Dynamic Duos: What's Your Favorite Director-Actor Team?
Wednesday, June 26, 2024 at 10:00PM 
Emma Stone x 3 in Yorgos Lanthimos' KINDS OF KINDNESS (2024).
Kinds of Kindness has just hit theaters, and Yorgos Lanthimos is back in the news cycle. It seems the Greek director's Hollywood success has set him on a path of productivity unlike anything seen in his Greek Weird Wave origins. By his side, we can find Emma Stone, who's quickly becoming Lanthimos' most emblematic collaborator. Since their first team-up for 2018's The Favourite, they have shot the silent short Bleat, the Oscar champion Poor Things, and the Cannes award-winning Kinds of Kindness. Next comes Bugonia, a remake of the South Korean Save the Green Planet, where Stone will play a CEO kidnapped by two men who believe her to be an alien.
Though it's nice to see such a burgeoning artistic partnership flourish in today's cinematic landscape, I wish I was fonder of their bond. As it stands, I'm not sure they bring the best out of each other…
Perhaps because Bleat remains so difficult to track down, I feel that Stone and Lanthimos' collab has seen a succession of diminishing returns. While The Favourite unleashed what's probably the actress' most impressive big screen turn, I wasn't too fond of what she was up to in Poor Things. But even then, the director's vision survived the disorganized extravagance of his leading lady. Kinds of Kindness is almost a reversal, reigning Stone in with sharp results – her two final scenes excluded – while Lanthimos' work suffers from disengaging cruelties spread thin through three successive tales that, like the dynamic duo's output, lose steam with each new entry.
I understand I'm in the minority when it comes to these two, and that many cinephiles couldn't be more excited over their continued association. Still, their success made me think about other faithful duos of directors and their actors, artists who made each other better and seemed to understand the other's approach, best qualities, and strengths like no one else. If asked to pick my favor of such partnerships on the pages of film history, I guess I'd have to go with Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann. Or maybe Josef Von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich, Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune, and the union of Yasujiro Ozu and Sestsuko Hara. Count the masterpieces between those pairings and the mind reels.
Zhao Tao in Jia Zhangke's CAUGHT BY THE TIDES (2024).
And what about current dynamic duos? Well, the topic is so vast it feels daunting to grasp one definitive answer. You know how much I love Pedro Almodóvar and Penélope Cruz, Todd Haynes and Julianne Moore, Luca Guadagnino and Tilda Swinton, Kelly Reichardt and Michelle Williams, among many others. Still, I'm not trying to overthink this, so I'll go with a team that has been on my mind since their new film bowed at the Croisette. Is there a more besotting couple in contemporary cinema than Jia Zhangke and Zhao Tao? His camera loves her, and she breathes humanity into his experiments on social storytelling and political provocation.
Recently, their Caught by the Tides was picked up for American distribution by Janus Films and Sideshow, so you can hope to see it in theaters soon.
Another director-and-actress/husband-and-wife couple whose joint efforts have been on the news is, of course, John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands. Earlier this week, Nick Cassavetes confirmed his mother has had Alzheimer's for the past five years and is currently in the depths of dementia. In an ironic twist of fate, mother and son had previously explored themes like these in their work. In 2004's The Notebook, Rowlands played a woman who has lost her grasp on lucidity, and can't remember the love of her life on most days. As someone who has seen loved ones suffer from this same illness, I can't imagine what the Cassavetes clan is going through and can only wish them the best.
John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands in their last film together, LOVE STREAMS (1984).
As a cinephile, one struggles not to think back to the works this titan of acting did with her erstwhile paramour and best director. Across a dozen features, the cineaste changed the landscape of independent American cinema forever, bringing character-based cinema to new psychological depths. Moreover, Rowlands' work came to represent the height of this realist approach to performance, full of improvisational business and excavations of the human soul. John died in 1989, and we can safely say that Rowlands will never return to the silver screen. Still, their legacy lives on, and their impact can't be overstated. Indeed, few artistic collaborations have been so influential. For better and for worse, they changed the way movies are made.
What about you, dear reader? What are your favorite director-actor dynamic duos? Which team-ups would you like to see further explored at The Film Experience?
Reader Comments (18)
i do have to admit i enjoyed Lars von Trier and Charlotte Gainsbourg with their trilogy Antichrist, Melancholia and Nymphomaniac.
John and Gena are so important, Marlene and von Sternberg so much fun.
If I were to add to your list, I'd consider Shelley Duvall and Robert Altman. He was so inspired by her, and allowed her to wander into sublime characters, even in tiny parts sometimes.
Brad Pitt is an actor that ha s almost always needed a great director for him to give a great performance. But his work with David Fincher (SE7EN, FIGHT CLUB, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON) is his best work.
Wow... Here is a list in no particular order:
1. Martin Scorsese-Robert de Niro/Leonardo diCaprio
2. Werner Herzog-Klaus Kinski
3. Federico Fellini-Marcello Mastroianni/Giulietta Massina
4. Michelangelo Antonioni-Monica Vitti
5. David Fincher-Brad Pitt
6. Sergio Leone-Clint Eastwood
7. Kelly Reichardt-Michelle Williams
8. Sofia Coppola-Kirsten Dunst
9. Akira Kurosawa-Toshiro Mifune/Tatsuya Nakadi/Takashi Shimura
10.Yasujiro Ozu-Setsuko Hara
11. Luca Guadagnino-Tilda Swinton/Timothee Chalamet
12. Greta Gerwig-Saoirse Ronan
13. Pedro Almodovar-Penelope Cruz/Antonio Banderas/Carmen Maura
14.Todd Haynes-Julianne Moore
15. Ingmar Bergman-Liv Ullman/Bibi Andersen/Max von Sydow
16. Lars von Trier-Charlotte Gainsbourg/Willem Dafoe/Stellan Skarsgard
17. Zhang Yimou-Gong Li
18. Wong Kar-Wai-Tony Leung Chiu Wai
That's all I have for now.
Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, New York, New York, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, Goodfellas, Cape Fear, Casino, The Irishman, Killers of the Flower Moon
Rope, Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo
claudio, perhaps our biggest disagreement will always be the Lanthimos/Stone partnership. they could do movies together until the end of time, and i'd be happy. talk about two artists who bring out the best in one another. in anyone else's universe, Stone is decidedly earthbound and rational. Lanthimos unhinges something in her: she's bolder, weirder, more instinctual. and she gives Lanthimos a grounded emotional palette that keeps things from going too obtuse. i know we disagree hugely on this: i think Emma Stone's win for Poor Things is one of the best Best Actress wins ever.
one collaboration i wish would stop is Scorsese and DiCaprio. talk about diminishing returns! i don't thinjk they bring out anything interesting in each other.
and it's hard to beat Almodovar and Cruz. neither is hardly ever better without the other, except for a Pain & Glory or Vicky Cristina here or there. but when the two of them work together, it's literal magic...soemthing intangible...you can feel how inspired they make each other, and you feel the love between them. (i think you feel the love with Stone and Lanthimos too!)
good article, as always!
Definitely Zhang & Gong
EricB --Cruz is in PAIN & GLORY, playing the equivalent to Almodóvar's mother, of course. She'll always be the eternal mother in his cinema.
I generally agree with you on DiCaprio and Scorsese, though I loved his work on KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON. I think it was the first of his films with the director I actually thought KILLERS benefited from what he was singularly bringing to it. I know I'm in the minority on this site when it comes to that particular movie and star turn, though.
whunk -- My Bu-ray box set of all their collaborations is one of my most prized possessions.
Frank Zappa - I wish Stewart and Hitch had done more films together. With the actor, I tend to think his partnership with Anthony Mann was even more impressive in terms of what it brought out of him.
thevoid99 -- One of my great cinematic passions is the toxic collaboration between Herzog and Kinski. I have to write about it one of these days.
Travis C -- I think I need to give BENJAMIN BUTTON another chance. I've seen so many folks re-appraising it that maybe I'll find something new in it. Who knows? Hope is everlasting.
Mike in Canada -- You're absolutely right. Now I wish I had included them and linked to my birthday piece on Duvall from last year. The way she helped bring a new eccentricity to his cinema - even something as realistic as THIEVES LIKE US - and how he helped her become the actress she is - an amazing thing, a cinematic miracle.
Tony L -- She certainly seems to get him like few other actors.
People have already mentioned 3 that came to mind immediately: Robert Altman and Shelley Duvall (love that you mentioned Thieves Like Us), Wong Kar-Wai and Tony Leung Chiu Wai, and Michelangelo Antonioni and Monica Vitti
Three other pariings that I especially like: Whit Stillman and Chris Eigeman, James Gray and Joaquin Phoenix, and Alfred Hitchcock and Cary Grant.
And this might be more of a stretch since she's in smaller roles, but Wes Anderson and Anjelica Huston. She's a natural in those worlds.
Nicole Holofcener & Catherine Keener
I think Stone and Lanthimos are a great pairing! She was brilliant in Poor Things.
My personal favorite actor/director pairing is Julianne Moore and Todd Haynes.
I also think that Uma Thurman and Quentin Tarantino deserve a mention. I wouldn't rank them among my favorite pairings, but she's great in his world.
John Ford and John Wayne
1939 Stagecoach
1940 The Long Voyage Home
1945 They Were Expendable
1948 Fort Apache
1948 3 Godfathers
1949 She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
1950 Rio Grande
1952 The Quiet Man
1956 The Searchers
1957 The Wings of Eagles
1959 The Horse Soldiers
1962 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
1962 How the West Was Won
1963 Donovan’s Reef
1976 Chesty: A Tribute to a Legend
@ Cláudio
Yes, Cary Grant might have been a better Hitchcock choice than Stewart.
And I forgot about this one: A Bill of Divorcement, Little Women, Sylvia Scarlett, Holiday, The Philadelphia Story, Keeper of the Flame, Adam's Rib, Pat & Mike, Love Among the Ruins, The Corn Is Green.
PS. I have always loved The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Hellooooo? Woody Allen and Mia Farrow? Tsai Ming-liang and Lee Kang-sheng!?
Wae Mest -- For me, it's hard to pick one out of Allen's many long collaborations with certain actors. As much as I love Farrow's work with him, I might go with Keaton.
Tsai Ming-liang and Lee Kang-sheng is a fantastic one. Thanks for mentioning them.
Frank Zappa -- Hepburn was Cukor's great actress, for sure. Yet, I think she was even better with George Stevens, even if they worked in fewer films.
I don't know if this is my all-time favorite (do I even have one?), but this is the first duo that came to mind... I just really, really miss Keira Knightley working with Joe Wright. Two masterpieces and a very good film over a decade ago (their first collab is almost 20 years old!). We deserve more.
Ryan T. -- Agreed!
John Carpenter - Kurt Russell
Joe Dante - Dick Miller
Almodóvar - Carmen Maura/Antonio Banderas/Penélope Cruz/Javier Cámara/Rossy de Palma/Chus Lampreave