Quality and quantity: Acclaimed directors with prolific resumes

Soderbergh’s affinity for experimentation has helped fuel his prolific nature ever since he burst onto the scene with “Sex, Lies, & Videotape.” He’s a guy who will shoot a movie on a phone, or do a largely-improvised quasi-guerilla shoot on a ship, but also have Meryl Steep be in the cast. Soderbergh is no slouch, though. Famously he competed against himself at the Oscars when he was nominated for Best Director for both “Traffic” and “Erin Brockovich,” and 2025 is another two-fer year for him.

Speaking of years with two releases from a director, in 1993 Spielberg had as good of a year as anybody. “Jurassic Park” saw the director once-again have the highest-grossing movie in history, and then he won Best Director and Best Picture for “Schindler’s List” for good measure. Even though Spielberg has directed so many massive blockbusters, he keeps working, and he’s well over 30 films (and counting).

Hitchcock does have his foot in old-school filmmaking, as he started directing in the silent era. However, he was not in Hollywood, but in his native Britain. Let’s say you decided to start with his American debut in 1940’s “Rebecca.” He still would have 31 movies on his filmography. Hitchcock was prolific of his own volition, and he created movies both pulpy and acclaimed such as “Psycho” and “Rear Window.”

In 2017, Scott turned 80. By that point he had directed “Alien,” “Gladiator,” and “Blade Runner,” among others. He had a fine filmography to be sure. Since turning 80 he’s directed four films, including “Gladiator II” which came out in 2024. That was his 29th film, so he has a chance to both direct into his nineties and hit the 30-film mark.

Eastwood is famous for working quickly. Want to have a movie come in under budget and ahead of schedule? Eastwood has been the man for that for years. The actor-turned-director made his debut behind the camera with 1971’s “Play Misty for Me,” which he also starred in. In 2024 he delivered “Juror No. 2,” presumably on time and on budget. He’s hit the 40-film mark, and he has multiple years to his name with multiple movies released.

Burton is a bit more polarizing, loved deeply by many but accepted in lukewarm fashion by others. There are definitely some iffy offerings in America’s number-one spooky boy’s filmography, though some of those like “Alice in Wonderland” were huge hits. Plus, Martin Landau won an Oscar for “Ed Wood.” With a couple animated films in the mix (but NOT “Nightmare Before Christmas”), Burton has 20 films in a 40-year career. A film every two years is certainly prolific.

Howard, like Eastwood, is an actor turned director. Also like Eastwood, his greatest skill is being a steady hand. There is no “Ron Howard feel” to a movie, but he’s directed blockbusters (“Apollo 13”) and Oscar winners (“A Beautiful Mind”). A graduate of the Roger Corman school of directing, Howard has directed 28 films, mostly of the steady, watchable B-/C+ variety.

Altman definitely had a style, and he was a defining ‘70s filmmaker. In that decade he delivered “MASH,” “The Long Goodbye,” “Nashville,” and more. Then he directed “Popeye” in 1980. Altman kept directing though, all the way until 2006 when he delivered “A Prairie Home Companion” just before he passed on. That was his 35th movie.

A four-time nominee for Best Director at the Oscars, Lumet is a bit underrated in the grand scheme of things. The man directed “Dog Day Afternoon” and “Network” in back-to-back years! There are over 40 films on Lumet’s resume, not all of them gritty New York movies. Just, you know, a bunch of them.

It doesn’t quite feel like Scorsese is prolific all the time, maybe because his films are always viewed as a major moment in cinema. Having directed 26 narrative films in over 50 years means he has been active, if not on, say, Altman’s level. However, Scorsese has also directed 17 feature-length documentaries. Oh, and he’s considered by many the best director of all time. Put that all together, and he’s a fair inclusion.

For many Kurosawa is synonymous with Japanese cinema. Sure, Takashi Miike has been more prolific, maybe even alarmingly prolific, but that dude is a maniac and “polarizing” is as kind as you can be in terms of acclaim. Kurosawa is considered one of the best directors in history. Kurosawa directed 31 films, while also working as a screenwriter or assistant director on many more.

Shyamalan bought his way onto this list in a sense. Once Hollywood cooled on him, the director of “The Sixth Sense” and other films started putting his own money behind his productions. That helped him start cranking out more movies. While he’s “only” directing 15 movies, Shyamalan’s first film came out in 1998. Thus, he’s delivered 15 movies in under 30 years, and clearly he intends to deliver more.

We know, but this isn’t “Acclaimed and prolific directors who are also totally chill and don’t make people feel uncomfortable.” Allen directed a Best Picture winner in Annie Hall and has over 50 movies on his filmography. He’s as prolific as anybody who didn’t work within the studio system, and he was hugely successful in his heyday. Multiple Oscar winners have come out of his movies. That is independent of who he is as a person.

Wilder did make his American directorial debut in 1942, but he was never a “studio system” director. When you look at his filmography, you will find “listed in the National Film Registry” next to seven of them. “Some Like It Hot” is a classic comedy, and “The Apartment” won Best Picture. Including a film he made in France, Wilder delivered 27 movies, 26 of them coming in under 40 years.

When you think about French film, even if you are no cinephile, you surely think of Godard. His name is synonymous with Francophone filmmaking. Godard directed six documentaries, and also segments in several anthology movies. In terms of his own features, though, he helmed 38 of them.