Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, Robert Redford: 5 actors who turned directors

This must be no surprise as the actors know what it is like to be in front of the camera and to be told by someone what to do.

There was a time when actors turning directors was seen as something of a desperate act from those actors who could not hold their own in front of the camera. But this has changed, and there have been some great films made by actors. This must be no surprise as the actors know what it is like to be in front of the camera and to be told by someone what to do. So they can get better performances when they direct someone else. Here are 5 actors who turned to direction, and did well. (Read: Ben Kingsley’s “Learning to Drive” Promises a Feel-Good End to the Summer)

1. Clint Eastwood

Eastwood blazed a trail to stardom in the classic spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone, the mean streets of Dirty Harry’s San Francisco and in army pictures like “Kelly’s Heroes.” He started directing in 1971 with “Play Misty for Me,” he directed himself in classics like “The Outlaw Josey Wales” and “High Plains Drifter,” and in 1992, he was the Best Director of the Best Picture of the Year with “Unforgiven,” the dark revisiting of the western genre that made him famous. Since then, he’s directed gems like “A Perfect World” and returned to the Oscar stage with “Mystic River,” and returned to the winner’s circle with “Million Dollar Baby.” He was also nominated for Best Actor, but couldn’t win.

2. Mel Gibson

Mad Max, Lethal Weapon, Air America and Maverick are just a few films in which Mel Gibson was awesome as an actor. His directorial debut was 1993’s Man without a Face, but he became known as a director with 1995’s Braveheart which became the Best Picture of the Year. It may have played fast and loose with the facts about the life of William Wallace, but it was quite the engrossing movie, landing him the Best Director award as well, although he wasn’t nominated in the acting category. He has since then made The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto, but they haven’t quite matched the kind of charm Braveheart had.

3. Jodie Foster

Foster began acting at age three, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress as a 13-year-old prostitute in Taxi Driver and was cited as the motivation for a guy who tried to assassinate the president when she was 19. She won the Best Actor Academy awards for a profoundly disturbing graphic rape drama like The Accused and the enduringly creepy The Silence of the Lambs. Her directorial debut was with 1991’s Little Man Tate, a quiet story about a mother trying to raise her smart but socially-disabled son. Then, a few years later, she followed it up with the ensemble family dysfunction dramedy Home for the Holidays. That was it for her in the director’s chair, though, until 2011’s “The Beaver,” starring Gibson as a man having a mental breakdown centered on a hand puppet. She also directed a few episodes of House of Cards.

4. Robert Redford

The erstwhile founder of the Sundance Film Festival his start as an actor in films like Inside Daisy Clover and The Chase. But his big break as an actor came with Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid with Paul Newman. He’d re-team with Newman and get an Oscar nomination out of 1973’s The Sting becoming one of the biggest stars in the world. His first time in the director’s chair came with 1980’s dark family drama Ordinary People and he knocked it out of the park, winning the Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture. He’s continued to produce stellar work behind the camera, with The MilagroBeanfield War, A River Runs through It and Quiz Show.

5. Ben Affleck

The Daredevil actor won the Best Picture for Argo, the film that he directed, even though he wasn’t nominated for Best Director. His acting talents are quite known, and he made his directorial debut was 2007 kidnapping drama Gone Baby Gone starring his brother Casey. That turned some heads. 2010 crime saga The Town turned even more, and then the third time was the charm with Argo. Now that he is playing Batman in the Zack Snyder directed film Dawn of Justice, he is also being rumored to direct some future DC films. Image Credit: Facebook