Director: Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood has directed more than forty features since 1971, which makes him one of the most prolific American directors alive, and he did it while remaining a movie star. The working method is famously fast: minimal takes, small crews, no rehearsal, and a stated preference for the first version of a performance over the polished one.

His best films interrogate the persona the westerns built for him. Unforgiven is a deliberate dismantling of the gunfighter, Million Dollar Baby refuses the sports-film ending, and Gran Torino puts the tough loner in a situation violence cannot solve. He won Best Director and Best Picture twice, for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby.

The output is uneven and he does not appear to mind. Working at that speed produces both the films that last and the ones that vanish, and Eastwood has been open that he would rather make the next one than perfect the current one.