I went from Hitchcock to Varda and neither are one of the 10 easiest directors to work with. My film education started early. My dad had been given a bunch of old Alfred Hitchcock VHS tapes with their white labels and pen scrawl. Is that Lifeboat or Rebecca? It’s hard to say, pop it in and we’ll find out. Because of this phase I began to be known for my love of Hitch. My aunt gave me Hitchcock/Truffaut the historic interview between the two legendary film directors… for my 9th birthday. I promise you, I am nowhere near as pretentious as that sounds.
As I grew up though, I learned more about what it was like on set with a very demanding director–through more books and interviews with actors–not a childhood theater stint. No one would’ve wanted to see me act. You should see the reviews for my kindergarten performance of Glenda the Good Witch: totally panned. But the more I found out about Hitchcock, anecdotally, the less he remained my favorite film director. Long story short–he wasn’t very nice to Tippy, so Tippy says. And I believe her, because you should BELIEVE women when they say they were sexually assaulted by powerful men.
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Important conversations aside, I shifted my love to Agnes Varda when I first watched Cleo from 5 to 7. I like the movies she makes and the way she makes them. However, there are way more than just those two directors on my list, film school will do that to you.
They might be behind the camera, but the artistic and technical contribution they have on the film is simply undeniable. Directors are the soul of the film, I mean after writers and producers, of course. It is crucial for a director to gain technical experience and possess artistic merit in order to excel at their craft, but what does it mean to be easy to work with? Are the best directors those who are in the 10 easiest directors to work with?
Why should it matter that a director is easy to work with? Well, filmmaking is team effort. An easy to work with director would make film actors’ and crew work easier and smoother.
Films are made during preproduction, production and post production. Every step of the process involves a group of people with different jobs and usually takes place in different locations. When a film director is easy to work with, they can easily keep the film moving down the figurative assembly line. A good working relationship between director and crew and director and actors, will result in a great product, a great film–an award-winning film, even.
When you think about it, when a film makes waves and gains awards, it is most probably because of how well the director relayed their vision of the script to the actors, and in turn how the actors conveyed this vision and their interpretation into the movie. The more experienced, communicative and intelligent a director is, likely the easier it is to work with him/her.
When you finish reading this list, you might be interested to check 10 Easiest Celebrities To Work With as well.
We checked existing lists of the best film directors, the most awarded film directors, and from there, checked interviews of the actors they worked with to arrive to the results of the 10 easiest directors to work with.
10. The Coen Brothers
In an interview done by Variety to George Clooney about how it was like to work with The Coen Brothers, he described them as “very funny”, and “very easy to work with.” Joel and Ethan Coen has done 24 films to date, with most of them having nominations and awards in various award giving bodies. As a duo, they have been nominated in 12 Academy Awards, and have films winning Best Original Screenplay (Fargo), Best Picture (Fargo), and Best Adapted Screenplay (No Country For Old Men). They also served as chairmen during the 2015 Cannes International Film Festival.
9. Woody Allen
Woody Allen, next on our list of easiest directors to work with can easily be included in anyone’s list of the greatest Hollywood directors of all time. He has done 47 movies, almost all of them critically acclaimed and many having a big impact on film, culture and society at large. His films usually starred A-list Hollywood actors, such as Penelope Cruz, Hugh Grant, Emma Stone, Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore, and Diane Keaton, to name a few. The fact that these Hollywood actors work with him despite the many controversies Woody Allen has faced, seems as though he is able to work easily with his co-workers in the movie set. What their opinions are of him personally is different from whether they are able to easily work with him to make good art.
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8. Ang Lee
We are continuin our list of easiest directors to work with with Ang Lee, a Taiwanese-born director who has successfully made it to the Hollywood scene. According to an article from Cultural Weekly, most newbies wanted to work with Ang Lee because of the quality his movies are made of. He was known for his critically-acclaimed films that include Life of Pi, Brokeback Mountain, and The Ice Storm. Brokeback Mountain became a huge hit, and won Ang Lee several Best Picture and Best Director awards from different parts of the world. His great films and the great actors he has worked with showcase not only his talent, but also his supposed attitude in making movies. Those facts show how easy he is to work with.
