The DGA's 80 Best-Directed Films

The DGA released a list of what their members believe to be the eighty best-directed films since 1936, when the guild was founded.

"...this was an opportunity for the people who actually do the job to focus specifically on the work of the director and his or her team. Members participating totaled 2,189 (13.7 percent of all Guild members)."

1. The Godfather - Francis Ford Coppola

2. Citizen Kane - Orson Welles

3. Lawrence of Arabia - David Lean

4. 2001: A Space Odyssey - Stanley Kubrick

5. Casablanca - Michael Curtiz

6. The Godfather: Part II - Francis Ford Coppola

7. Apocalypse Now - Francis Ford Coppola

8. Schindler’s List - Steven Spielberg

9. Gone With the Wind - Victor Fleming

10. Goodfellas - Martin Scorsese

11. Chinatown - Roman Polanski

12. The Wizard of Oz - Victor Fleming

13. Raging Bull - Martin Scorsese

14. Jaws - Steven Spielberg

15. It’s a Wonderful Life - Frank Capra

16. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb - Stanley Kubrick

17. The Shawshank Redemption - Frank Darabont

18. The Graduate - Mike Nichols

19. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope - George Lucas

20. Blade Runner - Ridley Scott

21. On the Waterfront - Elia Kazan

22. Pulp Fiction - Quentin Tarantino

23. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial - Steven Spielberg

24. Annie Hall - Woody Allen

25. Saving Private Ryan - Steven Spielberg

26. Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa

27. A Clockwork Orange - Stanley Kubrick

28. Raiders of the Lost Ark - Steven Spielberg

29. Vertigo - Alfred Hitchcock

30. Sunset Boulevard - Billy Wilder

31. To Kill A Mockingbird - Robert Mulligan

32. Psycho - Alfred Hitchcock

33. The Searchers - John Ford

34. Forrest Gump - Robert Zemeckis

35. Singin’ in the Rain - Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly

36. 8 ½ - Federico Fellini

37. The Third Man - Carol Reed

38. The Best Years of Our Lives - William Wyler

39. Rear Window - Alfred Hitchcock

40. The Bridge on the River Kwai - David Lean

41. North by Northwest - Alfred Hitchcock

42. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - Miloš Forman

43. The Sound of Music - Robert Wise

44. Taxi Driver - Martin Scorsese

45. Titanic - James Cameron

46. The Shining - Stanley Kubrick

47. Amadeus - Miloš Forman

48. Doctor Zhivago - David Lean

49. West Side Story - Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise

50. Some Like it Hot - Billy Wilder

51. Ben-Hur - William Wyler

52. Fargo - Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

53. The Silence of the Lambs - Jonathan Demme

54. The Apartment - Billy Wilder

55. Avatar - James Cameron

56. The Hurt Locker - Kathryn Bigelow

57. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - John Huston

58. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) - Alejandro G. Iñárritu

59. All About Eve - Joseph L. Mankiewicz

60. The Deer Hunter - Michael Cimino

61. There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson

62. The Sting - George Roy Hill

63. The Wild Bunch - Sam Peckinpah

64. Alien - Ridley Scott

65. Rocky - John G. Avildsen

66. The Conformist - Bernardo Bertolucci

67. Gandhi - Richard Attenborough

68. The Bicycle Thief - Vittorio De Sica

69. Cinema Paradiso - Giuseppe Tornatore

70. Brazil - Terry Gilliam

71. The Grapes of Wrath - John Ford

72. All the President’s Men - Alan J. Pakula

73. Barry Lyndon - Stanley Kubrick

74. Touch of Evil - Orson Welles

75. Once Upon a Time in America - Sergio Leone

76. Unforgiven - Clint Eastwood

77. The Usual Suspects - Bryan Singer

78. Network - Sidney Lumet

79. Rashomon - Akira Kurosawa

80. Once Upon a Time in the West - Sergio Leone

Crowd Control: A Crowdsourced Science Fiction Novel

With the help of a few hundred of their readers contributing to the process, CNET has just released its first installment of Crowd Control: Heaven Makes a Killing, their crowdsourced science fiction novel.

The work, produced under a Creative Commons license, was developed using one Google Docs file that was accessed by all the contributors. The current version of Crowd Control comes in at approximately 50,000 words, and is considered a work-in-progress. 

Crowd Control takes us to Earth Version EB-2 in 2051.

The moment that would come to define the relationship of two planets across two universes was based on a lie.

"So, you're telling us that you know God? You're saying you've spoken to God, essentially?"

The host sat leaning forward with her elbows on her knees, speaking slowly, wanting to be sure to get the phrasing just right to prevent the evasive answer she anticipated.

"Sure, I know God very well," the tall woman said nonchalantly, leaning forward in response. She turned her head and shot a grin at the TV camera. Her smile telegraphed complete confidence but also betrayed a bit of mischievousness to anyone paying close attention.

"I mean, it doesn't actually call itself God, but I can assure you it is the Creator we talk about when we talk about God, or Allah or Brahma or Yahweh. Many names, same intelligent designer of everything."

Like all good lies, this one was designed to be applied broadly.

CNET has the original draft posted online "for anyone to take from or build upon."

New On Blu: In a Lonely Place

New this week from the Criterion Collection is In a Lonely Place, written by Andrew Solt based on a story by Dorothy B. Hughes, directed by Nicholas Ray, and starring Humphrey Bogart as Dixon Steele, cinema's most hot-tempered fictional screenwriter.

