What’s your favorite actor-director pairing?
Peele and Kaluuya. Gerwig and Ronan. The Coen brothers and, well, lots of actors. Here are the tandems serving up today's best cinematic synergy
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(Clockwork L to R): Saoirse Ronan and Greta Gerwig attend SiriusXM’s Town Hall on December 09, 2019. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for SiriusXM), Willem Dafoe and Robert Eggers attend The Lighthouse UK on October 05, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFI), Rachel Weisz and Yorgos Lanthimos attend the 91st Oscars Nominees Luncheon on February 4, 2019 in Beverly Hills. (Photo: ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images), Daniel Kaluuya and Writer/Director/Producer Jordan Peele on the set of NOPE (Glen Wilson/Universal Pictures).
While filming the Oscar-winning Get Out, Jordan Peele told Daniel Kaluuya, “You’re my De Niro.” Meaning that just as Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro collaborated on film after film, so too would this filmmaker and his muse. It’s why they’ve reunited for Peele’s third horror feature, the upcoming Nope, and it’s why here at The A.V. Club we started wondering what is it about certain movie stars that makes a director want to cast them again and again? What’s at the heart of that synergy on either side of a camera? Then we decided to go a little deeper, as we’re wont to do, and come up with our favorite actor-director duos. So here’s the question: Which current actor-director pairing is your favorite and why? For the answers, just read on.
141 Comments
As talented as Peele and Kaluuya are, presenting them as the standard for great actor-director pairings based on exactly one released film is almost as absurd as saying that Frances McDormand. great as she’s been in other films, stole Raising Arizona from Nicolas Cage and Holly Hunter.
Richard Dreyfuss and Stephen Spielberg.
I see your Willem Dafoe – not wrong – but raise you one Anya Taylor Joy & Robert Eggers.
I can’t unsee Taylor-Joy’s neck is just a head sitting on a giant triangle.
Clouds Of Sils Maria, Assayas’ 2014 semi-autobiographical drama. Stewart plays a high-strung assistant named Valentine (and a likely Assayas surrogate)
When was he an assistant to a theater actress?
Ben Falcone and Melissa McCarthy, obviously.
So no Herzog and Kinski?
This is the modern AV Club you’re talking to here.
The headline omits the word “current,” which was in the question actually being answered.
You guys ever hear of Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro?
That’s the whole premise of this slideshow. Read the first paragraph and you’ll see why naming them would be redundant and goofy.
I mean, these lists are never going to be wholly inclusive, but, yeah, there’s also Martin Scorcese and Leonardo DiCaprio.
TBH that would be my #1. I think after some time, people will see Scorsese’s contemporary work with Leo as equal to his “classic” period with De Niro. Leo in Wolf of Wall St is probably the best male acting performance this century.
My first instinct was to disagree, thinking he cast DiCaprio in roles he was too young or too pretty to believably inhabit. But looking at their collaborations that’s really only true for Gangs. He was solid in the Aviator, and his youth was a feature in Departed. And he’s now aged into believability in pretty much any role (really looking forward to Killers of the Flower Moon, one of the most fucked-up stories you’ll ever read).
I was expecting this one way more than Tarantino and DiCaprio
And what about M. Night Shyamalan and M. Night Shyamalan?
Tell me you haven’t read the article without reading the article …
Um, hopefully you mean: Tell me you haven’t read the article without telling me you haven’t read the article …
Who reads these fucking slideshows?
They’re not on Twitter, so no
Rian Johnson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt? Maybe that’s a cheat because Levitt is in every Johnson movie. But I’ve also liked every Johnson movie soooo…I’m gonna stick with it.
PSH and PT Anderson
Or the other Philip, Baker Hall, and Paul Thomas Anderson.
Permanent Supportive Housing and the Parent Teacher Association are natural partners.
So many good ones to pair with PTA. In addition to Hoffman and Hall, there’s Day-Lewis, Moore, Macy, Reilly
This would be The Correct Answer, except that it doesn’t really count as “current,” albeit for depressing reasons.
When I saw the title, my first thought was Raimi+Campbell. I also have a soft spot for Anderson+Murray/Wilson Bros
David Lynch/Laura Dern will always be my favorite.
Lynch and Naomi Watts >>>
While I like the Dern pairing better, I can’t argue too hard with your choice. Naomi Watts has been note perfect in every scene she’s done with Lynch.
Dern and MacLachlan are essentially direct conduits for Lynch’s vision. Both are great choices. So is Watts for that matter. Also: Lynch and Harry Dean Stanton. Or: Lynch and Jack Nance.
