I recently sat down with Secondhand Lions and all the talk of it being written and directed by Tim McCanlies got me wondering which other films were written and directed by just one person. (Or, at least, credit only went to the one person.) Writing is defined for the purpose of this thread as follows:

"Story by," "Screenplay by" or "Written by" credits only include the one person. Ergo, even though Sam Raimi co-wrote and directed Army of Darkness with Ivan Raimi, it would be ineligible. Original screenplays only, per revised criteria.

Here's the list:

Judd Apatow
Knocked Up

Ralph Bakshi
Wizards

Brad Bird
The Incredibles

Philip Adrian Booth
Death Tunnel

Craig Brewer
Black Snake Moan

James L. Brooks
Broadcast News
I'll Do Anything
Spanglish

Mel Brooks
History of the World: Part I
The Producers

James Cameron
Avatar
Titanic

Cameron Crowe
Almost Famous
Elizabethtown
Jerry Maguire
Say Anything
Singles

Vin Diesel
Strays

Sherri Elwood
Deeply

Hampton Fancher
The Minus Man

Jon Favreau
Made

Miles Figgis
Timecode

Stephen Gaghan
Syriana

George Gallo
Double Take
Local Color
My Mom's New Boyfriend
Trapped in Paradise

David S. Goyer
Blade: Trinity
The Unborn

Mike Judge
Office Space

Rolfe Kanefsky
Nightmare Man

Krzysztof Kieslowski
Koncert zyczen
Miedzy Wroclawiem a Zielona Gora
Personel (TV)
Pierwsza milosc
Podstawy BHP w kopalni miedzi
Przypadek
Siedem dni w tygodniu
Tramwaj
Z punktu widzenia nocnego portiera

Richard Kelly
Donnie Darko
Southland Tales

Takeshi Kitano
Achilles to kame
Ano natsu , ichiban shizukana umi
Brother
Dolls
Hana-bi
Kantoku - Banzai!
Kikujiro no natsu
Kizzu rutan
Minna-yatteruka!
Sonatine
Takeshis'
3-4 x jugatsu

Akira Kurosawa
Dreams
The Most Beautiful

Spike Lee
He Got Game
School Daze
She Gotta Have It

George Lucas
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

Michael Mann
Heat
The Insider
Manhunter
Miami Vice
Thief

Tim McCanlies
Secondhand Lions

Rob McKittrick
Waiting...

Hayao Miyasaki
Kaze no tani no Naushika
Koro no dai-sanpo
Kujira tori
Kurenai no buta
Mei to Koneko basu
Mizugumo monmon
Mononoke-hime
On Your Mark
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi
Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta
Tonari no Totoro
Yadosagashi

Steve Oedekerk
Nothing to Lose

Tyler Perry
Daddy's Little Girls
Diary of a Mad Black Woman
The Family That Preys
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
Madea Goes to Jail
Madea's Class Reunion
Madea's Family Reunion (2006)
Meet the Browns
Why Did I Get Married?

Gregory Poirier
Tomcats

Robert Rodriguez
Desperado
El Mariachi
Once Upon a Time in Mexico

George A. Romero
Dawn of the Dead

Eli Roth
Cabin Fever
Hostel
Hostel: Part II

John Sayles
Silver City

John Patrick Shanley
Joe Versus the Volcano

Ron Shelton
Bull Durham

Richard Shepard
The Matador

M. Night Shyamalan
The Sixth Sense

Kevin Smith
Chasing Amy
Clerks
Clerks II
Dogma
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Jersey Girl
Mallrats
Zack and Miri Make a Porno - Kevin Smith

Stephen Sommers
Deep Rising
Van Helsing

Steven Spielberg
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Sylvester Stallone
Rocky II
Rocky III
Rocky IV
Rocky Balboa

Quentin Tarantino
Jackie Brown
Kill Bill, Volume 1
Kill Bill, Volume 2
Reservoir Dogs

Luis Valdez
La Bamba

John Waters
Serial Mom

Joss Whedon
Serenity

This is is huge list of films.

If you get interested in films made outside the Hollywood studio systems you'll find that many of them are by a single writer/director. I'd guess I have at least 500 DVDs that fit the bill.

Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Jersey Girl, Clerks II, and Zach and Miri Make a Porno - all by Kevin Smith.

This is indeed a long list.

Donnie Darko, Southland Tales - Richard Kelly
Desperado, OUATIM - Robert Rodriguez
Kill Bill (unless you cont the "Character" credit Uma got), Jackie Brown - Tarantino
He Got Game, School Daze, She Gotta Have It, several others - Spike Lee
The Unborn, Blade Trinity - David Goyer
The Spirit - Frank Miller
Dawn of the Dead - George Romero
... yeah there are a lot and I don't feel like digging through each one

Any and all Tarantino flicks...

woody allen is the first one that comes to mind.

Pulp Fiction was co-written by Roger Avary.

True...I forgot that. Well for the rest it's true..

Wow, Stephen Sommers wrote and directed Van Helsing? How does this guy still get work?

Van Helsing - Budget: $160m, Worldwide Gross: $300.2m

In otherwords, blame the world.

Titanic and Avatar: Jim Cameron

Serenity: Joss Whedon

Maybe you should narrow the list down to written, directed and starred.

Several by this man:

Since it's in your library, could you tell us how Avatar is?

Fixed. I thought I'd revised it earlier to reflect the newer, cumulative nature of the list.

dont forget eli roth with both hostels and cabin fever

No, no. It's okay to forget Eli Roth.

Paul Thomas Anderson.

This is an ambitious list.

Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman, Luis Bunuel, Kim Ki-Duk, Wong Kar-Wai, Guillermo Del Toro, and a bunch of other "mainstream" arthouse icons have a full filmography rife with 'em. Good luck!

Michael Mann wrote and directed The Insider and Miami Vice.

I don't understand the point of this thread.

On its premise, it just seems like a trivia question with thousands of answers.
(And so it actually wouldn't be a TRIVIA question)

Which films were written and directed by just one person.



If the point is to take note of films that (can be argued) have a singular artistic vision, then why would films adapted from other media be of interest?

Adaptations of books are, however, eligible.

Garden State

This is the too much free time list.