So far in our On The Rise series this year, we've looked at talent on the ascension in front of the camera, with a cluster of actors and actresses who look set for great things. We've also highlighted promising cinematographers, writers and composers who've already proven their worth, and look like they're about to be more and more in demand as time goes on.
So to close things off, there was only really one option: the directors. While we believe that the auteur theory can be overblown -- filmmaking is about collaboration at its heart, as our previous On The Rise pieces demonstrate -- the movies we love simply wouldn't exist without directors and their visions. And one of the most exciting things about this job is discovering new filmmakers who look ready to deliver in a big way in the near future, and below, you'll find a dozen that have gotten on our radar recently, directors from whom we can't wait to see the next work. Take a look below, and let us know your own picks in the comments section.
Nikolaj Arcel
Danish filmmaker and screenwriter Nikolaj Arcel is not necessarily a new name. His feature debut in 2004, the political thriller “King's Game,” won him Best Director at the Danish Film Academy Awards which is not a bad way to start your career.
Two solid features followed, but getting nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at last year´s Academy Awards for "A Royal Affair" launched him into a new strata.
Set in the 18th century, and focusing on mentally ill King Christian VII of Denmark while chronicling an affair between the King´s wife and the royal physician, the film starred Mads Mikkelsen and boasted two career-making performances from Alicia Vikander and Mikkel Følsgaard (both on their way to becoming bankable actors, Vikander arguably already there).
But on top of that, the film is directed with an assured elegance, dramatic yet unshowy, focused on performances and storytelling fundamentals.
If anything, Arcel feels like a completely reliable director who positions his actors for success, and it´s hard to argue with that approach.
So what's Arcel doing for an encore? Well, Hollywood has come calling. On tap is a feature adaptation of “The Power Of The Dog,” the epic Don Winslow (“Savages”) bestseller framed around the drug war and a 30-year struggle between a hard DEA agent and a family of cartel kingpins in Mexico, and also directing a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's classic psychological thriller "Rebecca" for DreamWorks and Working Title. It's not too shabby of a gig and proves that others are fully confident in his abilities.
Tobias Lindholm
One of the big Oscar hopefuls this year is likely to be "Captain Phillips," the true-life story of the Maersk-Alabama and its skipper (Tom Hanks), which was captured by Somali pirates while in the Indian Ocean. Originally set for release this month, it was put back by Sony in the hope of landing it closer to the awards season, but director Paul Greengrass may come to rue that decision, because another pirate-hijacking film is arriving before then, and it's sure to put that film's director Tobias Lindholm on the map.
35-year-old Lindholm hails from Denmark, graduating from the country's National Film School in 2007. He wrote a script for a short, "Hawaii," while there, directed by classmate Michael Noer, before landing a job writing a few episodes of the Danish TV drama "Sommer."
But things really started to kick off in 2010 when he began work as one of the main writers on "Borgen," the acclaimed political series that's become a cult hit around the world. He then teamed up with "Festen" helmer Thomas Vinterberg for "Submarino," and once again pairing with Noer, made his directorial debut with the visceral prison movie "R." That unfortunately didn't make much impact abroad, but that all changed last year, with Lindholm becoming something of a fixture on the festival circuit.
He'd teamed up with Vinterberg again for "The Hunt," their searing picture of a man falsely accused of pedophilia, which won Mads Mikkelsen Best Actor at Cannes. And he'd gone solo as writer/director for "A Hijacking," a fictional, but entirely realistic, story of Danish ship held hostage by pirates for months. It's wrenching, totally absorbing stuff, with fine performances, expert cutting and strong camerawork. Coming up, he's writing another project with Vinterberg, "The Commune," as well as the drama "I Lossens Time" starring "The Killing" lead Sofie Grabol, but he told us a few months back that he's not keen to sell out to Hollywood immediately (though offers have arrived), which can only be a good thing.
Morten Tyldum
While it was somewhat underseen in the U.S, taking only $1 million, thriller "Headhunters" proved to be a major hit elsewhere in the world, going toe-to-toe with Hollywood blockbusters across Europe. It's partly a symptom of the increasingly inexhaustible international appetite for Scandinavian crime, but it's also a testament to the skills of director Morten Tyldum, who looks set to follow in the footsteps of Niels Arden Oplev, Tomas Alfredson and Nicolas Winding Refn.
Hailing from Norway, Tyldum trained at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and afters shorts "Lorenzo" and "Fast Forward" (which starred his "Headhunters" lead Askel Hennie), and some work in commercials and music videos, he broke through with the 2003 local comedy hit "Buddy."
Five years later (with his promo work seeing his profile increasing abroad), he had another hit with the crime flick "Fallen Angels," and stayed in darker territory for "Headhunters." Based on a novel by Jo Nesbo (whose "The Snowman" is being developed by Martin Scorsese), the film is a fast-paced, wryly funny tale about a recruitment consultant who doubles as an art thief, and winds up pursued by a psychopathic ex-special forces op who he's ripped off. Slick, ultraviolent, and hugely enjoyable, with excellent performances from Hennie and "Game Of Thrones" actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, the film was a big hit, and while Mark Wahlberg is circling a possible Hollywood remake, Tyldum's landed some big projects of his own.
He's teaming up with Wahlberg for hot spec script "The Disciple Program" at Universal, and more recently, took over from J. Blakeson on "The Imitation Game," the biopic of Alan Turing, which topped the Black List in 2011. Set to star Benedict Cumberbatch as Turing, it'll shoot later in the year, and should make Tyldum an even hotter prospect than he is right now.
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