Directors

Directors work with actors, cinematographers, editors, and craftspeople to bring the script to the screen. From sets and props to pace and expression, the director determines the detail of every scene. The final edit of the film is rarely up to the director — the studio has final cut. Directors also may lack veto power over product placement. Directors in these rankings worked on at least two top-grossing films since 2002.

Rank Director Score Films With smoking With brands
1 Quentin Tarantino 4083 7 7 3
2 Clint Eastwood 3330 10 9 6
3 Martin Scorsese 2695 5 4 3
4 Todd Phillips 1943 7 7 2
5 Ridley Scott 1141 8 7 0
6 Spike Lee 1071 6 6 4
7 Shane Black 909 2 2 1
8 Kathryn Bigelow 902 3 3 3
9 Edgar Wright 891 5 5 5
10 Jay Roach 875 3 3 0
11 Andy Muschietti 855 2 2 3
12 David Fincher 792 4 4 1
13 Ben Affleck 782 4 4 0
14 Brian De Palma 769 2 2 5
15 Richard Linklater 735 4 4 1
16 Mike Nichols 677 2 2 2
17 Robert Zemeckis 653 2 2 1
18 Benny Boom 638 2 2 2
Sam Mendes 638 5 4 0
19 Tony Scott 633 3 2 1
20 Todd Haynes 630 2 2 1
21 David Cronenberg 555 3 3 3
22 Stephen Gaghan 554 2 2 2
Edward Zwick 554 4 4 0
23 John Hillcoat 548 3 3 5
24 Antoine Fuqua 534 7 6 1
25 Paul Thomas Anderson 499 5 4 2
26 David O. Russell 487 4 2 0
27 Frank Miller 483 2 2 0
28 Ethan Coen 482 4 4 1
29 Robert Rodriguez 474 4 4 2
30 Eli Roth 454 6 5 3
31 Craig Brewer 452 2 2 4
32 Luca Guadagnino 440 3 3 2
Harmony Korine 440 2 2 0
33 Wes Anderson 438 4 4 0
David Ayer 438 4 4 1
34 Greg Mottola 406 3 3 3
35 Rob Zombie 403 6 6 2
36 David Leitch 399 3 3 1
37 Ruben Fleischer 382 4 3 0
38 Brian Helgeland 381 2 2 0
39 F. Gary Gray 365 3 3 0
40 Chad Stahelski 362 3 3 0
41 James Ponsoldt 359 2 2 3
42 Scott Cooper 349 4 4 0
43 Paul Feig 348 4 3 0
44 Mike Mills 341 2 2 2
45 Deon Taylor 332 4 1 3
46 Guillermo del Toro 325 4 3 0
47 D.J. Caruso 321 3 3 1
48 Francis Lawrence 319 2 2 1
49 George Clooney 314 3 3 3
50 Tom Ford 309 2 2 1
51 Michael Mann 302 4 3 3
Jonathan Hensleigh 302 2 2 0
52 Gore Verbinski 300 2 2 3
53 Richard Curtis 289 3 3 0
54 Guy Ritchie 287 3 3 0
55 Tomas Alfredson 280 3 3 0
56 Brad Furman 278 3 3 0
57 Ang Lee 277 3 3 0
58 Alexander Payne 273 4 3 4
Andrew Dominik 273 2 2 0
59 Tom Hooper 270 2 2 0
60 Jean-Marc Vallée 263 3 3 1
61 Jeff Tremaine 262 3 3 3
62 John Wells 256 2 2 1
63 Lorene Scafaria 255 2 2 2
64 Joe Wright 237 2 2 0
Ron Howard 237 3 3 2
65 Tom Tykwer 225 3 3 2
66 Zack Snyder 224 3 2 0
67 Joel Coen 222 2 2 0
68 Alejandro González Iñárritu 220 3 3 0
