This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many filmmakers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early works by Orson Welles such as his filming of his stage production of Twelfth Night in 1933 or his experimental short film The Hearts of Age in 1934. Often these early works were not intended for commercial release either by intent, such as film school projects or inability to find distribution.
Subsequently, many directors learned their trade in the medium of television as it became popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Notable directors who did their first directorial work in this medium include Robert Altman, Sidney Lumet, and Alfonso Cuarón. As commercial television advertising became more cinematic in the 1960s and 1970s, many directors early work was in this medium, including directors such as Alan Parker and Ridley Scott. With the success of MTV and the popularity of music videos from the early 1980s, this gave another avenue for directors to hone their skills. Notable directors whose early work was in music videos include David Fincher, Jonathan Glazer, Michel Gondry, and Spike Jonze.
The following symbols indicate where a director has worked in another medium prior to directing commercially.
♦ Indicates where a director has created other earlier works for television
# Indicates when a director's earlier work is uncredited
† Indicates when a director's earlier work has not been released in cinemas, for example film school productions, short films or music videos.
Refer to individual entries for further detail.
1880s
edit1887
edit1890s
edit1896
edit1898
edit1900s
edit1901
edit1907
edit- Sidney Olcott – The Wooing of Miles Standish
1908
edit- Louis Feuillade – L'Homme aimanté
- D. W. Griffith – The Adventures of Dollie
1909
edit1910s
edit1920s
edit1930s
edit1940s
edit1950s
edit1960s
edit1970s
edit1980s
edit1990s
edit2000s
edit2010s
edit2020s
edit2020
edit- Max Barbakow – Palm Springs
- Halle Berry – Bruised
- Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz† – Antebellum
- Brian Patrick Butler† – Friend of the World
- Eric D. Cabello Diaz – El Camino de Xico
- Tony Cervone♦ - Scoob!
- Dean Craig† – Love Wedding Repeat
- Joel Crawford† – The Croods: A New Age
- Jack Danini† – Ode to Passion
- Emerald Fennell† – Promising Young Woman
- Michael Fimognari† – To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You
- Will Forbes – John Henry
- Jeff Fowler† – Sonic the Hedgehog
- Edward Hall♦† – Blithe Spirit
- Sam Hargrave† – Extraction
- Chris Henchy† – Impractical Jokers: The Movie
- David Henrie† – This Is the Year
- Natalie Erika James† – Relic
- Desideri Trujillo – The Land Is Over
- Anthony Jerjen† – Inherit the Viper
- Aneil Karia♦† – Surge
- Glen Keane – Over the Moon
- Regina King♦† – One Night in Miami...
- Natalie Krinsky – The Broken Hearts Gallery
- Patrice Laliberté♦† – The Decline
- Rob Lodermeier – The Willoughbys
- Viggo Mortensen – Falling
- Jekaterina Oertel – DAU. Natasha
- Prentice Penny♦† – Uncorcked
- David Prior† – The Empty Man
- Emma Seligman† – Shiva Baby
- Tomotaka Shibayama – A Whisker Away
- Remi Weekes♦ – His House
- Autumn de Wilde† – Emma
- David S. F. Wilson† – Bloodshot
- Florian Zeller♦ – The Father
2021
edit- Elaine Bogan♦ – Spirit Untamed
- Mika Boorem† – Hollywood.Con
- Paul Briggs and John Ripa – Raya and the Last Dragon
- Laura Brousseau and Kevin Pavlovic – The Addams Family 2
- Jonathan Butterell – Everybody's Talking About Jamie
- Enrico Casarosa – Luca
- Ryan Crego♦ – Arlo the Alligator Boy
- Bakhtyar Fatah♦ – 09
- Hamish Grieve† – Rumble
- Maggie Gyllenhaal♦ – The Lost Daughter
- Rebecca Hall – Passing
- Brandon Jeffords – Vivo
- Lisa Joy♦ – Reminiscence
- Fran Kranz – Mass
- Johane Matte, Francisco Ruiz Velasco and Andrew L. Schmidt – Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans
- PJ McCabe – The Beta Test[nb 91]
- Simon McQuoid – Mortal Kombat
- Brian Andrew Mendoza† – Sweet Girl
- Lin-Manuel Miranda – Tick, Tick... Boom!
