Our 5 Favorite Actor-Director Duos!

As is often said, film is a highly collaborative art form. To make a movie happen, many different people have to come together from many different directions and backgrounds, committing themselves wholly to a project. This collaboration, once in a blue moon, brings certain people together that just click. Thus, they make more films together. And more. And then some more. The actor-director duo is one of the most powerhouse moviemaking units in Hollywood, and they seem to be forming faster than ever in recent years. Here are some of our favorite recent collaborators that we can’t wait to see even more of!

1. Yorgos Lanthimos & Emma Stone

This pair is, on paper, an unlikely one. Emma Stone is known for breezy, mainstream comedies like Easy A and La La Land. Yorgos Lanthimos is one of the wackiest directors around, with a filmography full of sick and twisted human relationships and out-there loglines. However, after coming together for 2018's The Favourite, the pair have since been inseparable. They immediately got to work on their next project together, Poor Things, which earned Emma her second Best Actress Oscar. Their most recent project, Kinds of Kindness, hit theatres last month and they already have yet another film in development, Bugonia. Every film seems vastly different and meets different reception, but from public appearances to profile interviews, the two seem infatuated with working together, and probably won’t separate any time soon. 

2. Jordan Peele & Daniel Kaluuya

Jordan Peele is one of the most talented directors of our time. Daniel Kaluuya is one of the most talented actors of our time. They’re both Oscar-winning talent with a penchant for telling character-forward genre stories, and their work together has brought out the best in each other’s talent. Get Out, their first major collaboration, is widely regarded as an important instrument in bringing the horror genre more critical respect and commercial popularity alike. We don’t know anything about Peele’s next movie yet beyond a release date for October 23rd, 2026, but we’re hoping to see Daniel Kaluuya on our screen in two years, and you should be too!

3. Greta Gerwig & Saoirse Ronan

These two actors are a one-two punch of the mainstream feminine. Of course, they’re more than just pioneers of woman-forward stories. They’re also standout talents in their own right. But regardless, both had their big break in their first collaboration, 2017's Lady Bird, an instant indie hit that allowed Gerwig the name value to explore larger projects, like 2019's Little Women, also starring Ronan. Although Ronan wasn’t a cast member of Gerwig’s most recent film and global sensation Barbie (there was a planned cameo that unfortunately never came to fruition), it’s likely the two will reunite soon, as their friendship is still publicly active and seemingly stronger than ever. 

4. Luca Guadagnino & Timothée Chalamet

More than any other duo on this list, the collaborations between Luca Guadagnino and Timothée Chalamet are less powerhouses themselves and more vehicles that allowed each member of the duo to find mainstream success later on. Chalamet received a lot of attention for Call Me By Your Name but didn’t explode in popularity until later when he worked on Little Woman and then Dune. Guadagnino’s most successful film is Challengers, which released earlier this year to a very viral reception. Even their most recent collaboration, Bones and All, although critically popular, was not a huge commercial success. Still, the duo appear publicly together even when not for press and will probably have another collaboration soon, as Guadagnino makes films at a rapid pace and Chalamet is perfect for the enigmatic roles he puts forth. 

5. Christopher Nolan & Cillian Murphy 

This duo is perhaps the least fresh on this list, but it belongs here all the same due to the explosive (no pun intended) success of Christopher Nolan’s most recent release, Oppenheimer, in which Cillian Murphy played the titular lead character. Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy go way back —almost two decades in fact — to Batman Begins in 2005. Since then, Murphy has played a role in four films leading up to Oppenheimer, but the previously mentioned is his first lead role with Nolan. After meeting massive success both critically and financially, the duo are sure to work together again soon, although both could probably use a break from the spotlight, humble family-men that they are.