69 Michael Caton-Jones 219 2 2 1
70 George Tillman, Jr. 217 2 2 1
71 Neill Blomkamp 216 3 3 0
72 Adam McKay 214 4 3 0
73 James Mangold 211 3 3 0
74 Michael Bay 210 3 3 1
75 Mikael Håfström 209 2 2 3
76 Stephen Chow 207 2 2 0
77 Luc Besson 204 3 3 0
78 David Gordon Green 201 5 4 0
79 Craig Gillespie 200 2 2 0
80 Sofia Coppola 198 4 3 0
81 Jonathan Levine 195 5 5 0
82 Danny Boyle 193 6 2 1
83 Gregory Hoblit 192 3 2 0
84 Pierre Morel 191 3 3 0
85 Sylvester Stallone 190 2 2 0
86 Derek Cianfrance 189 2 2 0
87 Franc Reyes 188 2 2 1
88 Zach Braff 183 2 2 1
89 James Wan 179 5 4 0
James Gray 179 3 3 0
90 Steven Knight 172 2 1 0
91 Denis Villeneuve 166 5 4 0
92 Barry Levinson 164 2 2 0
93 Glenn Ficarra 163 3 3 0
94 John Requa 161 2 2 0
95 Tyler Perry 159 3 3 1
96 Fede Alvarez 158 3 3 0
97 Niels Arden Oplev 156 2 2 0
Susanne Bier 156 3 1 0
98 Jay Chandrasekhar 153 4 4 0
Stephen Frears 153 2 2 0
99 Paul W.S. Anderson 152 4 2 0
100 Drew Goddard 150 2 2 0
101 Kevin Smith 149 5 4 0
102 Simon West 148 2 2 0
103 Roman Polanski 143 2 2 0
104 Louis Leterrier 137 2 2 3
105 Darren Aronofsky 135 3 3 0
Matthew Vaughn 135 3 3 0
106 Brad Anderson 133 2 2 1
107 Martin McDonagh 131 3 3 0
Brian Koppelman 131 2 1 1
108 Gavin O'Connor 128 3 3 1
109 Roger Donaldson 127 2 2 0
110 Anton Corbijn 121 2 2 0
111 John Madden 120 2 2 0
112 Noah Baumbach 115 4 4 2
113 Ariel Vromen 114 2 2 0
Gus Van Sant 114 2 1 0
Paul Haggis 114 3 3 0
114 Robert Eggers 113 3 1 0
115 Joel Schumacher 111 2 2 0
116 James Foley 108 4 2 0
117 Andy Wachowski 103 2 1 0
118 John Crowley 102 2 2 0
119 Peter Spierig 101 2 2 0
120 Luke Greenfield 98 2 1 0
Mel Gibson 98 3 1 0
121 Alexandre Aja 97 5 2 0
122 Joe Carnahan 95 2 2 0
123 Pablo Larraín 94 2 2 0
124 Scott Derrickson 92 2 2 0
125 J.C. Chandor 90 2 2 0
Pedro Almodóvar 90 4 4 0
126 Neil Jordan 89 2 1 0
127 Miguel Arteta 85 5 4 0
Tony Goldwyn 85 2 2 0
128 Michael Patrick King 84 2 2 0
Larry Charles 84 4 4 0
129 Michael Cuesta 83 2 2 0
130 Martin Campbell 82 3 3 1
Jim Sheridan 82 2 2 1
131 Jonathan Demme 80 2 2 0
Judd Apatow 80 5 5 0
132 Leslie Small 79 3 2 1
Patrick Lussier 79 2 2 1
133 Mike Leigh 78 2 2 0
134 Daniel Alfredson 77 2 2 0
135 Yann Demange 76 2 2 0
136 Darren Lynn Bousman 73 3 2 0
137 Rodrigo García 72 2 1 2
Jason Reitman 72 4 1 4
138 Andrzej Bartkowiak 71 2 2 0
139 Harold Ramis 70 2 2 2
140 Chris Rock 69 2 2 0
Gavin Hood 69 2 2 0
141 Jordan Peele 68 2 2 0
142 Michel Gondry 67 2 2 0
143 Seth MacFarlane 66 3 2 0
