List of directorial debuts
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early works by Orson Welles such as his filming of his stage production of Twelfth Night in 1933 or his experimental short film The Hearts of Age in 1934. Often these early works were not intended for commercial release either by intent, such as film school projects or inability to find distribution.
Subsequently, many directors learnt their trade in the medium of television as it became popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Notable directors who did their first directorial work in this medium include Robert Altman, Norman Jewison, Sidney Lumet, and Alfonso Cuarón. As commercial television advertising became more cinematic in the 1960s and 1970s, many directors early work was in this medium, including directors such as Alan Parker and Ridley Scott. With the success of MTV and the popularity of music videos from the early 1980s, this gave another avenue for directors to hone their skills. Notable directors whose early work was in music videos include David Fincher, Jonathan Glazer, Michel Gondry, and Spike Jonze.
The following symbols indicate where a director has worked in another medium prior to directing commercially.
♦ Indicates where a director has created other earlier works for television
# Indicates when a director's earlier work is uncredited
† Indicates when a director's earlier work has not been released in cinemas, for example film school productions, short films or music videos.
Refer to individual entries for further detail.
1880s
1887
1890s
1896
1898
1900s
1901
1907
1908
1909
1910s
1920s
1930s
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
2020
- Max Barbakow – Palm Springs
- Halle Berry – Bruised
- Harry Bradbeer♦ – Enola Holmes
- Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz† – Antebellum
- Brian Patrick Butler† – Friend of the World
- Eric D. Cabello Diaz – El Camino de Xico
- Dean Craig† – Love Wedding Repeat
- Joel Crawford† – The Croods: A New Age
- Jack Danini† – Ode to Passion
- Emerald Fennell† – Promising Young Woman
- Michael Fimognari† – To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You
- Will Forbes – John Henry
- Jeff Fowler† – Sonic the Hedgehog
- Edward Hall♦† – Blithe Spirit
- Sam Hargrave† – Extraction
- Chris Henchy† – Impractical Jokers: The Movie
- David Henrie† – This Is the Year
- Natalie Erika James† – Relic
- Anthony Jerjen† – Inherit the Viper
- Aneil Karia♦† – Surge
- Glen Keane and John Kahrs – Over the Moon
- Regina King♦† – One Night in Miami...
- Natalie Krinsky – The Broken Hearts Gallery
- Patrice Laliberté♦† – The Decline
- Andrew Lawrence – The Office Mix-Up
- Rob Lodermeier – The Willoughbys
- Viggo Mortensen – Falling
- Jekaterina Oertel – DAU. Natasha
- Prentice Penny♦† – Uncorcked
- David Prior† – The Empty Man
- Emma Seligman† – Shiva Baby
- Taylor Swift† – Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions
- Remi Weekes♦ – His House
- Autumn de Wilde† – Emma
- David S. F. Wilson† – Bloodshot
- Florian Zeller♦ – The Father
2021
- Justine Bateman† – Violet
- Ryan Bliss† – Alice Fades Away
- Mika Boorem† – Hollywood.Con
- Jonathan Butterell – Everybody's Talking About Jamie
- Enrico Casarosa – Luca
- Ryan Crego♦ – Arlo the Alligator Boy
- Bakhtyar Fatah♦ – 09
- Dean Fleischer-Camp† – Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
- Hamish Grieve† – Rumble
- Maggie Gyllenhaal♦ – The Lost Daughter
- Rebecca Hall – Passing
- Lisa Joy♦ – Reminiscence
- Fran Kranz – Mass
- Simon McQuoid – Mortal Kombat
- Brian Andrew Mendoza† – Sweet Girl
- Marcos Mereles† – All Is Vanity
- Lin-Manuel Miranda – tick, tick... BOOM!
- Dasha Nekrasova – The Scary of Sixty-First
- Edson Oda – Nine Days
- Megan Park† – The Fallout
- Questlove† – Summer of Soul
- Diana Ringo – Quarantine
- Alessandra de Rossi – My Amanda
- Rodo Sayagues – Don't Breathe 2
- Evan Spiliotopoulos – The Unholy
- Liesl Tommy♦ – Respect
- Mattson Tomlin – Mother/Android
- Jude Weng – Finding 'Ohana
- Robin Wright†♦ – Land
- Carlson Young† – The Blazing World
2022
- Charlotte Le Bon† – Falcon Lake
- Mayim Bialik† – As They Made Us
- Loren Bouchard♦ and Bernard Derriman†♦ – The Bob's Burgers Movie
- Reid Carolin and Channing Tatum – Dog
- John C. Donkin – The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild
- Jesse Eisenberg† – When You Finish Saving the World
- Tim Federle♦ – Better Nate Than Ever
- Tom George♦ – See How They Run
- Mark Gustafson – Pinocchio
- Alex Hardcastle♦ – Senior Year
- Lee Jung-jae – Hunt
- Gail Lerner†♦ – Cheaper by the Dozen
- Jennifer N. Linch† – Kung Fu Ghost
- Pierre Perifel – The Bad Guys
- J. J. Perry – Day Shift
- Kyra Sedgwick♦ – Space Oddity
- Domee Shi† – Turning Red
- Goran Stolevski† – You Won't Be Alone
2023
- Kenya Barris♦ – You People
- Nicholas Maggio† – American Metal
- Michael B. Jordan – Creed III
- Chris Stuckmann† – Shelby Oaks
- Patrick Wilson – Insidious: Fear the Dark
2024
Unknown
- Jonathan Krisel – Untitled Sesame Street film
- Minkyu Lee – The Witch Boy
- Chris Pine – Poolman
- Zelda Williams† – Lisa Frankenstein
See also
Notes
- ↑ Co-directed with Robert N. Bradbury
- ↑ Credited as Detlef Sierck
- ↑ Co-directed with Anthony Hankey
- ↑ Co-directed with Gunther von Fritsch
- ↑ Co-directed with Brian Desmond Hurst
- ↑ Co-directed with Robert Jordan Hill
- ↑ Co-directed with Yakov Bazelyan
- ↑ Credited as Derek Thomas
- ↑ Co-directed with Abe Levitow
- ↑ Co-directed with Bradley R. Swirnoff
- ↑ Co-directed with Bill Melendez
- ↑ Co-directed with Rintaro
- ↑ Co-directed with Kenneth Tsang
- ↑ Co-directed with Jesse Wells
- ↑ Co-directed with Frank Lustig
- ↑ Co-directed with David Van Taylor
- ↑ Co-directed with Peter Farrelly
- ↑ Co-directed with Quentin Lee
- ↑ Co-directed with Jim Wynorski
- ↑ Co-directed with Kevin Lima
- ↑ Co-directed with Chris Malloy and Emmett Malloy
- ↑ Co-directed with David Daniel
- ↑ Co-directed with Corey Yuen
- ↑ Co-directed with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino
- ↑ Co-directed with Tim Johnson
- ↑ Co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud
- ↑ Co-directed with Ryan Fleck
- ↑ Co-directed with Matthew Robinson
- ↑ Co-directed with Alastair Fothergill
- ↑ Co-directed with Barry Cook
- ↑ Co-directed with Guy Jenkin
- ↑ Co-directed with Jocelyn Towne
- ↑ Credited as Declan Dale
- ↑ Co-directed with Nicholas Stoller
- ↑ Co-directed with Conrad Vernon
- ↑ Co-directed with Lee Unkrich
References
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- ↑ 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 12.10 12.11 12.12 12.13 12.14 12.15 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 21.6 21.7 21.8 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 23.5 23.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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