- Edson Oda – Nine Days
- Mike Rianda - The Mitchells vs. the Machines
- Alessandra de Rossi – My Amanda
- Rodo Sayagues – Don't Breathe 2
- Evan Spiliotopoulos – The Unholy
- Liesl Tommy♦ – Respect
- Mattson Tomlin – Mother/Android
- Jean-Philippe Vine – Ron's Gone Wrong[nb 92]
- Jude Weng – Finding 'Ohana
- Robin Wright†♦ – Land
- Steve Yamamoto – Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild
- Carlson Young† – The Blazing World
2022
edit- Kenya Barris♦ – You People
- Loren Bouchard♦ and Bernard Derriman†♦ – The Bob's Burgers Movie
- Reid Carolin and Channing Tatum – Dog
- John C. Donkin – The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild
- Jesse Eisenberg† – When You Finish Saving the World
- Tim Federle♦ – Better Nate Than Ever
- John Patton Ford† – Emily the Criminal
- Tom George♦ – See How They Run
- Mark Gustafson – Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
- Alex Hardcastle♦ – Senior Year
- Lee Jung-jae – Hunt
- Gail Lerner†♦ – Cheaper by the Dozen
- Pierre Perifel – The Bad Guys
- J.J. Perry – Day Shift
- Danny and Michael Philippou† – Talk to Me
- Domee Shi† – Turning Red
- Goran Stolevski† – You Won't Be Alone
- Charlotte Wells†♦ – Aftersun
- Patrick Wilson – Insidious: The Dark Realm
- Mike Cheslik† – Hundreds of Beavers
- Spider One ♦ – Allegoria
2023
edit- Carlos Alcántara – ¡Asu mare! Los amigos
- Kenya Barris♦ – You People
- Frederick C.G. Borromeo† – Distortion
- Jacob Byrd† – Adalynn
- Charlie Day – Fool's Paradise
- Tom DeLonge – Monsters of California
- Chloe Domont†♦ – Fair Play
- Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
- Felipe Gálvez Haberle – The Settlers
- Meredith Hama-Brown† – Seagrass
- Benjamin Howard† – Riley
- Raven Jackson† – All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt
- Cord Jefferson♦ – American Fiction
- Michael Jelenic♦ – The Super Mario Bros. Movie[nb 93]
- Michael B. Jordan – Creed III
- Zarrar Kahn† – In Flames
- Anna Kendrick – Woman of the Hour
- Chad Kinis – Beks Days of Our Lives
- Adele Lim – Joy Ride
- Eva Longoria♦ – Flamin' Hot
- Nicholas Maggio† – Mob Land
- Flora Martínez – Itzia, Tango & Cacao
- Chris Pine – Poolman
- Molly Preston – Freedom, Wisconsin
- A. V. Rockwell† – A Thousand and One
- Lee Hong-chi – Love Is a Gun
- M. H. Murray† – I Don't Know Who You Are
- FM Reyes – In His Mother's Eyes
- Jingyi Shao† – Chang Can Dunk
- Corey Sherman – Big Boys
- Grant Singer – Reptile
- Celine Song – Past Lives
- Julio Torres – Problemista
- Max Tzannes – Et Tu
- Fawn Veerasunthorn – Wish[nb 94]
- D. W. Waterson♦† – Backspot
- Meera Welankar – Butterfly
- Patrick Wilson – Insidious: The Red Door
- Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk – Hell of a Summer[29]
2024
edit- Cinzia Angelini and David Feiss – Hitpig!
