Paul Thomas Anderson for teaching me that it's ALL about the script and if you have the right actors directors don't have to do anything on set but be a fan, Lumet for his films and his book, a young directors» must
read, Coppola for his courage in filmmaking, Steven Soderberg for refusing to ever be put in a
box and pushing the form as far as he can, Kathryn Bigelow for giving masterclasses in action, James Cameron for Terminator 2 and prove big budget cinema can still be perfect cinema, Sean Penn for bringing his acting chops to directing, David Mamet for his scripts and his
dialogue, Nolan for having more heart than most people seem to give him credit for (Memento, Rises, Inception and Interstellar all made me cry.)