It’s still super early in the relationship, but I am LOVING the pairing of Ben Stiller and Patricia Arquette. Escape from Dannemora and Severance have maybe the two most interesting characters Arquette has ever played.
Spike Lee angrily tweets out Denzel Washington’s address … at The AV Club!
(The pairing of Spike Lee with Ossie Davis and/or Ruby Dee also works for the above)Also, no mention of Hitchcock and Cary Grant …or Hitchcock and James Stewart?EDIT: OK OK, I re-read that it says “Current Actor/Director Pairing”. But I still stand by Hitchcock and Grant being timeless!
I’d agree, though I’d also say Hitchcock and Jimmy Stewart is right up there with him and Grant. Vertigo and Rear Window are among the best work either the director or actor ever did. Especially since in Vertigo, Hitchcock did the otherwise seemingly impossible – make Jimmy fucking Stewart have a clearly visible dark side.
(Not that Stewart didn’t have his issues as a person, but on screen he always seemed like the most virtuous sonofabitch imaginable.)
At this point, Edgar Wright should be required to work with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Love all of his work with them, disappointed in all his output without them.
Hollywood fucking ruined him, IMHO. Shoulda stayed in Blighty.
I always found Greta Gerwig’s casting of Saiorse Ronan kinda eye-rollingly narcissistic.“Well, if the audience squints, it looks like it’s still me playing the patience-trying ingenue …”
Yeah, I hate it when directors make movies loosely based on themselves and cast one of the greatest living actors to portray them. For shame!
one of the greatest living actors …Damn! I – I almost choked on my Rice Krispies!Poor Saoirse! I hope she keeps that restraining order against you constantly up to date!
The snark is strong and baffling with this one
Dunst and Copolla for me. They just compliment each others very ethereal and dreamy approaches to cinema. There is a level of magical escapism that I don’t always experience when watching a film, but always experience this when they are together.
Dick Miller, Robert Picardo, and Joe Dante.
You guys put up Quentin Tarantino and went with Leonardo DiCaprio?I mean… no offense to Leo, the guy is great and all, but you gotta give credit where credit is due and switch that over to Samuel L Jackson, the one guy that Tarantino utilizes in just about every one of his movies—compared to just the 2 times we’ve seen Leo.Here’s the list to clarify what you missed:
• Jules (Pulp Fiction)
• Ordell (Jackie Brown)
• Rufus (Kill Bill Volume 2)
• The Narrator (Inglorious Basterds)
• Stephen (Django Unchained)
• Major Marquis Warren (The Hateful Eight)That’s more than half of Tarantino’s directorial filmography.
I was gonna suggest Tarantino and Feet, but this works too.
Everyone in Hollywood has worked with feet
Perhaps, but Tarantino works with them the way other artists might work in oils or clay. It is his true medium, a master.
Wes Anderson and Bill Murray. Both like being eccentric and absurdist so they play nice together. Also Wes Anderson and Jason Schwartzman. And also Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson.
Bonus points for Anderson helping Murray completely reinvent his career with Rushmore.
Don’t forget Wes Anderson and Jeff Goldblum. Or Wes Anderson and Bob Balaban. Or Wes Anderson and the Voice of George Clooney.
Or Wes Anderson and Tilda Swinton … and Anjelica Huston … and Adrien Brody!
Anderson basically created Murray’s late-career persona (onscreen, anyway), moving him from rakish irreverent smartass to world-weary irreverent smartass.
Why does Weisz deliver her every Lobster line in such an awkward, unshakeable deadpan.Why does [EVERY ACTOR IN A YORGOS LANTHIMOS FILM] deliver [HIS/HER/THEIR] every [YORGOS LANTHIMOS FILM] line in such an awkward, unshakeable deadpan.
I ask a similar question about actors’ line readings in Wes Anderson movies.
They don’t in The Favourite, though.(The others, sure, but presumably it’s deliberate to up the creepiness factor.)
Some of my favorite contemporary pairings not mentioned in this piece:Michelle Williams/Kelly Reichardt. I love Reichardt’s naturalistic style and settings for her films, and Williams always gives excellent, understated performances in them.Ethan Hawke/Richard Linklater. I mean, they just complement each other so well. The Before trilogy is their greatest long-term collaboration, but I still love Boyhood as well. Don’t think they’ve worked together since Boyhood though…they need to get on that!Song Kang-ho/Bong Joon-ho. Always in for a treat when these two make a movie.
This is a good list.
“Song Kang-ho/Bong Joon-ho”Oh, that’s a great one.
