Comet 2014
Esmail's feature, made before Mr. Robot.
The Big Picture · Discussion
Introducing the Movie Director Game, With Sam Esmail | The Big Picture
February 21, 2020/ 121 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins · Sam Esmail
Sam Esmail brings a parlor game: for each decade, name the director you love most who made their feature debut in it. Sean, Amanda, and Sam argue their way from the 1940s to the 2020s.
131 films across 10 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
The setup: TV, film, and 'athletic' filmmakingBefore the game: why Esmail makes TV, and what 'athletic' filmmaking means
Get Out 2017
Jordan Peele's debut: the game's example.
Lady Bird 2017
Greta Gerwig's debut: the game's example.
El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie 2019
Vince Gilligan's feature debut: the game's example.
Duel 1971
The Spielberg 'is it a feature debut?' argument.
Firelight 1964
Spielberg's teenage $500 film: didn't count, no theatrical release.
Fruitvale Station 2013
Coogler before he 'went into the machine.'
The Batman 2022
Matt Reeves: the machine pulling directors off indies.
Jane Eyre 2011
Amanda's favorite Cary Fukunaga.
No Time to Die 2021
The unreleased Bond, Fukunaga directing.
Strange Days 1995
Bigelow doing 'masculine' camera work.
1917 2019
The oner debate: Esmail 'saw every stitch.'
This Is Spinal Tap 1984
Rob Reiner's debut.
The Princess Bride 1987
A Few Good Men 1992
Stand by Me 1986
Apocalypse Now 1979
Offered as 'athletic filmmaking.'
The 1940sPicks: Sean: Preston Sturges · Amanda: Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly · Sam: Ingmar Bergman
Citizen Kane 1941
The Welles eligibility fight: is he a '40s debut?
Too Much Johnson 1938
Sean's evidence Welles debuted in the '30s.
Singin' in the Rain 1952
Amanda's Donen/Kelly favorite.
Funny Face 1957
Amanda: personally and visually important.
The 1950sPicks: Sean & Sam: Stanley Kubrick · Amanda: Sidney Lumet
2001: A Space Odyssey 1968
Sean's Kubrick pick.
A Clockwork Orange 1971
Dr. Strangelove 1964
Sam's favorite Kubrick.
Full Metal Jacket 1987
The French Connection 1971
The car chases young Esmail rewatched.
Halloween 1978
Back to the Future 1985
Ghostbusters 1984
Goodfellas 1990
Unforgiven 1992
The Shining 1980
Eyes Wide Shut 1999
Sean's comfort-food Kubrick; Amanda's favorite.
Taxi Driver 1976
Raging Bull 1980
Murder on the Orient Express 1974
Amanda's case for versatile Lumet.
The Group 1966
Lumet's Mary McCarthy adaptation: 'not very good,' but he tried.
The 1960sPicks: Amanda: Scorsese · Sean: Alan Pakula. Sam wrestled Scorsese vs. Coppola vs. Woody Allen
Cléo from 5 to 7 1962
The one woman on the board: Agnès Varda.
Vagabond 1985
La Pointe Courte 1955
Varda's earlier film: did it count as her debut?
The Godfather 1972
Coppola in the Scorsese-vs-Coppola showdown.
The Age of Innocence 1993
Amanda's top Scorsese.
Shutter Island 2010
Hugo 2011
The Irishman 2019
Take the Money and Run 1969
The Woody Allen 'batting average' run.
Bananas 1971
Sleeper 1973
Annie Hall 1977
Manhattan 1979
Esmail's usual Woody Allen answer.
Deconstructing Harry 1997
All the President's Men 1976
Sean's Pakula, the 'familiar' one.
The Parallax View 1974
The Last Waltz 1978
'The date movie for every boy born 1975-1990.'
The 1970sPicks: Sean: Steven Spielberg · Amanda: John Carpenter · Sam: David Lynch
Parasite 2019
The Best Picture win that sent Sean back through his favorites.
Michael Clayton 2007
There Will Be Blood 2007
Sean's slight edge that year; his No. 1 of the century.
The Silence of the Lambs 1991
Jonathan Demme: the last five-for-five Oscar sweep.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind 1977
Esmail watched it on stolen cable.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982
Bored 5-year-old Esmail: 'I could do better than that.'
Jurassic Park 1993
Schindler's List 1993
Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981
Spielberg action you can always orient inside.
Saving Private Ryan 1998
Sense and Sensibility 1995
Amanda's movie-swap pick for Sean (Ang Lee).
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2018
Sean's swap pick for Amanda.
Blue Velvet 1986
Esmail's Lynch entry point, on a shitty VHS.
