Movie Wars Short: Most Prolific Actor/Director Duos
Throughout film history, directors have identified their go-to collaborators and gone back to the well several times. Scorsese and De Niro have collaborated 11 times. John Wayne and John Ford worked together 21 times. Kyle and Drew go off-topic and analyze the all-time best Actor/Director duos, why they work, and what directors see in their frequent collaborators. They also go through some of their favorites duos.
Transcript
[00:00:13] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a special Movie Wars
podcast. This is your host, Kyle. And I am Drew. What is up, guys? What
is crazy? It's weird, right? New territory. New territory. No Phil. This is
point five, zero, zero pie. [:it's funny because we, you know, we, we love doing our wars, but for
people, and we have had fans reach out, be like, when's the new
episode coming out?
[:for two movies, and comparing two movies, it's, it's a lot of work,
especially the amount of work that we put in research wise. And so, we,
we, what was funny, Drew pointed this out, I was like, We should just
leave the microphone on because when we're done doing the wars, like
we just keep talking about movies, we light up a stogie and we just keep
the conversation going.
[:this is our version of that. So we're going to [00:01:00] be releasing
some special episodes where we just go down all kinds of rabbit holes.
Never boring. Listen, there's plenty of great movie review podcasts out
there. We'll have tensions of review throughout it.
[:Interesting subject matter. People ask for our lists all the time. So here
we go. Let's do it. So is this like a battle or, or, uh, A skirmish? A
skirmish. Yeah, it's a skirmish. An argument? Yes, it's a pre argument.
What's funny about, uh, about movies for Drew and I is, and I know not
is a sports fan, but the way [:always end up talking about movies kind of is through the lens of sports,
which is why we love the list.
[:And that's what generated today's content, which is, uh, or today's
episode was this idea of director, actor, duos, uh, Druid watched killers
of the, of the flower moon. And obviously Scorsese is my favorite
director of all time, but because I'm a dad and you're a dad, like we get
to new movies much later than people do.
[:I watched it a week later and I was thinking in the middle of it, I was
[:De Niro is in that movie, but He's still very much just De Niro in it. And I
was texting you. I was like, have you noticed this?
[:the new Scorsese guy, but it was Bob, you know, for so long it was
Robert De Niro. I call him Bob. It was Robert De Niro. You guys go way
back. Yeah. And it got me going down this path. Like there has got to
just be a plethora of these. And I started looking through lists and
thinking through my favorites.
[:consistent collaborations out there. Well, and this [00:02:30] has been
kind of a theme this year because not only Killers of the Flower Moon,
but also Oppenheimer, I'm reminded of this concept because
Christopher Nolan likes course as he has his guys, he has this pool, his
bullpen of dudes that he draws from, you know, one of those being
Michael Caine, one of those being in this specifically in Oppenheimer
was Killian Murphy.
[:back to their favorites. I think, yeah, that, that's so true. And one of the
things that interests me is the pattern of how they use the actors,
because you said [:next points. That was amazing to me.
[:and be Batman in that trilogy. But apparently he did real off the wall, real
quirky and unique. And so no one's like, I like this guy, just not as Bruce
Wayne. So he starts off as Scarecrow, kind of in the background of
villain, but not even the main villain.
[:just I love how he has that arc where Scorsese with De Niro for so long,
kind of in the same vein, kind of always. You could argue that Travis,
you know, [:range, but he kind of has that one note.
[:Quentin Tarantino, kind of this crazy, yeah. Wearing different outfits, but
very much always Samuel L. Jackson, very similar character. So it's
really fun to see how they use them. But a question I have for you is just
like in your mind, what is the, what's good criteria?
[:anything, but for when you're looking at movies, what is a good criteria
luation of what makes a good [:interesting. Uh. I, for me, it's just as simple as like recognizability, like, do
I have, I seen this tandem in the past and you know, when I first see
directed by, that's like usually the first name I look at, like who, well, the
first name is the actor, like who's starring in the movie.
