The line between genius and madness is famously thin, especially when it comes making movies. Here’s a list of filmmaking eccentrics who are always entertaining — even if their movies aren’t:
The Savant Spectrum:
Tim Burton (Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
Michel Gondry (The Green Hornet, Be Kind Rewind, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
Terry Gilliam (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Brazil, Time Bandits)
David Lynch (Inland Empire, Mulholland Dr., Lost Highway)
The Volatility Spectrum:
Mel Gibson (Apocalypto, The Passion of the Christ, Braveheart)
David O. Russell (I Heart Huckabees, Three Kings)
Werner Herzog (Rescue Dawn, Grizzly Man, Fitzcarraldo)
Uwe Boll (Postal, BloodRayne, Alone in the Dark)
The Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum:
Wes Anderson (The Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Darjeeling Limited, The Royal Tenenbaums)
Martin Scorsese (Shutter Island, The Departed, Goodfellas)
David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Zodiac, Fight Club)
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds, Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction)
The Idiosyncratic Spectrum:
Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Day Watch, Night Watch)
Harmony Korine (Mister Lonely, Julien Donkey-Boy, Gummo)
Lars von Trier (Antichrist, Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves)
Richard Kelly (The Box, Southland Tales, Donnie Darko)
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