Who will theAmerican Film Instituteselect as its 50th life achievement award recipient? Which top director is the most likely choice to be honored in 2025? After reviewing the possible choices, be sure to vote in our poll below as to who you think should be the best selection. We will host two more separate polls about your favorite choices for actresses and actors soon.
SinceAFIwill be celebrating their 50th ceremony, we’re hoping it will be an undeniably great choice!
Starting in the early 1970s, the AFI started choosing actors, actresses and directors with recipients being directorJohn Ford(1973), actorJames Cagney(1974), director/actorOrson Welles(1975), directorWilliam Wyler(1976), actressBette Davis(1977), actorHenry Fonda(1978) and directorAlfred Hitchcock(1979).
Past recipients still living (and therefore not eligible again) are: actorJack Nicholson(1994), directorSteven Spielberg(1995), actor/directorClint Eastwood(1996), directorMartin Scorsese(1997), actorDustin Hoffman(1999), actorHarrison Ford(2000), actress/directorBarbra Streisand(2001), actor/directorTom Hanks(2002), actorRobert De Niro(2003), actressMeryl Streep(2004), directorGeorge Lucas(2005), actorAl Pacino(2007), actor/directorWarren Beatty(2008), actor/producerMichael Douglas(2009), actorMorgan Freeman(2011), actressShirley MacLaine(2012), director/actorMel Brooks(2013), actressJane Fonda(2014), actor/writerSteve Martin(2015), composerJohn Williams(2016), actressDiane Keaton(2017), actor/directorGeorge Clooney(2018), actor/directorDenzel Washington(2019), actressJulie Andrews(2022) and actress/producerNicole Kidman.
Other than Spielberg and Hanks, who were 49 and 46 respectively when they were honored, everybody else has been at least in their mid 50s. For our poll, we set the minimum age as 50. Our list of directors for the poll below includes Oscar winnersPedro Almodovar,James Cameron,Jane Campion,Joel and Ethan Coen,Francis Ford Coppola,Guillermo del Toro,Ron Howard,Ang Lee,Spike Lee,Christopher Nolan,Oliver StoneandQuentin TarantinoandRobert Zemeckis,plus Oscar nomineesDavid FincherandRidley Scott.Vote below for who you think will be selected.
Woody Allen
I would totally add John Carpenter (one of the most influential American directors) to the mix (and completely under rewarded). I like seeing Almodóvar in the mix, despite having only 2 shorts and 1 unreleased (yet) English-spoken films, and certainly he is on the front of those deserving high honors (his filmography, overall, is better and more regularly great than Coppola’s even if this one made 3 total masterpieces in the 70s)