Smooth transition

Over the years, many actors have occupied the director’s chair including Jodie Foster (who made heartfelt films like Little Man

Tate and The Beaver), George Clooney (nominated in the Oscars for Best Director for

Good Night And Good Luck), Sean Penn ( The

Pledge), Tom Hanks ( That Thing You Do!), Jon Favreau ( Iron Man), Ben Stiller ( Zoolander and Tropic Thunder in which he not only directed but wrote as well as acted in) and Keanu reeves (erm, he comes off as a better director than actor in Man Of

Taichi).

Here are six other actors who made the smooth transition to award-winning directors.

Clint Eastwood

Best known for his spaghetti western roles in A Fistful Of Dollars and The Good, The Bad

And TheU gly, and Dirty Harry films. Started directing in 1971 with Play Misty For

Me In 1992, he won the Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture for the western Unforgiven, in which he also played the lead character. He has directed other gems including

Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby (which also nabbed him the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars), Letters From Iwo Jima and

Invictus.

His current directing project is JerseyBoys.

Kevin Costner

Made his mark with roles in The Untouchables, Bull Durham and Field Of Dreams But he is best known for directing Dances WithWolves in 1990, a film that got him the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. His other efforts, unfortunately, are quite terrible ( Waterworld, The Postman and Open Range).

His next gig sees him opposite Chris Pine in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

Robert Redford

The once upon a time swoon-worthy Redford has been in some classics like Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, The Sting,

Out Of Africa and All The President’s Men. His first time behind the camera was for

Ordinary People (1980) for which he received the Oscars for Best Director and Best Picture. Other top-notch films he directed include A

River Runs Through It and Quiz Show. He is appearing in next year’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Mel Gibson

This Australian made a name

for himself in Hollywood with MadMax and Lethal Weapon movies. Made his directorial debut with 1993’s Man Without A Face. Although many do not want to be associated with him these days, no thanks to the anti-Semitic remarks he made, Gibson was the toast of Tinseltown when he won Best Director Oscar for 1995’s Braveheart. After that, he directed two more films, The

Passion Of Christ and Apocalypto. Nowadays, he seems to be choosing smaller roles (or maybe this is not by choice). He will be seen in TheExpendables3 (2014) and

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).

Ron Howard

The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days. Enough said. The child star traded his acting hat for a directing one in 1977’s Grand Theft Auto. He followed this with a couple of TV movies before making his big-screen feature,

NightShift. In 2001, he bagged the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for A Beautiful Mind. He has also directed other blockbusters such as Splash, Cocoon, Willow and Apollo

13. He has helmed both the Da Vinci Code films and CinderellaMan. Right now, Howard is directing Nathaniel Philbrick’s In The Heart Of The Sea starring Chris Hemsworth.

Ben Affleck

Best rememberd for his speech (with Matt Damon) after winning the best screenwriting Oscar for Good Will Hunting. And yes, Bennifer. OK, there might’ve been some roles in turkeys such as Daredevil and Gigli. Affleck’s career took a turn for the better when he decided to go behind the camera for 2007’s Gone Baby Gone (his directorial debut), 2010’s The Town and 2012’s Argo. Early this year, at the Oscars, Argo won the Best Picture award. Unfortunately, he is back to irking a lot of people when he is cast as Bruce Wayne (aka Batman) in Batman Vs. Superman (2015). Bah.