Michael Winterbottom

An English filmmaker who is notoriously hard to pin down, Michael Winterbottom is not only a remarkably eclectic director, but a very busy one as well, often unveiling two projects in a single year. From thoughtful period pieces to politically charged docudramas to off-kilter comedies, Winterbottom is all over the map, figuratively as well as literally, working in his native Britain, but also shooting in China, India, and Italy, just to name a few locations. Generally placing the concept of a film above its narrative, Winterbottom regularly avoids relating conventional stories, opting instead for unusual fare such as 24 Hour Party People, where the Manchester-dwelling post-punk-loving narrator/main character frequently talks to the camera and gleefully mixes fact and fiction, and 9 Songs, an art-house romance that largely alternates between alternative-rock concert performances and scenes of explicit sex. Occasionally, Winterbottom settles down to tell a more straightforward tale, sometimes roping in major Hollywood talent in the process (see Kate Winslet in Jude or Angelina Jolie in A Mighty Heart), but soon he's off on another off-the-cuff production, with his unpredictability standing out as his only consistent calling card.