Spielberg
Kubrick
Fincher
Jackson
Cameron
Aronofsky

Peter Jackson for LOTR. Didn't the studio exec originally wanted a 2 hour movie? And Jackson said F that, I need 3 movies?

David Lean. Reading "The Bridge over the River Kwai," "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom," "Doctor Zhivago," etc., it's enticing to imagine them as films; Lean actually made them. And who else would clothe numerous extras in period-specific undergarments for the sake of authenticity?

Wes Anderson for all films after Bottle Rocket, as good as that one was.

I think you have to give George Lucas credit as certainly being visionary, but I wouldn't call him a visionary director, as his directing skills leave a lot to be desired, especially when being directly compared to some of the greatest of all time. He's more of a visionary story and concept man. He'd have to be visionary just to think up the entire Star Wars universe when there was really nothing like that before.

Guillermo Del Toro, as others have mentioned, is a perfect current example.

I'd say George Luscas is more a visionary for ILM more than anything else, but certainly not as an overall director. Because of that, I wouldn't include his name on a list of "visionary directors".

I would put Lucas as more of a writer/producer than director.

Tony Scott.

'True Romance' was a new kind of movie really, and I consider it the best film Tarantino was involved in, Tony made Tarantino's script into a great film. 'Man On Fire' was unlike anything before it. 'Domino' took it all the way.

I'm surprised no one mentioned him.

Don't you mean Ridley? Tony has pretty much made a career out of cribbing from his brother's work. Granted, Man on Fire and True Romance are both awesome, but Ridley obviously gave Tony the vision he needed to succeed in movie making.

Crap. You're right. Sigh...can I at least make it the "old" Lucas, and not the "I'll milk my trilogy for boatloads of cash and be a jerk in the process" Lucas of new?

The only really decent big movie he ever directed was the first Star Wars though. THX-1138 is pretty decent for an indie arthouse film, even if it is somewhat pretentious. Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi weren't directed by Lucas.

Don't confuse studio marketing blurbs that are trying to sell a product as "the media."

As far as living directors who could be called visionary, I'd have to go with Fincher, Lynch, Del Toro and Aronofsky.

Joe Ripple

Zack Snyder

Michael Bay

The Dark Knight

Winner.

This whole "visionary" craze is pretentious. I remember when the word "visionary" would be used to describe truly great men who were changing the world. I also remember when you would say in a trailer "from the director of..." and that would be enough.

I didn't even like 300, but I appreciate that any trailer that reads "from the director of 300" is already a hit. Snyder, Del Toro, and Alex Proyas are very good directors, but the ad guys need to cool it with the words, it's making me think these guys are pretentious fops. If no one ever slapped the word "visionary" on anything Spielberg or Scorcese did, maybe they should just leave that word alone.

All mentioned before, but for my money:

Dreyer
Bresson
Tarr
Ozu
Godard
Eisenstein
Lynch
Marker

I'd also add Murnau, Bauer, Maddin, Bergman, Greenaway, Svankmajer, Lang, Melies and Starewicz.

I'm usually the first to mount an assault against the undeserved worshipping Lucas receives, but I can't find a thing wrong with American Graffiti. Great sense of pacing, while still telling a story that's identifiable and enjoyable (something he's forgotten about in recent years). And I've never seen another film that used its soundtrack half as well.

American Graffiti is fine for what it is, but I wouldn't exactly call the guy who made it a visionary because of it.

Joel Shapiro