[:directed them in the past and a specific, specifically a movie that I've
enjoyed in the past, then I'm obviously more. Prone and inclined to go
see that movie. No, I love that. Yeah, and, and, and if you follow
directors, [:another collaboration, I can't wait to see that next iteration of what they
do.
[:know, it's really cool. And then you have guys like Leo that they, they
have like their A Rolodex of directors that they like to go back to, you
know, like he, yes, he's done a lot of Scorsese movies, but he's also
Nolan who likes to have his guys, he's kind of become one of Nolan's
guys as well.
[:seems to be kind of small and that like [00:05:00] press at that prestige
filmmaking level. It really does. And then you have another example,
kind of the inverse of that, which is you have actors with. Crazy enough
careers where they have where you could look at two different
collaboration, which is the case with your beloved Tom Hanks.
[:say. Forrest Gump, Cast Away, The Polar Express, Pinocchio, and Here.
And then he also has five with Steven Spielberg, Saving Private Ryan,
Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, Bridge of Spies, and The Post.
Right. All right. I mean, he has, he has a big enough and a great enough
repertoire to have two different directors that he's, you know, A constant
[:you don't see more of this because I'm thinking about any other industry.
[:to go back and make another thing with those people. You know, if you
love who you're working with at your job, like you want to, and you have
the option to. Go back with them. Like why, why wouldn't you? Yeah. So
I'm honestly, I'm surprised that there aren't more kind of partnerships in
Hollywood that take off maybe like directors and actors getting together
and creating their own production companies.
[:partnership. That's an interesting thing and it's, uh, you gotta wonder
where it is because you have, you have, obviously you have casting
directors, people that their job is to cast films, but then you have very
obvious examples of where directors have a bent towards a certain actor
or actress.
[:is one of my top five, is Wes Anderson and Bill Murray. Nine movies
together. You know, and it's sometimes you gotta wonder at that point, if
you're talking nine movies with one director and one actor, there has to
be something there where there's more than just the work.
[:embodies Wes Anderson's work, it must really speak to what the
message Wes Anderson's trying to convey. Well, and forgive me if I'm
stepping on a point that you're about to make, but I think of Tim Burton
and Johnny Depp in that conversation. Like, they are a match made in
heaven.
[:reason, is perfectly, perfectly true. Presented on screen through Johnny
Depp. Like he seems to be like just weird enough to kind of like
articulate whatever character that Tim Burton has created. You're
[:[00:07:02] It's wild. And think about it. This does, this list does not
include Pirates of the Caribbean. Right. Edward Scissorhands, Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd, Sleepy
Hollow, Dark Shadows, Corpse Bride, Ed Wood. You know, like, a lot of
these are very whimsical, Halloween y, kind of creepy, like they're all just
kind of in that world, and they seem to be a match made in heaven for
that [: [:year. So amazing. So what I want to do now, we're going to go through
some of our top, some of our favorites, but I kind of just for the listeners,
I kind of want to go through just in case they haven't thought about this,
just kind of some of the, the, we, Drew and I curated a bunch of lists
together, some that really like popped out to me, obviously the
Hollywood scene was much smaller.
[:Ford and John Wayne. 21 movies together. That's insane. That's gotta
be like a record, [:next one is Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune. Sorry, Toshiro Mifune.
16 films, which I honestly haven't spent a lot of time with.
[:movies between 73 and 2023. Started with Mean Streets, which I think is
highly, criminally underrated. And then Killers of the Flower Moon.
Woody Allen and Diane Keaton, nine movies. Uh, and that's including,
uh, I'm trying to look at some of the ones I love on that list.
[:then I did mention this already, Wes Anderson, Bill Murray, nine movies.
Oh, I love this one. I'm a big Coen Brothers fan, but Joel, uh, the Coen
Brothers and Francis McDormand. Hmm. Uh, Fargo, uh, Hail Caesar,
Burn After Reading. You already mentioned this one, Burton and Depp,
and:[00:08:48] Yeah, one of my personal favorite, uh, partnerships is, I love
Alfred Hitchcock movies. His best movies, in my opinion, are with Jimmy
Stewart. Vertigo is one of [:Man Who Knew Too Much. He did Rear Window. Rear Window's
probably my second favorite. Uh, Rope is also a great one.
