Nightcrawler and 4 Other Best Directorial Debuts of the 2010s
We recall five directors who made a big splash with their debut films.
Jordan Peele's Get Out was the highest-grossing directorial debut based on original material. Many people hone their skills on their first films to do their best work at the peak of their careers, but these directors immediately turned cinema on its head.
1. Nightcrawler, 2014
Dan Gilroy's Nightcrawler is an almost perfect first movie, something you can only dream of. To top it, or even come close, is no easy task.
The story of Louis Bloom, who is so obsessed with filming events that he is willing to break his status as a silent observer to record them on film, found the key to the hearts of audiences and the press.
However, the film was criminally underrated during awards season, ignoring one of the best performances of Jake Gyllenhaal's career.
2. Ex Machina, 2014
Alex Garland is a rare example of a person who seems to be talented at everything. He began his career in literature, publishing the dystopian novel The Beach in 1996, which was later made into a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
After that, Garland combined his career as a novelist, screenwriter, and video game author. In 2015, he finally made his big screen debut with Ex Machina, a low-budget film that won an Oscar for best special effects and earned Garland a nomination for best original screenplay.
Garland then directed Annihilation, a scandalous film that was deemed too clever for distribution and sent straight to Netflix.
3. The Witch, 2015
In 2015, director Robert Eggers debuted his film at the Sundance Film Festival, and it became a new horror classic.
The Witch, a story about 17th century New England, is now a regular on lists of the best horror films of the decade/21st century/history, and is considered a model of the elevated horror genre.
Robert Eggers, like most of the directors on this list, passed the test with his second film and lived up to expectations.
4. Lady Bird, 2017
Greta Gerwig has never been just an actress or, as she is often called, Noah Baumbach's muse. Since her screen debut in 2006, she has often helped the director refine his scripts.
After a long collaboration with Baumbach, Gerwig made her solo directorial debut with the teen comedy Lady Bird, which established her as the next great director. Lady Bird has earned five Oscar nominations and inclusion in best of the decade lists.
5. Get Out, 2017
Comedian Jordan Peele scraped together $4 million to make Get Out, which surprised many by becoming a sensation at the Sundance Film Festival, earning back its budget dozens of times over and receiving numerous nominations for prestigious awards, with Peele himself winning an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Fast forward a few years, and Get Out has not been forgotten, standing the test of time and making its way onto lists of the best films of the decade.