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Curated playlist

Directors of Best Picture Academy Award winners

  • Alfred HitchcockAt age five, Alfred Hitchcock was sent to a police station with a note and locked in a cell.
  • Martin ScorseseMartin Scorsese's love of movies began because asthma kept him out of games.
  • Woody AllenWoody Allen failed a film production course at New York University, then went on to direct Annie Hall.
  • Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg walked into Universal Studios without a pass, and the guard waved him in.
  • Christopher NolanChristopher Nolan has no smartphone and no email address. He hand-delivers his scripts to the actors he wants.
  • Peter JacksonPeter Jackson saw King Kong at nine, and a few years later tried to remake it with stop-motion models he built himself.
  • Paul Thomas AndersonPaul Thomas Anderson, the American filmmaker known by his initials PTA, earned a C+ on his very first film school assignment. The task at New York University was simple: write a single page of screenplay. Anderson handed in a page from…
  • Clint EastwoodPresident Reagan quoted Clint Eastwood's line "Go ahead, make my day" to Congress.
  • Elia KazanIn 1952, Elia Kazan gave a congressional committee the names of eight former colleagues.
  • James CameronJames Cameron dropped alone to the deepest point on Earth in 2012. He stayed more than three hours on the bottom.
  • William WylerDirector William Wyler once made Henry Fonda do forty takes of one scene. His only note was the word again.
  • Guillermo del ToroAt about eight, Guillermo del Toro filmed a serial killer potato with a Super 8 camera. It sought world domination.
  • Francis Ford CoppolaMarlon Brando won the Godfather role only after a screen test and a reduced fee.
  • Laurence OlivierLaurence Olivier's 1948 film Hamlet was the first non-American film to win Best Picture.
  • Robert RedfordRobert Redford died in his sleep at his home in Sundance, Utah, on the 16th of September 2025. He was 89 years old. After a private funeral, he was buried on his own property there. The man who ended his days in a place that carried his…
  • Kevin CostnerKevin Costner was on a plane home from his honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta in 1978 when he noticed actor Richard Burton and decided to approach him. Costner had just finished college and was unsure whether he should try acting at all. So he…
  • Ron HowardRon Howard, age five, had to cry while holding a toy turtle. Andy Griffith coached him through it in 1960.
  • Mel GibsonMel Gibson was paid $400 for his first film role, in Summer City, while he was still a drama student. A short time later, the title role in Mad Max paid him $9000. In the year 2000, Hollywood handed him a record $25 million to star in The…
  • David LeanFilm critics spent two hours tearing apart David Lean's Ryan's Daughter to his face at a New York lunch.
  • Ridley ScottRidley Scott once ranked 31st out of 31 in his school class. He later kept that report on his office wall.
  • Ben AffleckBen Affleck directed Argo, and for it he collected the Golden Globe, the Directors Guild Award and the BAFTA for Best Director without ever being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. No director had done that before him. The…
  • John Madden (director)Director John Madden's Shakespeare in Love beat Saving Private Ryan for Best Picture.

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