Favourite directors: Paul Thomas Anderson

Paul Thomas Anderson is another of my favourite directors. I love the intelligence, ambition and unpredictability of his films, as well as the way he explores deeply flawed, obsessive and often lonely characters. From the sprawling ensemble drama of Boogie Nights and Magnolia to the brooding intensity of There Will Be Blood and the strange, intimate beauty of Phantom Thread, every film feels distinctively his own. His fluid camerawork, inspired use of music and remarkable ability to draw career-best performances from his actors make him one of the most original and accomplished filmmakers of his generation.

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Favourite directors: Damian Chazelle

I love Damien Chazelle as a director, especially because of the extraordinary way he combines music, emotion and visual storytelling. La La Land and Whiplash are right up there with my favourite movies of all time. Although very different in tone, both explore the exhilarating power of artistic ambition and the painful sacrifices that can accompany it. Whiplash is electrifying in its intensity, while La La Land is romantic, visually beautiful and deeply bittersweet. Chazelle understands how music can drive a story and express emotions that words cannot—and he creates endings that linger in my mind long after the film is over.

I am equally in awe of Chazelle’s longtime musical collaborator, Justin Hurwitz, an incredible composer whose music is fundamental to the power of these films. The beautiful, aching melodies of La La Land and the fierce, propulsive original score of Whiplash do not merely accompany the images—they help tell the story and give the films their emotional pulse. Their partnership is made even more special by their friendship: Chazelle and Hurwitz met as students at Harvard, became roommates and bandmates, and began creating films together long before either was famous. That history must give them an extraordinary intuitive understanding of one another. Chazelle dreams in images and Hurwitz seems to know exactly what those dreams should sound like. 

 

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Favourite directors: David Cronenberg

David Cronenberg is one of my favourite directors because he makes films that are daring, intelligent and deeply unsettling. He is renowned for exploring the relationship between the body, the mind and technology, most famously through the disturbing body horror of The Fly. But his range extends far beyond horror: films such as A History of Violence, Eastern Promises and Crash reveal his fascination with identity, desire, violence and the darker reaches of human nature. His work is never conventional or easily forgotten—he takes strange, provocative ideas seriously and turns them into films that linger in the mind long after they end.

 

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Favourite directors: Danny Boyle

Danny Boyle is one of my favourite directors. I love the sheer energy, visual inventiveness and brilliant use of music that he brings to his films. Trainspotting is raw, darkly funny and fiercely alive, capturing both the exhilaration and devastation of addiction with unforgettable style. Slumdog Millionaire is very different but equally exhilarating—a sweeping, emotional story filled with colour, movement, romance and hope. Boyle has an extraordinary ability to make films that feel urgent, unpredictable and bursting with life.

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Favourite directors: Robert Zemeckis

Robert Zemeckis is one of my favourite directors, especially because he created Forrest Gump and the Back to the Future trilogy—some of my favourite movies of all time. I love the way he combines imaginative storytelling, humour, adventure and technical innovation with genuine warmth and emotion. His films are wonderfully entertaining, but they also have enormous heart, memorable characters and an enduring sense of wonder.
 

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Favourite directors: Christopher Nolan

I’ve just come home from seeing The Odyssey, and once again I was reminded why Christopher Nolan is my favourite filmmaker working today. Every time I walk out of one of his films, I feel like I've experienced something rather than simply watched it. His movies linger. They invite reflection. They make me want to see them again—not just to catch what I missed, but because they continue unfolding long after the credits roll.

Part of his genius lies in the remarkable creative team he has built around him. He has worked alongside his wife and producer, Emma Thomas, since the very beginning, and his brother Jonathan has been instrumental in shaping many of his greatest stories. More recently, editor Jennifer Lame has brought extraordinary rhythm and emotional precision to his films. It's a reminder that while Nolan is a visionary, great art is often born from enduring creative partnerships.

Then there are the stories themselves. Nobody constructs a narrative quite like Nolan. The Prestige remains, in my view, one of the greatest screenplays ever written, with not one but two breathtaking twists that completely transform everything that came before. Memento turned storytelling inside out, allowing us to experience memory loss rather than simply observe it. Interstellar somehow combines hard science, breathtaking spectacle and one of the most moving father-daughter stories ever put on screen. And the ending of Inception—that spinning top—may be the perfect ending because it leaves us wrestling with a deeper question than whether Cobb is dreaming: what is reality, and does our experience of it ultimately matter more than certainty?

But what elevates Nolan above almost every other blockbuster director is that he's never really making films about explosions, spies, superheroes or space travel. Those are simply the vehicles. Beneath them lie profound existential questions. What is time? What is identity? How much of who we are is memory? Can love transcend space and time? What is sacrifice? How should we live when faced with uncertainty? He trusts his audience to engage with these questions rather than reducing them to simple answers.

Perhaps that's why his films resonate with me so deeply. They embody what I believe great art should do. Great art doesn't merely entertain—it expands consciousness. It stretches the imagination, deepens our perception, and leaves us seeing ourselves and reality a little differently than before.

After The Odyssey, I'm more convinced than ever that Christopher Nolan isn't just one of the great filmmakers of our time. He's one of the great storytellers. And in a culture that often underestimates the power of story, that's a rare and precious gift.

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