7. Tim Burton
Tim Burton is not just a director. He is also a producer and a screenwriter. His films usually blend eccentric themes, fantasy, and horror–and he does it so well that it makes a great compiled work. He has garnered many award-winning films including Edward Scissorhands, Alice in Wonderland, Beetlejuice, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. According to an interview done by Rolling Stone about how Danny Elfman regarded working with Tim Burton, Tim was encouraging and easy to work with. Johnny Depp has done quite too many films with him and this would make it seem Burton has a great working attitude, which is why his actors keep working with him.
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6. John Ford
John Ford, next on the list of easiest directors to work with worked with a lot of Westerns, which is what he is most known for when it comes to his filmography. He won Academy Awards Best Director for some of his films, including The Informer and Grapes of Wrath. He was known to have a great attitude while doing the job, and always had something in mind to make the film scenes heartfelt and be able to reach the hearts of those watching.
5. Clint Eastwood
Also one of the most popular Hollywood film directors, Clint Eastwood is most known for being on e of the easiest directors to work with, which definitely explains why he is proven to be professional at work. He has directed 39 movies, and has appeared in 52 films. He has several critically-acclaimed films as well. Million Dollar Baby, for one, won him a Best Director and Best Picture from the Academy Awards. As to being easy to work with, Laura Linney, in an interview with Metro Magazine, said that “He trusts the people he works with, so he doesn’t interfere. I mean, if he doesn’t like what you’re doing, he’s certainly going to step in and say no.” He tends to be a no-brainer director, which also explains why he tends to choose to work the same people over and over, because he has already built a great relationship with them.
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4. Francis Ford Coppola
With 29 films under his belt and several Academy Awards, Francis Ford Coppola is clearly one of the best directors in Hollywood history. His film The Godfather II was the very first sequel to win a Best Picture Academy Award. An article by Vanity Fair also noted that “It seems fair to say that he is one of the few American film directors who can match Welles both for talent and for showmanship—for sheer cinematic nerve.” His creativity and high quality films, as well as how his actors speak well of him show the type of attitude he has in the set–and proves that indeed, he is among the 10 Easiest Directors to Work with.
3. Quentin Tarantino
Touted as Hollywood’s “most flamboyant director“, Quentin Tarantino has made 11 films, and was once a producer and actor as well. Christoph Waltz has this to say about the director from an interview with Independent, “He doesn’t tell you what to do. He asks your opinion about it, and then the moment the mood has developed, he directs.” Quentin may not be polite but he has a clear vision and that can make someone very easy to work with.
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2. Martin Scorsese
One of the best directors in Hollywood and one of the easiest directors to work with – there are nothing but kind words about him when you ask the actors what is was like to be in a film directed by Martin Scorsese. NY Times did an interview with Issey Ogata, a Japanese actor who worked with Scorsese in the film Silence. He described his working relationship with Martin Scorsese like a religious experience, saying “I feel like Marty is just the most happy person on the set. And so every time I saw Marty, I really felt very inspired, and it’s contagious, a sort of happiness, and always made me feel that I really wanted to give everything, give it all, to this film, and to Marty. That kind of inspiration and belief, maybe it’s similar to faith.”
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1. Steven Spielberg
Also dubbed as the greatest director in Hollywood of all time, Academy Award-winning Steven Spielberg has directed 39 films. He is also a writer, producer, and actor. He is said to be very involved in making his films, which sets his films apart from many others. He is known to be very professional, and has even been called a directorial genius. According to Business Insider from an interview with Ed Burns about working with said director, “He allowed us several takes to figure things out for ourselves. So much that he didn’t provide any direction for almost two weeks.” He did not barge in when actors made mistakes, and allowed them to do what they knew they had to do.
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The bottom line is that when a director has extensive experience and has developed the mastery of his craft, he tends to be easy to work with. The more proficient they are, the more they are understood by the actors, the better their working relationship would be. The 10 easiest directors to work with all have great films you can see, and from the scenes, you can sense how easy they worked on it in the set.