[:partnership. Did you, you went through a Hitchcock thing in college,
right? I did. I had like the DVD box set and I just like ran it down. I
remember in college, like randomly when football season was over. It
was always when football season was over when you got on your kick.
[:movie, black and white movies right now. What's happening? I was
doing the thing that I do, Kyle. Yeah, you were doing the thing.
[:yeah, and we have Tom Hanks with Zemeckis and Spielberg, five
movies each.
[:Well, I guess they just, it was all the Indiana Jones movies. Well, that's
interesting too, because that brings up another thought I had written
down, which is like, Coppola is not this way. Coppola, I think, you know,
he did two movies with Brando, three with Pacino, but those three
Pacino movies were Godfather.
[:Dracula movie, Bram Stoker, and that's Gary Oldman and Keanu
Reeves, you know, [:have some actors that are, or sorry, some directors that are very prolific,
but don't necessarily have this need. But you know, I bet after filming
apocalypse now and going through three lead actors in one filming
probably made him care a little bit less about real.
[:fired Harvey Cattell and then Brando shows up 30 pounds or 60 pounds
overweight and can only do like a quarter of his lines that were written
for him. He probably was like, you know what? We'll put Keanu Reeves
in an English, uh, English role here.
[:Yeah, well, I'm a huge Hank's head. Hank's head. I'm a Hank's guy.
Yankin for some Hankin Uh, so I love the Hank's relationships both with.
Uh, Robert Zemeckis, Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis, uh, as well as
his work with Spielberg. To me, Spielberg and Tom Hanks in the 90s is
just cinema bliss.
[:mean, catch me if you can. Um, another interesting relationship, which
it's kind of a different dynamic because it's the same character over and
over again, but [:played the wizard Gandalf and all three of the Lord of the Rings movies.
[:characters because it's, it takes place much, much later. Earlier, but
Gandalf was kind of a, you know, the remaining remnant from, from the
Lord of the Rings trilogy. So that's interesting that they did six films
together. That's quite a library as well.
[:think because now, forgive me if these are good movies, [00:11:30] I've
never seen a good year, uh, Robin Hood or American gangster. I think I
saw a lot of these guys. American gangster is really good. Okay. Bye.
But Gladiator is like, there's a clear, like, great movie in those five and
then the rest are not quite as good.
[:out in 1979, so he's, he's done it so long that he's, he's, and you know,
he's worked with so many of those, uh, English and British actors that
don't necessarily do a ton of stuff in, you know, American work. So a lot
of those alien, besides Sigourney Weaver, a lot of those actors were all
like [:[00:12:01] Yeah. I'm one of the point I was going to make is back to your
Scorsese. Idea. And you, you kind of started this conversation. Like, is
Leo the new Bob? I guess my pushback on that would be Bob. He's,
he's worked with Robert pretty recently. Like even before flowers of the
killer moon, he did Irishman, which was kind of like a greatest hits record
for that was like all of his mom movies wrapped into one.
[:just added [00:12:30] DiCaprio specifically in killer. The flower moon is
like, I'm going to put my guys in together. Yeah. It's a really great point,
and I think the conversation you and I got into, I think the realization that,
that we both had, Leo allowed him to do something new.
[:movie with the Departed, but then it was, you know, Gangs of New York,
and then it was, it was Gangs of New York, then Aviator. Like, out of
nowhere, Scorsese's doing this, this movie. Now, he did try this earlier.
Remember, he did, uh, The Last Temptation of Christ with Will of the
Foe.
[:[00:13:00] the whole situation. And so they, you know, Willem Dafoe
become untouchable for a little bit. Martin Scorsese was kind of scorned
for that. So that was kind of his like big, like when he tried to deviate, you
know, from his crime thing and then got his wrist slapped and then kind
of went back to the drawing board for a while.
