It seems harder and harder for a director to have himself an acting muse in this day and age of cinema. Gone are the legendary collaborations: Scorsese/De Niro, Wilder/Lemmon, Hitchcock/Stewart, Fellini/Mastroianni, Kazan/Brando, Brooks/Wilder, Kurosawa/Mifune, Ford/Wayne, Bergman/Ullmann, Herzog/Kinski, Leaud/Truffaut, Dietrich/Von Sternberg. What modern-day actor/director partnership could one day be deemed worthy of the 11 mentioned? Here are a few that have contending potential.
Martin Scorsese/Leonardo Dicaprio
Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), Shutter Island (2010), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Wes Anderson/Bill Murray
Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), The Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
Steve McQueen/Michael Fassbender
Hunger (2008), Shame (2011), 12 Years A Slave (2013)
Paul Thomas Anderson/Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Hard Eight (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (2000), Punch-Drunk Love (2002), The Master (2012)
Joel and Ethan Coen /John Goodman
Raising Arizona (1987), Barton Fink (1991), The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
James Gray / Joaquin Phoenix
The Yards (2000), We Own the Night (2007), Two Lovers (2009), The Immigrant (2013)
Michael Haneke /Isabelle Huppert
The Piano Teacher (2001), Time of the Wolf (2003), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017)
Richard Linklater/Ethan Hawke
The Piano Teacher (2001), Time of the Wolf (2003), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017)
Richard Linklater/Ethan Hawke
Before Sunrise (1995), Tape (2001), Waking Life (2001), Before Sunset (2004), Fast Food Nation (2008), Before Midnight (2013), Boyhood (2014)
Jeff Nichols/Michael Shannon
Quentin Tarantino/ Samuel L. Jackson
Pulp Fiction (1994) Jackie Brown (1997) Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004) Inglourious Basterds (2009, uncredited) Django Unchained (2012) The Hateful Eight (2015)
Kelly Reichardt/Michelle Williams
Wendy and Lucy (2008), Meek's Cutoff (2011), Certain Women (2016)
Wendy and Lucy (2008), Meek's Cutoff (2011), Certain Women (2016)
Lars Von Trier/Stellan Skarsgard
Melancholia (2011), Nymphomaniac (2014), Breaking the Waves (1995), Dogville (2004), Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Tim Burton/Johnny Depp
Edward Scissorhands (1990), Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), The Corpse Bride (2005), Sweeney Todd (2007)
Mike Leigh/Timothy Spall
Life is Sweet (1991), Secrets and Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), Mr. Turner (2014)
Pedro Almodovar/Penelope Cruz
Live Flesh (1997), All About My Mother (1999), Volver (2006), Broken Embraces (2009), I'm So Excited (2013)
Melancholia (2011), Nymphomaniac (2014), Breaking the Waves (1995), Dogville (2004), Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Tim Burton/Johnny Depp
Edward Scissorhands (1990), Ed Wood (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999), The Corpse Bride (2005), Sweeney Todd (2007)
Mike Leigh/Timothy Spall
Life is Sweet (1991), Secrets and Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All or Nothing (2002), Mr. Turner (2014)
Pedro Almodovar/Penelope Cruz
Live Flesh (1997), All About My Mother (1999), Volver (2006), Broken Embraces (2009), I'm So Excited (2013)
DC's "Clayface" has earned an A- CinemaScore from opening night audiences. That's a very good grade for any movie, and an especially rare one for horror, a genre audiences tend to grade harshly.