Famous Crime Thriller Directors

Famous directors in the crime thriller genre are:
- Quentin Tarantino
- The Coen Brothers
- Alfred Hitchcock
- David Fincher


Alfred Hitchcock was born in 1899 and died in 1980 and in that time he directed one of the most famous thrillers in history, psycho, in 1960. He has now had a film made about him and his time directing 'Psycho', (called 'Hitchcock', released in 2012) securing his status as one of the most famous directors in history.



Quentin Tarantino was born in 1963 and has directed several famous films including 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Reservoir Dogs', both of which are crime films. One of his trade marks is that he likes to use tracking shots and always has at least one long, unbroken take where the character is being followed around somewhere. This is like Alejandro G. Iñárritu in the 2014 film 'Birdman' which is all one continuous shot and is exceptionally clever and effective.



Joel Coen was born in 1954 and Ethan Coen in 1957 and together they directed famous films such as 'Fargo' in 1996 and 'O Brother Where Art Thou?' in 2000, both of which were crime however their films span many genres which they often even parody. They have won serval awards for their work including 'Fargo' which won 'Best Original Screenplay'.



David Fincher was born in 1962 and directed many of the crime thrillers I chose to look at for inspiration which I didn't realise until I looked at the films director. I had been unknowingly drawn to his work. I liked the dark tone the films had as crime films can be taken in many different ways, through from thriller to comedy, and I liked the sinister tone of his opening scenes. I would now love to look into more of his work, especially watching the rest of 'Gone Girl' and 'Seven' and exploring the angle he took when creating 'The Social Network'.