James Mangold
Though he almost gave up trying to make it in Hollywood after being fired by Disney from his first gig, writer-director James Mangold re-emerged from a short hiatus with his acclaimed feature debut, "Heavy" (1995), which brought him industrywide recognition. Mangold followed up with the critical darling "Cop Land" (1997), which earned him a reputation as a practitioner of hard-hitting and gritty independent films. After helping make Angelina Jolie a star with "Girl, Interrupted" (1999), the director began to slip a little with critics when he helmed the Meg Ryan romantic comedy "Kate & Leopold" (2001). But once again, Mangold surprised his critics with the deft supernatural thriller "Identity" (2003), while receiving a ton of critical kudos for his popular biopic "Walk the Line" (2005), which brought about renewed interest in the music of outlaw country star Johnny Cash. With the remake of the Western "3:10 to Yuma" (2007) and Tom Cruise action comedy "Knight and Day" (2010), Mangold demonstrated that he was comfortable directing any genre he chose. He brought that eclectic sensibility to the superhero universe, directing two tonally very different films starring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, "The Wolverine" (2013) and "Logan" (2017).