Directors who are household names

[P-Rock]

Originally Posted by GasmaskAvenger

The closest that I can think of are Ang Lee and Takashi Miike.

They're not "household names", but definitely a tier under "household name".

They are definitely considered household in their own country.

[The Sovereign]

From a USA perspective, I would say Spielberg and Hitchcock would lead the pack. Followed by Scorsese, Tarantino and Kubrick. I'd also include comedy directors Allen and Brooks - maybe even John Hughes. I'm not sure how many really know that Chaplin directed as well.

From the classics era, I'd say Capra and Wilder; perhaps Ford. Hard to say how many others would be considered household, despite the popularity of their films.

Internationally it gets even harder to say if there is really household awareness, but Fellini, Kurosawa and Bergman would have to be the top of that list.

[GasmaskAvenger]

Originally Posted by P-Rock

Anime
Katsuhiro Otomo
Mamoru Oshii
Satoshi Kon
Makoto Shinkai
Hayao Miyazaki
Shinichiro Watanabe
Mamoru Hosoda
Osamu Tezuka
Yoshiaki Kawajiri

You forgot Hideaki Anno.


I do wish I could add Shinya Tsukamoto and the late Andrzej Żuławski to their respective countries, but they're uber underground cult darlings (Tsukamoto being slightly more "known" by people than Żuławski, though Żuławski has risen in "cult" popularity in the last few years).

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Judd Apatow could be from comedy. Whether writing, producing or directing.

[Joeker]

The Coehn Bros.

[P-Rock]

Originally Posted by Joeker

The Coehn Bros.

Coehn? Doesn't ring a bell.

[chip75]

Depends on the household and the people within. I'd imagine you'd be hard pressed to find a director that's a household name in every house with just a TV.

I'd imagine Spielberg is one of the most well known working directors on sight. Hitchcock before him.

[stvn1974]

Spielberg, Tarantino and Eastwood are the only three I think you could walk up to 10 people on the street and 7 could tell you who they are by giving them a film they directed and asking them who made it. Hitchcock might be recognized if you only asked older people.

I bet if you asked most people to name who directed the Dark Knight Trilogy they couldn't tell you. Same goes with Scorsese and Coppola. People who frequent movie boards are a minority.

[Rayjaymay]

Wes Anderson and maybe Paul Thomas Anderson.

[P-Rock]

Originally Posted by Rayjaymay

Wes Anderson and maybe Paul Thomas Anderson.

And Paul W.S. Anderson

[GLaDOS]

Off the top of my head...

Stanley Kubrick
Alfred Hitchcock
Martin Scorcese
David Fincher
Christopher Nolan
Quentin Tarantino
Steven Spielberg
James Cameron

[imsounoriginal]

Spielberg
Scorsese
Eastwood
Woody
Shyamalan
Hitchcock
Tarantino
Nolan
maybe Fincher and Cameron. EDIT: and maybe Bay.

I'm just going by the names my very movie-illiterate friends/family would know.

[Creed]

You guys basically got most of it.

Edgar Wright (for the British and some of the US, mainly Baby Driver)
Denis Villeneuve (people basically love all his work)

[stvn1974]

I don't think most of you know what "household names" means. Coke, Kleenex, Ford are household names. I guarantee you if you went up to 10 random people on the street and asked them who directed Goodfellas most couldn't tell you.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by creed123

You guys basically got most of it.

Edgar Wright (for the British and some of the US, mainly Baby Driver)
Denis Villeneuve (people basically love all his work)

Yeah but there's a difference between knowing/liking a director's work and actually knowing who the director is. Like, I doubt most people know who Coppola is despite everyone knowing of The Godfather trilogy (honestly there's a part of me that thinks people hear "Coppola" these days and think about wine first).

[GLaDOS]

Originally Posted by creed123

You guys basically got most of it.

Edgar Wright (for the British and some of the US, mainly Baby Driver)
Denis Villeneuve (people basically love all his work)

I'm pretty sure outside of Scott Pilgrim, people in the States wouldn't know about him (don't get me wrong, I f*cking love his movies)

Same with Villeneuve. The guy started out with smaller movies like Incendies and Prisoners, and he's still building up his resume with Sicario, Arrival, and the new Blade Runner. He's yet to make a huge mark on the industry like Spielberg, Kubrick, or even Nolan.

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Darren Aronofsky

How can anyone not know his brilliance. And if you don't. You're a fool.

[Creed]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

Yeah but there's a difference between knowing/liking a director's work and actually knowing who the director is. Like, I doubt most people know who Coppola is despite everyone knowing of The Godfather trilogy (honestly there's a part of me that thinks people hear "Coppola" these days and think about wine first).

You're right on that.

Originally Posted by GLaDOS

I'm pretty sure outside of Scott Pilgrim, people in the States wouldn't know about him (don't get me wrong, I f*cking love his movies)

Same with Villeneuve. The guy started out with smaller movies like Incendies and Prisoners, and he's still building up his resume with Sicario, Arrival, and the new Blade Runner. He's yet to make a huge mark on the industry like Spielberg, Kubrick, or even Nolan.

At least the British loved him. Heck, most knew him for Spaced before he made the Cornetto trilogy.

[shinobipopcorn]

People might know who you mean when you say "John Waters" or "Ed Wood", but I'm thinking it's less because of their works and more because of their notoriety. Waters is known more as a gay icon and journalist, while Ed Wood is more familiar to young people as the Burton film.

[L-Rouge]

Peter Jackson.

but I wonder if people know of Roger Donaldson (Dante's Peak, Species, Worlds Fastest Indian), Andrew Niccol( Gattaca, The Truman Show), Lee Tamahori (Once Were Warriors, Die Another Day, The Edge) and Martin Campbell (Golden Eye, Mask Of Zorro), I think only a small contingent of kiwi's would recognize our own home grown talent xD