[:interesting I didn't necessarily watch that and feel the Scorsese in that.
Like, it was a really good biopic. Did you like, uh, Aviator? Uh, you know
what? I don't know if I watched it. It's really good. I'm not a big bi.
;re a little bit [:[00:13:30] It's kind of just, they're all He was kind of a crazy enough guy.
Like, at one point he was peeing in jars. Like You know, Aviator and
Oppenheimer. Ooh. Writing that down. Wow. That would be, that's
amazing. Like really prestigy inventor, biopics, biopics. I never know how
to say that. Inventions and stuff that changed the world type of thing.
[:street, the audition, which was a short film and then killers of the flower
rted really, or actually the [:departed came out after gangs in New York. I forget that sometimes, but
you know, he really let Marty maybe do a different type of film, you
know?
[:But it's just that he kind of opened a new door and more, you know,
Scorsese's been doing it long enough now. Yeah. Well, and I think
there's the reality of just the aging process, you know, De Niro's elderly.
And so when Scorsese wanted to tell a story about a younger man, he
could no longer De Niro because he's just too old.
[:[00:14:30] you know, I jotted down five that I love here, both Scorsese,
De Niro and Scorsese, Leo, both of my top 50, but I just think they make
er. I think Mean Streets from:Niro there. And I think that's truly an underrated movie.
[:know how much I love those movies, but then all the stuff he does with
Leo. Like when I saw Gangs of New York, I just couldn't believe that was
a Scorsese movie. Liam Neeson's in that, Cameron Diaz. Daniel Day
hat too, like, Scorsese like [:Daniel Day Lewis to maybe come out of one of his five retirements to do
Gangs of New York, you know?
[:shoes down. Then I have down here Wes Anderson and Bill Murray.
This one was really fun for me to do more research on because I
obviously knew. of this because I'm a huge Wes Anderson fan and a
huge Bill Murray fan. But one thing we hit on earlier was this idea of like,
why?
[:director. We like to work together. But nine times, that's like a
connection. That's like there's something about the way we work
[:Bill Murray was a comedic actor for so long, with SNL, Caddyshack,
Ghostbusters, but a lot of people like saw Groundhog Day and thought,
yeah, he's probably pretty good.
[:Anderson straight up dry, can be dry, can be dynamic, can be very
dramatic. And so I think it's interesting. I don't know if Wes Anderson
saw that in Bill Murray and brought it out, or if it's kind of just known that
Bill Murray is a great actor, but I love that Wes just kind of pulled that out
of Bill Murray.
[:Fantastic Mr. Fox, Moonrise Kingdom, Dar my favorite Wes Anderson
movie, Darjeeling Limited, and then Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore, all
fantastic films, I mean, I don't love Life Aquatic, I know a lot of people
worship that movie, but just a lot of, like, Rushmore, like, brought me to
tears, just amazing, Rushmore was the first one, 98, and it was just like,
whoa, who is this, who is this Bill Murray that we're seeing here, like,
who is this?
[:Philip Seymour Hoffman, God rest his soul, and Paul Thomas [00:16:30]
Anderson. Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drug Love,
which is how we learned about Adam Sandler being a great dramatic
actor in The Master. All, like, three hour epic movies.
[:away, you know, too soon from heroin. You know, they had a thing,
man, like, they just made epics together. I I I guess I just, it hit me, I was
like, oh, they did five? Five together, you know, that's like 20 hours of
film right there, just with those five movies.
[:art [00:17:00] filmmaking. There's not a lot of like cash grabby
blockbuster type relationships that sustain. It seems that like when a
couple of collaborators really have chemistry and they're trying to make
something that's, you know, has a great deal of integrity from an artistic
standpoint, that's when you see them, like, Going back and working
together over and over again.
[:aren't on here that we cover and like it, you know, Nick Cage done a ton
of movies, Arnold slide. Keanu doesn't have his guy. Yeah. All the
crews, people we love, [:exercise looking at this. We would love to hear from you guys.
[:the comments, but thank you for tuning