- Michiel Blanchart† – Night Call
- Samantha Jayne♦† and Arturo Perez Jr.♦† – Mean Girls
- S. J. Clarkson♦ – Madame Web
- Spenser Cohen♦† and Anna Halberg – Tarot
- Patrick Delage♦ – Despicable Me 4[nb 95]
- David Derrick Jr.♦, Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller♦† – Moana 2
- Loris Lai – How Kids Roll[30]
- Kelsey Mann♦ – Inside Out 2
- Dougal Wilson† – Paddington in Peru
- Kelly Marcel – Venom: The Last Dance[31]
- Rachel Morrison♦ – The Fire Inside
- Dev Patel† – Monkey Man
- Jerry Seinfeld♦ – Unfrosted
- Arkasha Stevenson♦† – The First Omen
- Chris Stuckmann† – Shelby Oaks
- Zelda Williams† – Lisa Frankenstein
- Elle Márjá Eira♦† – Stolen
- Michael Felker – Things Will Be Different
- Josh Margolin – Thelma
- Ishana Night Shyamalan – The Watchers
- Manasi Sinha – Eta Amader Golpo
- Simon Otto – That Christmas
2025
edit- Madeline Sharafian♦† – Elio[nb 96][32]
- Pete Browngardt – The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
2026
edit- Tyree Dillihay♦† – GOAT[33][34]
- Erica Rivinoja – The Cat in the Hat[nb 97][35]
- Daniel Chong♦† – Hoppers[36]
Upcoming
edit- Michael Cera† – TBA[37]
- Emily Dean – Tao[38]
- John D. Eraklis and Tara Nicole Whitaker – Pierre the Pigeon-Hawk[39]
- Mark Fischbach†♦ – Iron Lung[40]
- Keith Jardine† – Killer Kafé[41]
- Scarlett Johansson† – Eleanor the Great[42]
- Jonathan Krisel – untitled Sesame Street film[43]
- Minkyu Lee† – The Witch Boy[44]
- Kristen Stewart† – The Chronology of Water[45]
- Taylor Swift† – TBA[46]
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ Co-directed with Robert N. Bradbury
- ^ As Detlef Sierck
- ^ Co-directed with Anthony Hankey
- ^ Co-directed with Hamilton Luske, Ben Sharpsteen and David D. Hand
- ^ Co-directed with Gunther von Fritsch
- ^ Co-directed with Brian Desmond Hurst
- ^ Co-directed with Robert Jordan Hill
- ^ Co-directed with Yakov Bazelyan
- ^ Directed segment Interlude in the Marshland
- ^ Co-directed with Abe Levitow
- ^ Co-directed with Bradley R. Swirnoff
- ^ Co-directed with Wolfgang Reitherman
- ^ Co-directed with Bill Melendez
- ^ Co-directed with John Lounsbery
- ^ Co-directed with Rintaro
- ^ Co-directed with Kenneth Tsang
- ^ Co-directed with Art Stevens
- ^ Co-directed with Don Bluth
- ^ Co-directed with Jesse Wells
- ^ Co-directed with Frank Lustig
- ^ Co-directed with Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells
- ^ Co-directed with Joe Johnston
- ^ Co-directed with Mike Gabriel
- ^ Co-directed with David Van Taylor
- ^ Co-directed with Peter Farrelly
- ^ Co-directed with Quentin Lee
- ^ Co-directed with Simon Wells
- ^ Co-directed with Jim Wynorski
- ^ Co-directed with Kevin Lima
- ^ Co-directed with Eric Goldberg, Pixote Hunt, James Algar and Hendel Butoy
- ^ Co-directed with Ralph Zondag
- ^ Co-directed with Richard Rich
- ^ Co-directed with Richard Rich
- ^ Co-directed with David Daniel
- ^ Co-directed with Corey Yuen
- ^ Co-directed with Norton Virgien
- ^ Co-directed with Tim Johnson
- ^ Co-directed with Efram Potelle
- ^ Co-directed with Vicky Jenson and Bibo Bergeron
- ^ Co-directed with Andrew Adamson and Kelly Asbury
- ^ Co-directed with Ryan Fleck
- ^ Co-directed with Nick Park
- ^ Co-directed with Tim Burton
- ^ Co-directed with Eric Darnell
- ^ Co-directed with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino
- ^ Co-directed with James Cameron
- ^ Co-directed with Roger Allers
- ^ Co-directed with Tim Johnson
- ^ Co-directed with John Lasseter
- ^ Co-directed with Chris Buck
- ^ Co-directed with Brad Bird
- ^ Co-directed with Vincent Paronnaud
- ^ Co-directed with Steve Hickner
- ^ Co-directed with Brian Hooks
- ^ Co-directed with Ryan Fleck
- ^ Co-directed with Sam Fell
- ^ Co-directed with Mark Osborne
- ^ Co-directed with Matthew Robinson
- ^ a b Co-directed with Pete Docter
- ^ Co-directed with Byron Howard
- ^ Co-directed with Lionel Steketee and Thomas N'Gijol
- ^ Co-directed with Stephen Anderson
- ^ Co-directed with John Lasseter
- ^ Co-directed with Alastair Fothergill
- ^ Co-directed with Barry Cook
- ^ Co-directed with Brenda Chapman
- ^ Co-directed with Chris Renaud
- ^ Co-directed with Sam Fell
- ^ Co-directed with Peter Lord
- ^ Co-directed with Steve Martino
- ^ Co-directed with Mike McCoy
- ^ Co-directed with Chris Buck
- ^ Co-directed with Guy Jenkin
- ^ Co-directed with Jocelyn Towne
- ^ Co-directed with Jennifer Yuh Nelson
- ^ Co-directed with Chris Renaud
- ^ Co-directed with Michael Thurmeier
