In filmmaking – as in any other field ever explored in the history of the world – creativity comes not only from sparks of genius. It comes from studying, copying, combining, re-shaping and re-thinking what others have done before. Here’s a list of 10 directors you need to study right now.

As you’ll notice, we’ve left out some obvious choices, which is not to say that you shouldn’t meticulously dissect the works of Coppola, Scorsese or Spielberg. Because you should. With this list, though, we wanted to surprise and delight. And hopefully inspire.

#10 Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction, Lolita, Indecent Proposal)

 

#9 John Patrick Hanley (Doubt, Joe Versus the Volcano)

 

#8 Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead)

 

#7 Rob Marshall (Chicago, Memoirs Of A Geisha, Into The Woods)

 

#6 Mike Nichols (Angels In America, The Graduate, Silkwood)

 

#5 John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy, Marathon Man, Sunday Bloody Sunday)

 

#4 Norman Jewison (In The Heat Of The Night, Moonstruck, The Hurricane)

 

#3 John Huston (The African Queen, The Maltese Falcon, The Unforgiven)

 

#2 Elia Kazan (A Streetcar Named Desire, On The Waterfront, East of Eden)

 

#1 Milos Forman (One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, The People vs Larry Flynt, Man On The Moon)