Damn, I wish I’d thought of Hawke/Linklater. That’s a truly great duo together.
Indeed. A bonus that Hawke helped Linklater with writing the Before trilogy movies I believe (along with Julie Delpy too).
That’s correct – they wrote all three together, though Hawke and Delpy didn’t get screenwriting credits until the third one, as I recall. A true collaborative effort.
I’m still bitter Song wasn’t even nominated for Best Actor for Parasite. He shoulda won that going away.
Anderson/Schwartzman/Murray
Thought for sure that Coogler/Jordan would show up because of their amazing work the last decade. But some of my favorites over the years:Eastwood/FreemanM. Night/WillisSpike/DenzelSpielberg/Hanksdel Toro/Doug JonesMichael Bay/explosions
I was just gonna mention that explosions’ career has been flagging a bit since Michael Bay has been on hiatus.
Well, I really only mentioned it because I just watched Ambulance while on a flight a couple days ago. Besides Gyllenhaal sublime performance, this is what caught my attention:~25 minutes in: “Who directed this? Because they love using drones to fly down the sides of buildings to get into the action.”~25 minutes later, a car wrecked in a crazy way, “Hold on, is this Michael Bay?”A little later, a car flies through a dead end, “It’s got to be him.”A little while later, a car runs into another car, flips, and catches on fire instantly, “It is, it is Michael Bay!”
Inane conversational snippets never witnessed in real life yelled at top volume and an edit every 5-7 seconds didn’t clue you sooner?
There are so many copycats I guess my Bay-sense was fooled. Honestly, my first clue should’ve been the protagonist desperate for money driving off in a restored first gen chop top Bronco that could probably sell for $70-100k in L.A.
You have a good point—no one prompts more Dumb Copycats Done Dirt Cheap than MB. Four words which can strike rampant nausea and intellectual dread in a discerning movie goer? A Michael Bay Film.
good call on del Toro and Doug Jones
Ron Perlman also.
Michael Bay peaked with Mystery Men.
Shit. I like that movie, which is why I never associated Bay with it, I guess.
In fairness he didn’t direct and as far as I know didn’t have any association with the actual production of the film, but he did a fine job as one of the Frat Boys.
Yes. By all means, you may bring ze brewskis.
I didn’t even realize that was Bay. Mystery Men is a guilty pleasure.
“List slides”, control + F “Laura Dern + David Lynch”, no results found, close tab.
Nolan and Sir Michael Caine.
Nolan & Clunky Expository Dialogue
*Scorsese* and DiCaprio. Tarantino and Jackson.
Don’t forget Pesci
Yes!
Depp and Burton. Mortensen and Cronenberg. Yun-fat and Woo.Bale and Nolan.
Savage Steve Holland and John Cusack
I wish Cusack saw this partnership the way we fans do.
Amen to that. I should have said Curtis Armstrong instead.
I remain bewildered by Cusack’s disappointment in how Better Off Dead turned out. I mean he was present while they were filming this:…and this:So what did he really expect? And then why did he go back for One Crazy Summer (a classic left in the shadow of BOD)??
It was all timing. Cusack had already signed on for One Crazy Summer before Better Off Dead was released or even screened. According to Holland he arranged for a cast viewing the night or weekend (I forget which) before production started on OCS and that was Cusack’s first time seeing it. I bet he would’ve had a different reaction if he’d seen it by himself or before he had signed on for another Holland film.About ten or so years ago Cusack did an interview talking about the whole deal. He said it was mostly that he was young and both full of himself and incredibly self-conscious, which is a tough combo in reaction to that particular protagonist. He doesn’t hate the movie or Holland, he just moved on and remains bemused that it has such a cult fandom. I don’t think he finds it nearly as funny as the fans do. But I also don’t know that he has a great comic sensibility. He’s kinda hit or miss on that score, imho.
I mean, I can see that. It’s sort of like the recent article discussing how Beck didn’t want Weird Al using Loser as the basis for a parody song because he wasn’t yet established and already worried about being taken seriously. Probably also doesn’t help that for a long time (and maybe still) his most popular roles were takes on the same character (BOD, OCS, Say Anything, High Fidelity) even though he had some truly excellent performances mixed in that caught less attention (Grosse Point Blank, Eight Men Out).
He also said something interesting, which is that when he was doing press for BOD he was getting questions about other projects he was associated with, which he took to mean that everyone had already dismissed BOD. He didn’t understand (and still doesn’t, by his admission) how movie journos operate.(And hey, maybe he has a point.)
