Quiz: How Fast Can You Match the Movie to the Director?

If you’re a fan of movies, chances are this has happened to you: You finish a film, and after the credits roll, you confidently think you know which director helmed the movie. Then you look it up, and nope, it’s the wrong director. If you want to put your Hollywood director knowledge to the test, our trivia quiz below will do the job:

It’s pretty common to mix up two totally different filmmakers just because their styles are similar. Especially when a director has a very extensive filmography full of different genres and styles, like Martin Scorsese. A lot of people don’t recall that he directed Hugo, which is so different from all of his works. Or like with George Miller directing the two Happy Feet movies. 

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Directors With the Most Oscars

When people talk about the greatest or most Oscar-winning directors, there’s one name that might go under the radar—John Ford. He’s won four Best Director Oscars, but given that his career ranged from the 1910s to the 1960s, his movies don’t get brought up in conversations as much as the directors from the latter half of the 20th century. But they definitely should. His films (many of them Westerns) shaped classic Hollywood storytelling.

Followed by Ford, both Steven Spielberg and James Cameron have three Oscars each. Spielberg’s gold statues were awarded for Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan, while all three of Cameron’s were for Titanic.

And you can’t ignore William Wyler, who has also won three Best Director Oscars and directed Ben-Hur, which itself won 11 Oscars, and is also one of his most popular (and perhaps the best) movies. He’s also the most nominated director ever, with a whopping 12 nominations.

Besides the Best Director category, there’s also Best Picture. Wyler also holds the record in this category, with three of his movies winning the award.

Steven Spielberg, Ang Lee, Clint Eastwood, Alejandro González Iñárritu, and Alfonso Cuarón are the runner-ups with two Best Picture Oscars each. 

Directors Who Were Nominated the Most (But Rarely Won)

This is where things might get slightly painful, and more than a little surprising. Alfred Hitchcock was nominated for five Oscars, but never won any. His thrillers shaped suspense in movies, but awards don’t always line up with legacy or impact. The same goes for Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men, Serpico), who also has the same number of nominations without a win.

Martin Scorsese also lived in this space for decades, with nomination after nomination for several movies that can easily be considered among the greatest of all time. Still, he didn’t win Best Director until The Departed, which was 40 years into his career. 

And speaking of the (relatively) more modern directors, Ridley Scott, Paul Thomas Anderson, and David Fincher have also yet to win an Oscar, despite several movies that were more than deserving of the award.

Be sure to keep up with Mental Floss’s quiz section for more trivia.

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