
First rising to success in 2005 with the release of the surprisingly impressive horror movie The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Derrickson went on to gain the trust of prominent Hollywood executives, helming the 2008 remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still with Keanu Reeves and Jaden Smith. Though the film was poorly received across the board, the high status of the release led the director onto bigger and better things.
Garnering commercial and critical praise for his dark 2012 horror Sinister, Derrickson was quickly recruited to join Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe and direct the peculiar magical adventure of Doctor Strange in 2016. Though he was dropped from the sequel in favour of the cult director Sam Raimi, Derrickson has since helmed the recent horror The Black Phone, which was received well by fans and critics despite the dismal marketing campaign.
This has led the filmmaker to be considered among the best in modern Hollywood cinema, taking inspiration from the finest movie-making minds throughout his own rise to the top. Taking to Twitter, Derrickson recently revealed his favourite filmmakers of all time, writing a list that includes some of the biggest names in the industry’s history.
Coming in at number five is the iconic Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, who is respected across the landscape of European cinema. Helming such classics as Shame, Wild Strawberries and It Rains on Our Love, Bergman is known for his poetic take on classic tales, seen in his celebrated 1957 movie The Seventh Seal, which sees a medieval knight challenge Death to a game of chess in order to save the lives of he and his friends.
The influential 20th-century presence of Steven Spielberg takes the fourth spot on his list, with the well-known name still churning out modern classics to this very day. Helming an extraordinary number of classics, including Jaws, Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan and West Side Story, Spielberg has had the chance to work with Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jeff Goldblum.
Often considered the best filmmaker of all time, it’s no wonder that Derrickson has also included the director behind The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Eyes Wide Shut, Stanley Kubrick. Working with the likes of Leon Vitali, Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall throughout his time as a filmmaker, there’s no disputing the presence of Kubrick when it comes to lists like this.
Taking the silver medal in Derrickson’s eyes is the king of crime movies, Martin Scorsese, who has created such classics as Taxi Driver, The Departed, Raging Bull and The Irishman. Alongside such names as Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Al Pacino, Leonardo DiCaprio and Andrew Garfield, Scorsese has made some of the greatest movies of contemporary cinema.
Scott Derrickson’s favourite directors
- Ingmar Bergman
- Steven Spielberg
- Stanley Kubrick
- Martin Scorsese
- Akira Kurosawa
Taking the top spot on Derrickson’s list is the Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, an iconic figure known for his samurai movies, Yojimbo, Ran and Seven Samurai. Inspiring many of the aforementioned directors on this list, as well as Quentin Tarantino, Kurosawa’s name is often mentioned among the very best filmmakers of all time, thanks to his revolutionary cinematography and storytelling styles.
