Here are 18 directors who needed exactly one try to create something great.
No matter how great filmmakers are, the very first works of most of them are not easy to watch. Well, that is, the debut films of some Spielberg, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Gaidai or Ryazanov are certainly capable of finding their viewers, but almost no one has heard of these films, primarily because of their low quality compared to the rest of the works of these creators.
Today we decided to list those particularly lucky and talented directors whose very first full-length film in their career suddenly immediately turned out to be a cultural phenomenon. It is important to point out that when considering the careers of everyone on this list, we do not count short films or collaborations (i.e. as co-director), or participation in films in positions other than directing, as debuts.
1. Mad Max (1979) 
George Miller's directorial debut.
2. American Beauty (1999) 
Sam Mendes' directorial debut.
3. Get Away (2017) 
Jordan Peele's directorial debut.
4. Love Actually (2003) 
Directorial debut of screenwriter Richard Curtis.
5. 12 Angry Men (1956) 
Sidney Lumet's directorial debut.
6. Dances with Wolves (1990) 
The directorial debut of Kevin Costner, who also played the main role. A rare combination, but it happens.
7. Reservoir Dogs (1992) 
Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut.
8. Ivan's childhood (1962) 
Directorial debut of Andrei Tarkovsky.
9. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) 
Guy Ritchie's directorial debut.
10. The Virgin Suicides (1999) 
Sofia Coppola's directorial debut.
11. District No. 9 (2009) 
Neill Blomkamp's directorial debut.
12. Bad Boys (1995) 
Michael Bay's directorial debut.
13. Constantine: Lord of Darkness (2005) 
Francis Lawrence's directorial debut.
14. Donnie Darko (2001) 
Richard Kelly's directorial debut.
15. Citizen Kane (1941) 
The directorial debut of Orson Welles, who also starred in the film.
16. Lady Bird (2017) 
Greta Gerwig's directorial debut.
17. One among strangers, a stranger among one’s own (1974) 
Directorial debut of Nikita Mikhalkov.
18. Toy Story (1995) 
John Lasseter's directorial debut, Pixar's first animated feature film, and the first feature film in history to be entirely computer-generated.
Bonus: Terminator (1984) 
Formally, James Cameron’s second feature film, but the director’s debut film was the low-budget trash Piranha 2: The Spawning, a sequel to someone else’s film. Moreover, it was filmed in collaboration with Ovidio G. Assonitis. So we can say that it was the legendary “Terminator” that turned out to be James Cameron’s debut independent film.
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