144 Ari Aster 65 2 1 0
145 Ruben Östlund 64 2 2 0
146 Michael Dowse 62 2 1 0
147 David Gordon Green 61 2 1 1
148 Sebastián Lelio 59 2 2 0
149 Nicolas Winding Refn 58 2 2 1
Charlie Kaufman 58 2 2 0
150 Dan Fogelman 57 2 2 1
Brian Taylor 57 3 3 0
Jaume Collet-Serra 57 2 2 0
Mark Neveldine 57 3 3 0
151 Renny Harlin 54 2 2 0
David Mamet 54 2 2 0
William Friedkin 54 2 2 0
Baltasar Kormákur 54 2 2 0
152 Yorgos Lanthimos 52 2 2 0
153 Neil Marshall 51 3 3 0
154 Timur Bekmambetov 50 2 2 0
155 Steven Soderbergh 49 5 3 0
156 Tim Story 48 3 2 0
James McTeigue 48 3 3 0
Fernando Meirelles 48 2 1 1
157 Tarsem Singh 46 2 1 0
158 Jake Kasdan 45 3 3 0
Peter Berg 45 4 3 0
159 David R. Ellis 44 3 2 0
160 Nicholas Stoller 42 5 2 0
John Michael McDonagh 42 2 2 0
161 Marcus Dunstan 41 2 1 0
Malcolm D. Lee 41 3 1 0
162 John Moore 40 2 2 0
163 Steve McQueen 39 2 2 0
Michael Moore 39 5 4 0
Jon Avnet 39 2 1 0
164 John Erick Dowdle 38 3 2 0
165 Matt Bettinelli-Olpin 37 3 2 0
Tyler Gillett 37 2 2 0
166 Doug Liman 36 2 1 0
167 Tate Taylor 34 2 2 0
Sean Anders 34 3 2 0
168 Oren Moverman 32 2 2 0
Gareth Evans 32 2 2 0
169 John Hamburg 31 2 1 0
Len Wiseman 31 2 2 0
Mike Binder 31 2 2 0
170 Oliver Stone 30 3 2 0
171 Marcus Nispel 28 4 2 0
Benny Safdie 28 2 2 0
Josh Safdie 28 2 2 0
172 Wes Craven 26 2 1 0
173 Kimberly Peirce 24 2 1 0
Akiva Schaffer 24 2 1 0
174 Mort Nathan 23 2 1 0
175 Alex Garland 22 3 0 0
Steve Pink 22 3 2 0
176 Bill Condon 20 2 2 0
177 Noam Murro 17 2 1 1
178 Paul Greengrass 16 2 1 0
Tim Miller 16 2 1 0
179 Johannes Roberts 15 2 1 0
180 Michael Haneke 12 2 2 0
Woody Allen 12 3 2 0
181 Taylor Hackford 11 2 2 1
David Dobkin 11 3 1 1
David Twohy 11 2 2 1
Babak Najafi 11 2 1 0
182 Bille Woodruff 10 2 1 0
183 Jim Jarmusch 9 3 3 0
Mike Flanagan 9 2 1 0
Jon Hurwitz 9 2 1 0
Nimród Antal 9 3 1 0
184 Michael Chaves 7 2 1 0
185 Bobby Farrelly 6 2 1 0
Nima Nourizadeh 6 2 2 2
Jon Lucas 6 4 1 0
Michael Showalter 6 2 2 2
Scott Moore 6 4 1 0
186 Nicole Holofcener 4 2 1 0
John Francis Daley 4 2 1 0
James DeMonaco 4 3 1 0
Adam Wingard 4 2 1 0
Jonathan Goldstein 4 2 1 0
187 Jorma Taccone 3 2 1 0
Michael Tiddes 3 3 1 0
Phil Lord 3 2 1 0
Mark Romanek 3 2 1 0
188 Dax Shepard 2 2 1 0
189 Jay Duplass 1 2 1 0
Walter Hill 1 2 1 0
190 Henry Joost 0 2 0 0
Christian Alvart 0 2 0 0
Gregory Plotkin 0 2 0 0
Kevin Greutert 0 2 0 0
David Wain 0 2 0 0
Leigh Whannell 0 2 0 0
Daniel Espinosa 0 2 0 0
Seth Gordon 0 3 0 0
Christopher Landon 0 2 0 0
Ben Falcone 0 2 0 0