"When a gifted but washed-up screenwriter with a hair-trigger temper—Humphrey Bogart, in a revelatory, vulnerable performance—becomes the prime suspect in a brutal Tinseltown murder, the only person who can supply an alibi for him is a seductive neighbor (Gloria Grahame) with her own troubled past. The emotionally charged In a Lonely Place, freely adapted from a Dorothy B. Hughes thriller, is a brilliant, turbulent mix of suspenseful noir and devastating melodrama, fueled by powerhouse performances. An uncompromising tale of two people desperate to love yet struggling with their demons and each other, this is one of the greatest films of the 1950s, and a benchmark in the career of the classic Hollywood auteur Nicholas Ray."

Special features include a new 2K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray, a new audio commentary featuring film scholar Dana Polan, the 1875 documentary I’m a Stranger Here Myself, anew interview with biographer Vincent Curcio about actor Gloria Grahame, a featurette from filmmaker Curtis Hanson, the 1948 Suspense radio adaptation from 1948 of the original Dorothy B. Hughes novel, the trailer, and an essay by critic Imogen Sara Smith.

In a Lonely Place is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and Amazon Video.

Trailer: Inferno

Ron Howard has a teaser trailer ready for his adaptation of Dan Brown's bestselling Robert Langdon thriller Inferno, arriving in theaters on October 28, 2016.

Author Richard Russo Has Lived The American Dream

NPR talked with novelist Richard Russo about class, politics, his latest novel, Everybody's Fool, and living the American dream.

Marvel's Civil War Begins

Captain America: Civil War premieres in theaters today, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, based upon the comic book by Mark Millar, and directed by Anthony and Joe Russo.

Writers On Instagram: Josh Boone Shares the Cover Page of Interview with a Vampire

Josh Boone, director of The Fault in Our Stars and writer/director of Stuck in Love, shared a shot of the cover page of his latest work, a new adaptation of Interview with the Vampire. Co-written with Jill Killington, the script draws its story from two Anne Rice novels, Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Lestat.

A photo posted by Josh Boone (@joshboonemovies) on Apr 22, 2016 at 7:18pm PDT

Deadline: Academy Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting

The deadline for the Academy Nicholl Fellowship in screenwriting is upon us. Submissions close on May 2nd.

Instructions on how to apply can be found on the AMPAS website.

Max Landis Explains How The Movie Industry Works

In defense of Scarlett Johansson's casting in Ghost in the Shell, writer Max Landis (Chronicle, American Ultra, Victor Frankenstein) posted a YouTube video to explain how Hollywood works.

Writers On Twitter: J.K. Rowling Reveals Her Favorite Harry Potter Character (Other Than Harry)

After writing seven Harry Potter novels, J.K. Rowling has revealed her favorite character in the series... next to Harry himself.

Dumbledore. https://t.co/pY9HKUHiaB

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 11, 2016

Subway Reading

Who knew that watching people watching someone read could be so much fun?

Trailer: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The teaser trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has just been released this morning and it looks great.

While I was concerned when they first announced this, I am completely assured but this preview that the Star Wars stand-alone films are on the right track.

Trailer: The BFG

Disney and Steven Spielberg have brought Roald Dahl's classic children's tale to life for the big screen.

The BFG opens in theaters on July 1, 2016.

100 Greatest One-Liners: Before The Kill

No kill on screen is fully satisfying unless you get that last zinger in before you pull the trigger. Burger Fiction has put together a supercut of their take on the one hundred best one-liners right before the kill.

Writers on Twitter: Etan Cohen Comes to a Sad Realization

Etan Cohen, screenwriter of Tropic Thunder, Men in Black 3, and Get Hard, realizes he might have envisioned the world of Idiocracy a little too well.

I never expected #idiocracy to become a documentary.

— Etan Cohen (@etanjc) February 24, 2016

This Day in Screenwriting History: February 20, 1981

On this day in 1981, Star Wars creator George Lucas finished the first draft of Revenge of the Jedi, later to be retitled Return of the Jedi.

New On Blu: Trumbo

New this week from Universal is Trumbo, the story of blacklisted screenwriter and two-time Academy Award winner Dalton Trumbo, written by John McNamara based on a book by Bruce Cook, directed by Jat Roach, and starring Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, and Helen Mirren.

"In 1947, Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) was Hollywood's top screenwriter until he and other artists were jailed and blacklisted for their political beliefs. Trumbo (directed by Jay Roach) recounts how Dalton used words and wit to win two Academy Awards and expose the absurdity and injustice of the blacklist, which entangled everyone from gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) to John Wayne, Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger."

Trumbo is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and Amazon Video.

Writers on Twitter: Stephen King Gets Political

Stephen King sums up just how horrifying the 2016 Presidential campaign has become.

The stupidest, ugliest Presidential campaign in my entire life: HOUSE OF CARDS meets SHARKNADO.

— Stephen King (@StephenKing) February 15, 2016

And The 2016 Oscar Nominees Are...

Just announced this morning by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, these are the writing nominees for the 2016 Academy Awards:

WRITING - ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Bridge of Spies - written by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

Ex Machina - written by Alex Garland

Inside Out - screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg Lefauve, and Josh Cooley, from a story Pete Docter and Ronnie del Carmen

Spotlight - written by Josh Singer and Tom McKay

Straight Outta Compton - Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff, from a story by S. Leigh Savage & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff

WRITING - ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Big Short

Brooklyn - screenplay by Nick Hornby

Carol - screenplay by Phyllis Nagy

The Martian - screenplay by Drew Goddard

Room - screenplay by Emma Donoghue

Fifty Years Ago Today...

Batman premiered on ABC on January 12, 1966. 

Created by William dozier and Lorenzo Semple Jr., based on Bob Kane and Bill Finger's original character, Batman starred Adam and Burt Ward as the Caped Crusader and Robin. Key writers for the show included Semple, Stanley Ralph Ross, Charles Hoffman, and Stanford Sherman.