Top 5

Top 5 movies directed by an actor or actress

And no, M. Night Shamylan movies don't count. I'm looking for movies directed by people that are much better known as actors than directors.

5. The War Zone (Tim Roth)

4. Dead Man Walking (Tim Robbins)

3. Nil By Mouth (Gary Oldman) 

2. Illuminata (John Turturro)

1. Romance & Cigarettes (John Turturro)

Re:Top 5 movies directed by an actor or actress

I'm sure I'm missing a great one, but I have got to say I was blown away by last year's Gone Baby Gone. I am stunned that the actor that has consistently disappointed me since he became a leading man came up with such a solid film. I usually hate Clint Eastwood and Robert Redford's directed efforts and I respect their acting much more than Affleck's, but Ben Affleck may have found a true talent for directing. 

leeroy711:

And no, M. Night Shamylan movies don't count. I'm looking for movies directed by people that are much better known as actors than directors.

5. The War Zone (Tim Roth)

4. Dead Man Walking (Tim Robbins)

3. Nil By Mouth (Gary Oldman) 

2. Illuminata (John Turturro)

1. Romance & Cigarettes (John Turturro)

Re:Top 5 movies directed by an actor or actress

Jymkata:

I'm sure I'm missing a great one, but I have got to say I was blown away by last year's Gone Baby Gone. I am stunned that the actor that has consistently disappointed me since he became a leading man came up with such a solid film. I usually hate Clint Eastwood and Robert Redford's directed efforts and I respect their acting much more than Affleck's, but Ben Affleck may have found a true talent for directing. 

leeroy711:

And no, M. Night Shamylan movies don't count. I'm looking for movies directed by people that are much better known as actors than directors.

5. The War Zone (Tim Roth)

4. Dead Man Walking (Tim Robbins)

3. Nil By Mouth (Gary Oldman) 

2. Illuminata (John Turturro)

1. Romance & Cigarettes (John Turturro)

As far as Eastwood and Redford go, I think they are both thought of first as directors and not actors. I like some of Redford, especially Quiz Show, and I loved Unforgiven but I don't really think they fit into this catagory because the y both have directed more in the past 10 or 15 years than they have acted. Mel Gibson is the next to make that transition. 

Re:Top 5 movies directed by an actor or actress

I'm having some difficulty actually deciding if some people qualify or not.

Certainly Orson Welles, if he was not already often in contention for the greatest director of all time would have been well known as one of the greatest actors.

Roman Polanski is surely more well known as a director, but has done just as much acting, and was an actor before being a director.  The same with Vittorio De Sica.

Many comedians are just as recognizable as actors, writers, and directors.  Often doing all roles in the same film.  Think of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.  Or Jaques Tati.  Today think of Mel Brooks, Harold Ramis, Christopher Guest.  Terry Jones??

Also many kung fu stars.  Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow, Sammo Hung.

And what about classical actors where, acting is clearly where they are most recognized, but they are also renown in directing of theatre and film.  A production directed by Lawrence Olivier or Kenneth Branagh is surely not an anomaly.

I'm actually most interested in a poll about director who have stints in acting like John Huston or Werner Herzog.

Nonetheless, I'll try to make a top five.

1. Buffalo '66 - Vincent Gallo

2.  Quiz Show - Robert Redford

3.  The Apostle - Robert Duvall

4.  The Outlaw Josey Wales - Clint Eastwood

5.  Garden State - Zach Braff

I'm not normally a huge fan of most of Eastwood's directing efforts either, but I do find Josey Wales to stand out from what I've seen.

Re:Top 5 movies directed by an actor or actress

quote:

"

I'm having some difficulty actually deciding if some people qualify or not.

Certainly Orson Welles, if he was not already often in contention for the greatest director of all time would have been well known as one of the greatest actors.

Roman Polanski is surely more well known as a director, but has done just as much acting, and was an actor before being a director.  The same with Vittorio De Sica.

Many comedians are just as recognizable as actors, writers, and directors.  Often doing all roles in the same film.  Think of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.  Or Jaques Tati.  Today think of Mel Brooks, Harold Ramis, Christopher Guest.  Terry Jones??

Also many kung fu stars.  Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow, Sammo Hung.

And what about classical actors where, acting is clearly where they are most recognized, but they are also renown in directing of theatre and film.  A production directed by Lawrence Olivier or Kenneth Branagh is surely not an anomaly."

Yeah, I was kinda thinking along the lines of an actor that has been around for a while before directing. ( I completely forgot about The Apostle & Buffalo '66) When I think of an actor that has dabbled in directing, Orson Wells doesn't really come to mind, unless you consider his radio carrer acting. I think more of Sean Penn, Kevin Costner or Rober Duvall. Or more recently with Zack Braff and Sara Polley who just directed her first film, Away From Her. (sitting in a stack of dvds yet to be watched)

The reason I started this was because I've found that actors that I enjoy watching seem to direct films that I gravitate towards, hence the two John Turturros on my list.

It is interesting that you mentioned Jackie Chan in the same post as Charlie Chaplin though. I've always thought that they had a lot of similarities. Stephen Chow has a lot in common with Bugs Bunny

Re:Top 5 movies directed by an actor or actress