With All we Had, Katie Holmes is the latest in a long succession of well-known actors to make an apparently effortless transition into feature directing. The film, All we Had, based on the novel by Annie Weatherwax, concerns a struggling single mother (played by Holmes) who hits the road with her teenage daughter after the family is pushed into poverty by the 2008 financial crisis. Holmes in the movie starts working at a diner and tries for a fresh start, fighting all odds to create a better life for her daughter.
To mark its Indian Television premiere on Sony Le PLEX HD on January 14 at 1 PM and 9PM, we count down 10 actors turned directors who have set the bar for actors turning to direction.
1. Mel Gibson
This man can direct! With his second directorial effort, Braveheart, Gibson won Best Picture at the Oscars and Best Director. Other movies directed by him are Apocalypto, The Passion, The Man without a Face and Hacksaw Ridge.
2. Jon Favreau
Favreau has made a quick transformation from an actor to one of Hollywood’s favorite directors. Favreau’s family-friendly films like Zathura and Elf led into big-budget spectacles like Iron Man and its sequel and not to forget, Cowboys & Aliens.
3. Ben Stiller
Stiller has acted in and directed many cult comedies such as Reality Bites, The Cable Guy, Zoolander and Tropic Thunder, to name a few and also, one of America’s most loved artist.
4. George Clooney
Good Night and Good Luck was George Clooney’s first success as a director. His other movies are The Monuments Men, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Suburbicon and The Ides of March being the most recent addition.
5. Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck, director of Gone Baby Gone, The Town and Argo, has been considered by many as the best example of an actor turned director for his critically acclaimed and much appreciated movies.
6. Gene Kelly
It seems like there was nothing that Gene Kelly couldn’t do. He sang, danced, acted, and even directed some of the greatest musicals of all time. With his co-director, Stanley Donen, Kelly helmed On the Town and Singin’ In the Rain, arguably the greatest musical film ever made.
7. Rob Reiner
While Rob Reiner played Meathead in the classic 70’s sitcom All in the Family, he’s proven to be quite competent as a director. With bonafide classics like This Is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, Misery, The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally, Reiner showed he can successfully work in a variety of genres.
8. Ron Howard
Speaking of young TV actors becoming great directors, Ron Howard has made some of the most critically and financially successful films of all time. Howard’s work on the films Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind and Cinderella Man greatly overpower his mainstream films like How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Da Vinci Code, to prove he can create films that are not only well-made but also popular.
9. Jodie Foster
She has proved herself as a successful actor by winning many awards including 2 Academy and 2 Golden Globe awards. She also went on to direct The Beaver, Home for the Holidays, Little Man Tate and more recently, Money Monster.
10. Angelina Jolie
The Salt actress also became a director with a documentary A Place in Time. She however had more success with her next venture, a Bosnian movie In the Land of Blood and Honey in 2011 which was nominated for a Golden Globe in the Best Foreign Language Film Category.