Mulholland Drive 2001
'Dare anyone to watch it and not be entertained.'
The Elephant Man 1980
Dune 1984
The Villeneuve remake was on the way.
Lost Highway 1997
The Slugger's Wife 1985
The Hal Ashby nobody defends.
The 1980sPicks: Amanda: Spike Lee · Sean: Steven Soderbergh. Sam's private pick was the Coen brothers. Sam calls it a drought; the others disagree
She's Gotta Have It 1986
Spike Lee's debut.
School Daze 1988
Do the Right Thing 1989
BlacKkKlansman 2018
'Not top 10 for him,' but proof he still commands attention.
Da 5 Bloods 2020
Then-upcoming; both were excited.
Clockers 1995
Bamboozled 2000
Shot on mini-DV before that was done.
Fargo 1996
The Coen film Sean supposedly cried over on the Deakins episode.
Titanic 1997
Amanda's defense: one of the best action films ever.
Aliens 1986
The Terminator 1984
Sean rewatched it sick: good, not perfect.
True Lies 1994
Cameron's 'movie iconography' even in the lesser-loved ones.
Piranha II: The Spawning 1982
Cameron's actual debut.
Heat 1995
'Heat bait': the online-dating-bio movie.
Groundhog Day 1993
Harold Ramis: a flop, 'one of the best movies ever made.'
Good Will Hunting 1997
Amanda's Titanic-year alternative.
The 1990sPicks: Sam: Quentin Tarantino ('the objective right answer') · Sean: Paul Thomas Anderson · Amanda: Nancy Meyers. Sam's favorite decade of debuts
Shallow Grave 1994
Danny Boyle's debut anchors him to the '90s.
The Matrix 1999
'Where the decade ends': movies leaving the center of culture.
Sex, Lies, and Videotape 1989
Miramax's wide-release model that platformed indie film.
The Doom Generation 1995
Gregg Araki: the fucked-up fringe of the era.
Mandy 2018
Panos Cosmatos: 'Amanda would hate it.'
Tombstone 1993
Directed by Cosmatos's father, George P. Cosmatos.
Home Again 2017
Nancy Meyers's daughter's film: Amanda was there opening night.
The Iron Giant 1999
Sean's Brad Bird case.
Toy Story 1995
Toy Story 3 2010
Toy Story 4 2019
Up 2009
WALL·E 2008
Inside Out 2015
The scene that made Christian Slater cry on a plane.
Sleepless in Seattle 1993
Nora Ephron: the pick Amanda didn't make.
You've Got Mail 1998
Pulp Fiction 1994
Amanda's comp for what Gerwig did to Little Women.
Green Book 2018
The Farrelly brothers 'pre-Green Book.'
The 2000sPicks: Sean & Sam: Bong Joon-ho · Amanda: Sofia Coppola (claimed on a Cannes-vs-commercial-release technicality)
The Virgin Suicides 1999
Cannes 1999 / commercial 2000: Amanda's loophole to claim Sofia for the 2000s.
Marie Antoinette 2006
Sofia's singular vision 'looking fucking dope.'
Road Trip 2000
The Todd Phillips '90s-or-2000s' quibble.
Sexy Beast 2000
Glazer with a strong script.
Birth 2004
'Not a great script.'
Under the Skin 2013
'75% of a great script, an overwhelming movie.'
Uncut Gems 2019
The Safdies: 'the purest expression of things I'm interested in.'
Good Time 2017
The Town 2010
Esmail rewatched it: 'a Michael Mann rip-off,' but great.
The 2010sPicks: Amanda & Sam: Greta Gerwig · Sean: Jordan Peele. Top of the heap: Peele, Coogler, Gerwig
Us 2019
Peele making the best version of the genre Amanda loves.
Little Women 2019
Gerwig's exuberant precision; the ending she 'mocks.'
Dazed and Confused 1993
Amanda's best-high-school-film benchmark (Linklater).
Pride & Prejudice 2005
The 'underrated' Joe Wright version.
A Room with a View 1985
The 'transcendent' period drama for Amanda.
The 2020s (so far)Six weeks of movies in: mostly Sundance guesses
Never Rarely Sometimes Always 2020
Eliza Hittman: 'a genius-level movie.'
Minari 2020
Lee Isaac Chung: 'this person has it.'
Sonic the Hedgehog 2020
Jeff Fowler's inauspicious debut feature.
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Mr. RobotHomecomingTrue DetectiveNight GalleryLouieTwin PeaksDownton AbbeyPride and Prejudice (1995 BBC)Dawson's CreekSeinfeld
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