Possibly because this was his first (modestly) high-profile role and they were curious about his career, but I understand the frustration.Hopefully at this point he recognized that it’s a hell of a lot harder to make a truly funny and enduring comedy than other genres of film.
Mia Farrow and Woody All-what? Why are you all looking at me like that?
We’re talking about movies; not picking up orphans from every country you visit like they’re collectable spoons.
Wong Kar-Wai and Tony Leung.
I’m gonna say Fellini and Mastroianni because Fellini and Mastroianni need to be mentioned somewhere in an article like this.
Yeah but you’re flying way under the radar for contemporary AV Club writers.
Cronenberg/Mortensen has just been yielding gold. David Lynch and Kyle MacLachlan is generally a good time too (if you count Twin Peaks and The Return).
Good call. I would add Lynch and Dern.
Lynch + Watts would be my personal favorite.
I always enjoy a good Christopher Nolan/Michael Caine pairing.
Sam Peckinpah and L.Q. Jones.
Was going to say Hanks and Spielberg but then I remembered how awful The Terminal was so withdrawn.
But Spielberg and Richard Dreyfus is totally viable.In addition to the two blockbuster classics (one of them a very solid candidate for best movie – as opposed to “film”– of all time), Always is an underrated & quite enjoyable movie. Audrey Hepburn as God! Holly Hunter and John Goodman! C’mon!
Tarantino and, well, a bunch of actors but mostly Samuel L. Jackson. Spike Lee has a good creative relationship with Jackson as well, and it was serendipity that Jackson got to announce Lee’s first Oscar win.Leslie Nielsen and ZAZ. They let him achieve his lifelong goal of becoming a comedic actor with Airplane, they put him in Police Squad, they made three Naked Gun films with him and he got to play the president in the third and fourth Scary Movie films.Bong Joon-ho and Song Kang-ho have made remarkable films together. Their best work is, of course, Parasite, for which Song deserved an Oscar as well.Alfred Hitchcock made four iconic film each with James Stewart and Cary Grant.Toshiro Mifune and Akira Kurosawa are practically synonymous. They did 16 films together until they parted ways in 1965.
It is just fascinating where you can have a working relationship with someone where you make SIXTEEN movies together, and yet still have a falling out.
I suppose it’s not really relevant that McDormand and Joel Coen have been married for the entirety of both their movie careers, but still seems worth mentioning.
Sometimes nepotism’s justified!
Mike Flanagan and his super hot wife. (…Google…) Kate Siegel! He’s put Carla Gugino and Henry Thomas in most of his stuff too.
For me, it will always be Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune.
Leone and EastwoodDespite being a huge asshole, David O Russell has done solid work with Mark Wahlberg, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Christian Bale
Almodivar / Penelope Cruz?!
A few of my faves:Zhang Yimou/Gong LiGrant/HitchcockStewart/HitchcockKelly/HitchcockMifune/KurosawaHerzog/KinskiCarpenter/RussellFalk/CassavetesDietrich/von Sternberg
Raimi and Campbell is a damn good choice. That said, for my money, right now I’ve have to go with Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan – they have both been among the best in their roles in the last decade, and both seem to bring out the best in the other. I’m not sure anyone tops them at the moment.I’m also surprised no one said Spike Lee and Samuel L. Jackson, Wes Anderson and Bill Murray (or Jeff Goldblum, or about 20 other people in his group), or Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy (though they haven’t worked together a few years). I’d also give honorable mention to Guillermo del Toro and Doug Jones.I’m glad, however, that no one said Tim Burton and Johnny Depp.
Edit: no one in the slideshow, that is. I see other commenters have had the same thoughts I did (other than Guest/Levy).
John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands, Herzog & Kinski, Lynch & Kale
As wonderful as their movies are, the McDormand/ Coens pairing seems unfair since she IS married to one of them. It’s not really a challenge for them to cast her since they could easily write/ schedule for her.
Anthony Mann & Jimmy Stewart. Fight me.Soderbergh & Clooney is an underrated tandem.
Anthony Mann and James Stewart is a fantastic one but seems like only a few of us recognise the importance of Anthony Mann pre epics…
If this was all-time and not current, there is no answer better than Herzog & Kinski.
Billy Wilder and Anyone.
(Do you think that they said “today’s” pairings because the writers are too young/unversed to… nah, never mind.)
Cameron/SchwarzeneggerDonner/Gibson
It’s not high art, but I’ve enjoyed all the David Fincher-Brad Pitt collabs. Yes, even long ass Benjamin Buttons.
The late Jûzô Itami and his wife Nobuko Miyamoto. They were a great team.
