There can sometimes be a temptation to define directors based on the kinds of movies they make. This can be fair to some extent, as understandably, certain directors have certain stylistic flourishes that distinguish them from other directors. Other times, directors find themselves excelling in one genre - or sometimes several - and therefore make the decision to focus on that genre - or genres - for most of the movies they make.
Plenty of directors are therefore best known for a certain type of movie, but few have restrained themselves exclusively to a single genre or style of filmmaking. The following 10 directors all demonstrate this well, as each undeniably has their own style and preferred genres, but has broken out of that normalcy on at least one occasion, making surprising and distinct movies in the process.
1 David Lynch - 'The Elephant Man' (1980)
David Lynch is a director with such an inimitable style that his movies have led to the term "Lynchian" being developed. His movies often have surreal imagery, dreamlike or nightmarish sequences that may or may not represent reality, and a general sense of tension and uneasiness that's also combined with beautifully haunting music and remarkable visuals.
That makes it surprising to see that one of his first movies, The Elephant Man, lacks most of those conventions. Rather than being a psychological drama/surreal horror movie like most of his works, it's instead a very sad historical drama focused on a man named John Merrick who suffered greatly in life because of his bodily deformities. It's just as gripping as most of his movies, but hits unexpectedly hard as a tear-jerking drama, and it's the kind of realistic, non-surreal drama he wouldn't fully embrace again until 1999's The Straight Story.
2 Kenneth Branagh - 'Thor' (2011)
Before 2011, Kenneth Branagh was most well-known for his Shakespearean adaptations. From Henry V to Much Ado About Nothing to Hamlet, that seemed to be where his specialties as a director lay, which made him a somewhat surprising pick to direct an action/fantasy/superhero movie like Thor.
Then again, there is a great deal of theatrics and family drama to Thor, which are also things found in plenty of Shakespearean adaptations. Branagh's filmography post-Thor has been a little more diverse, but it remains the only superhero movie he ever directed, ensuring it still sticks out a decent among his usual Shakespeare movies and other historical dramas.
3 Sam Peckinpah - 'The Ballad of Cable Hogue' (1970)
One thing that's heavily reoccurring throughout the films of Sam Peckinpah is violence. His Westerns and crime-thrillers were exceptionally brutal for their time (with The Wild Bunch and Straw Dogs exemplifying this best), and while some dark comedy wasn't always out of the question, most of his movies were fairly serious affairs.
That changed with his 1970 film The Ballad of Cable Hogue, which also stands out for being his personal favorite of the movies he directed. It's a more comedic Western that focuses on the ups and downs (mostly downs) of its title character, who's left for dead in the desert, only to come into some fortune when he discovers water and then sets out to build a new outpost called Cable Springs.
4 Darren Aronofsky - 'Noah' (2014)
Darren Aronofsky's most recent film is The Whale, which is a character-focused drama about seeking redemption, overcoming personal hardships, and reconnecting with loved ones. Some of his other films have been a little less grounded than The Whale, but most center on troubled characters (usually just one), and serve as psychological dramas that are also deeply sympathetic to their often tortured protagonists.
Some of those traits can be found in Noah, but at the same time, it stands out because it's also a Biblical epic. And not only is it an adaptation of the Bible story surrounding Noah building his ark, but it's also a genuinely bizarre adaptation of such a story, with added fantastical elements and action sequences that make it feel a little like The Lord of the Rings at times.
5 Stanley Kramer - 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World' (1963)
Stanley Kramer was a producer/director best known for his dramas, which often tackled social issues that were of particular relevance during the 1950s and 1960s. Films like Judgment at Nuremberg, The Defiant Ones, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner were all serious dramas, making his epic screwball comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World really stand out.
It's a long, silly, and excessive movie, but it's also a great deal of fun, depicting a large group of people on a cross-country race to uncover a buried stash of money before anyone else. For those who like slapstick chaos and films on an epic scale, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World still delivers the goods 60 years on from its release.
6 Sergio Leone - 'Once Upon a Time in America' (1984)
It's pretty easy to see why Sergio Leone's final film, Once Upon a Time in America, stands out when compared to his other feature films. The Dollars Trilogy, Once Upon a Time in the West, and Duck, You Sucker! all qualify as Westerns, whereas Once Upon a Time in America is a crime movie.
It also stands out for being his longest film, coming in a little under four hours, whereas most of his other movies fell between two and three hours. It uses this time to span decades in the lives of its characters, and while Leone had utilized flashbacks briefly before, he never used them the way he did here, nor as pervasively. It's a dark and absorbing film that shows Leone could do gangster stories just as well as tales set in the Old West.
7 Martin Scorsese - 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore' (1974)
Few directors are as closely linked to the crime genre as Martin Scorsese. While not all his movies have been crime films, many of his most famous ones have. He's also made numerous historical dramas that aren't linked with the crime genre, including films like Silence and The Age of Innocence that admittedly stand out from his normal style.
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore arguably stands out even more among Scorsese's typically male-centric movies. It's a grounded romance/drama about a single mother looking after her son, set in then-contemporary times and being the rare Scorsese movie with a female protagonist. It's quite distanced from what Scorsese usually does, but works surprisingly well regardless.
8 Zack Snyder - 'Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole' (2010)
Zack Snyder made his debut with a remake of the zombie movie Dawn of the Dead in 2004. In the years following, he became well known for adapting graphic novels (300 and Watchmen), making superhero movies (like Man of Steel and Justice League), and then even returned to the zombie horror genre with 2021's Army of the Dead.
Even if this range of fantasy/action/comic book movies is fairly diverse, they all have one thing in common: all are in live-action (or mostly live-action), whereas his 2010 movie Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole is animated. It's also more family-friendly than most of Snyder's films, making it even more of an anomaly.
9 Quentin Tarantino - 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' (2019)
There are a few things Quentin Tarantino movies are known for. They're usually crime or Western movies, they feature plenty of fast-paced dialogue, and they'll often have bursts of extreme violence littered throughout. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood feels a little different, as it's a comedy/drama with a slower pace, and has the restraint to only feature one scene of genuinely extreme violence.
In being a slightly lighter film than most by Tarantino, it de-emphasizes story and focuses almost entirely on characters, and uses its pacing to transport viewers to the world of Hollywood in the late 1960s. It's therefore quite literally a change of pace for Tarantino, but a refreshing one.
10 Kevin Smith - 'Red State' (2011)
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There are very few Kevin Smith movies that couldn't be described as comedies. Even his horror-comedy Tusk is probably funnier than it is disturbing, and while Jersey Girl might be a little more sentimental and dramatic than most of his efforts, it's still identifiable as a dramedy/romance.
The one that stands out the most for not being a comedy is 2011's Red State, which is an action/thriller movie about three teenagers getting tangled up with a dangerous fundamentalist church. There's very little comedic relief, and it's quite shocking how violent and tense it ends up being when compared to Smith's usual fare.