Films with the same writer and director

I always like, and think some of the best films are the ones with the same person serving as both writer and director (James Cameron is a good example of this), makes them more personal. What are some great films where the person took on these dual roles? is there any showbiz person you think is particularly good at this?

Writer/directors go back to the Silent era with giants like D.W. Griffith through Hollywood Golden Age greats such as Orson Welles and John Huston and Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges to the generation of Film School Brats who came of age in the 1960s and '70s as the Studio System was collapsing and of course has continued into the present day. Many of the greatest directors to ever work in the medium are also credited screenwriters, and most of the others give at least uncredited shaping in pre-production (sometimes with the writer's collaboration, sometimes without).

A shorter list is who are some of the greatest directors who have never also gotten credit as screenwriter, especially in the Post-Studio System era?


And for the record, I think Jim Cameron is one of the worst screenwriters around, especially where dialogue is concerned. But, hey, different strokes and all! Some of us may prefer the likes of Huston, Sturges, Kubrick, and Sayles while others groove to James Cameron.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Sam Peckinpah
Werner Herzog
Wes Anderson
Darren Aronofsky
Quentin Taratino
John Boorman
John Milius
David Lynch
Alan Parker
John Huston


These are some of my favorite writer/directors.

The trend is actually becomming much more common for directors to write their own stuff.

However, Ridley Scott and Steven Spielberg do not write and I can't think of any better "Directors" than these two guys.

I would also agree that JC is an extremely bad writer. I would also say he is a fair to poor director.


As writer/directors go, Quentin Taratino has been a marvel. He's had huge influence on the current trend of young directors writing their own films.

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Lawerence Kasdan is the first one that came to mind. He's usually an excellent screen writer and has directed and wrote for at least a few of his films

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One of my fave writer/directors is Richard Brooks. He didn't write many original screenplays (Bite the Bullet and $ being the standouts), but he was a master at adaptations. He began writing scripts for other directors, such as The Killers and Key Largo, but quickly transitioned to directing his own adaptations. Between 1955 and 1967, he adapted and directed the following very good films: Blackboard Jungle, The Last Hunt, Something of Value, The Brothers Karamazov, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Elmer Gantry, Sweet Bird of Youth, Lord Jim, The Professionals and In Cold Blood. For those films alone, he received five Best Screenplay Oscar nominations and three for Best Director.

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My IMDb page

Some of my favorites...

Jim Sheridan

John Hughes

Buster Keaton

Charles Chaplin

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I'm pretty sure that Mel Brooks falls into this category as well. Some hilarious stuff.

Although many directors started as screenwriters in the 1930's, they stopped writing their own movies once they became directors. This may have been because the studio's compartmentalized system frowned on it. This changed in a big way in the early 1940's when Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder, and John Huston, among Hollywood's top screenwriters, started directing. It didn't make much sense for those guys to be directing scripts from writers less talented than they.

I second Richard Brooks and Mel Brooks (both awesome).

For the record, I used cameron as an example of someone who does both and is a recent example, I don't always think his movies are the greatest

I'll definitly check through those listed here. Richard Brooks particularly has peaked my interest.

Good point.