I’m split between McDonagh and Farrell and McDonagh and Rockwell. In Bruges is a favorite of mine so I’m going with Farrell.Surprised Wes Anderson isn’t on this list anywhere, specifically for Owen Wilson or Bill Murray. While it’s not my pick, shocked PTA and DDL aren’t here. Ditto for Spielberg and Hanks.
neve campbell and wes craven
Since the thread branched off into old pairings: Alec Guinness and David LeanBill Paxton and James CameronMike Leigh and Jim Broadbent (Mike’s got a bunch though. Timothy Spall & Leslie Manville too.)Paul W S Anderson and Mila Jovovich? (I’m just naming them cause I thought of them just now and … nevermind)
I enjoyed the first Resident Evil movie well enough and the recent Monster Hunter movie was surprisingly fun. They set it up for a sequel I hope gets made.That said, all the RE sequels/prequels were hot garbage.
I like to think Paul and Milla’s career planning is based upon adapting whatever videogame they enjoy playing together at the time.
I have a thing for Tony Scott + Denzel Washington
This list is totally bunk. If you want to do a list like this it has to be 3 movie pairs at least. The only merit here is Rami and Coens. The rest are two-fers that no one would notice (save Wright/Pegg). How can Tarantino be paired with Leo when it’s clear Q/Sam Jackson are attached at the hip (Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Django, Hateful 8 ). Duh. But particularly the Eggers/Dafoe call set me off. I watched The Northman specifically because of this post (and I thank you, I loved it) but Dafoe is in this movie for less than 1 minute of screen time – yer done!
I’d have to go David Lynch and Kyle MacLachlan
Johnny Depp and Tim BurtonIt’s like they were made for each other.
Ferrell and McKay
Mel Brooks & Gene Wilder
“Current” is a vague qualifier in this context. I mean, Scorcese and De Niro is actually much more current than a lot of pairings listed even though we’re skipping them. Echoing others, I would’ve said Tarantino and Jackson (or maybe a few others) over DiCaprio but they haven’t worked together in a while. Same with Spike and Denzel (16 years and counting). Wes Anderson and…it’s too hard to pick from
Murry/Wilson/Wilson/Brody/Swinton/Norton/Huston/Balaban/Goldblum/Dafoe/McDormand
which maybe defeats the purpose but I would probably go for Brody or
Dafoe at this point. Anderson, Tarantino, the Cohens, and Almodovar
(maybe he and Cruz would rank, even if she’s not as enjoyable as some of the OGs) are
the obvious kings of cinematic synergy. Wright, Pegg, and Frost will probably permanently at the top of my list. Not a movie that isn’t funny and they are equally important parts of the formula. I would blindly go into any project of theirs. In a similar vein, I really want to say Taika Waititi and Jermain Clement but Waititi seems to be too big and busy for them to collaborate again. The Cohens and McDormand might be second, since Tutoro hasn’t worked with them over 20 years.
Personal favorites not already mentioned: Guadagnino and Swinton, and I’m going to cheat for a few based on upcoming projects that I am really interested in and preemptively say 1) both
Guadagnino and Chalemet, and Guadagnino and Stuhlbarg based on their second collaboration in Bones and All; 2) Peele and Daniel Kaluuya who will presumably immediately rank in a couple of weeks once Nope is out; 3) going to also go out on a limb for
Nolan and Cillian Murphy based on Openheimer which will be their third project that I bet won’t be the last; and 4) Barry Jenkins and Mahershala Ali based solely on the potential of any second collaboration in the future.
No Dennis Dugan and Adam Sandler? They have done 8 movies together. Several are terrible, but Happy Gilmore is hilarious and the first Grown Ups is way funnier than it should have been.
It’s small sample statistics so far, but we need more Jane Campion and Holly Hunter.
Off-screen bullshit aside, David O’Russell got absolutely fantastic performances out of Mark Wahlberg back in the day. He was never as good as he was in his films. The Fighter is great, but I Heart Huckabees and Three Kings remain two of my all-time favorite movies.
Other good examples not mentioned
– Steve McQueen & Michael Fassbender- Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson- Chris Nolan & Tom Hardy
No Wes Anderson at all?Wes + Bill Murray would be my pick.
List written to be too self-consciously hip. No entry for “Hitchcock and —.” Either Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart would’ve been obvious & justifiable choices.No entry for “Scorcese and —.” DeNiro writes himself in, and DiCaprio is obvious & justifiable.Hell: James Cameron & Michael Biehn.Martha Coolidge & Michelle Meyrink.