- ^ Co-directed with Mike Mitchell
- ^ As Declan Dale
- ^ Co-directed with Garth Jennings
- ^ Co-directed with Andrew Stanton
- ^ Co-directed with Nicholas Stoller
- ^ Co-directed with Conrad Vernon
- ^ Co-directed with Pierre Coffin and Kyle Balda
- ^ Co-directed with Lee Unkrich
- ^ Co-directed with Rich Moore
- ^ Co-directed with Yarrow Cheney
- ^ Co-directed with Peter Ramsey
- ^ Co-directed with Peter Chelsom, Fernando Eimbcke, Dennis Gansel, Dani Levy, Josef Rusnak, Til Schweiger, Massy Tadjedin
- ^ Co-directed with Chris Renaud
- ^ co-directed with Jim Cummings
- ^ Co-directed with Sarah Smith
- ^ Co-directed with Aaron Horvath
- ^ Co-directed with Chris Buck
- ^ Co-directed with Chris Renaud
- ^ Co-directed with Domee Shi
- ^ Co-directed with Alessandro Carloni
References
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- ^ "15 Facts About Orson Welles' CITIZEN KANE: America's Greatest Film Turns 75". AFI.com. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
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- ^ "The 50 greatest debut movies: part six". Time Out. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "The 50 greatest debut movies: part four". Time Out. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
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- ^ Kevin Ouellette (July 15, 2008). "Review: Dangan Runner". Nippon Cinema. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
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- ^ Lang, Brent (2023-02-06). "Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk's Directorial Debut Hell of a Summer Drops First Look, Altitude Film Sales Boards Horror-Comedy (Exclusive)". Variety. Archived from the original on 2023-02-07. Retrieved 2023-02-07.
- ^ "I bambini di Gaza: ecco il trailer del film del regista italo-americano Loris Lai" [The children of Gaza: here is the trailer of the film by Italian-American director Loris Lai]. The Hollywood Reporter Roma (in Italian). 9 March 2024. Archived from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
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- ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (30 May 2024). "Goat: Sony Pictures Animation Sets Release Tied To 2026 NBA All-Star Weekend From Director Tyree Dillihay; Stephen Curry & Erick Peyton's Unanimous Media". Deadline. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
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- ^ "Michael Cera Interview: Scott Pilgrim, Barbie, The Adults". Retrieved 2023-08-16.
- ^ Zahed, Ramin (June 20, 2019). "Emily Dean Making Feature Directorial Debut with Sony's 'Tao'". Animation Magazine. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
- ^ "Tara Nicole Whitaker Making Feature Directorial Debut with Animated Pic "Pierre the Pigeon-Hawk"". August 17, 2021. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
- ^ Grobar, Matt (April 21, 2023). "Markiplier To Star In & Direct Horror Film Iron Lung From His Own Script; Self-Financed Feature Adapts David Szymanski Video Game". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on April 21, 2023. Retrieved May 1, 2023.
- ^ Cardinale, John (December 13, 2023). "First movie begins filming in New Mexico since SAG AFTRA strike". KOAT. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
- ^ Rubin, Rebecca (February 23, 2024). "Scarlett Johansson's Directorial Debut 'Eleanor the Great' Sets Cast: June Squibb, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jessica Hecht (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
- ^ Kroll, Justin (September 30, 2018). "'Sesame Street' Movie Taps 'Portlandia' Co-Creator Jonathan Krisel as Director (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Archived from the original on September 29, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
- ^ Rosario, Alexandra Del (January 28, 2021). "'The Witch Boy': Netflix To Release Animated Musical From Oscar-Nominated Director Minkyu Lee". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
- ^ Kroll, Justin (November 16, 2022). "Kristen Stewart To Direct Scott Free's Adaptation Of 'The Chronology Of Water' Starring Imogen Poots". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
- ^ Lang, Brent (December 9, 2022). "Taylor Swift Making Feature Directing Debut for Searchlight Pictures". Variety. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022. Retrieved December 11, 2022.