ListNook

urgasmic Mar 27, 2026 +108

the raid, letters from iwo jima

108

Small-Explorer7025 Mar 27, 2026 +115

Mel Gibson has done 2. The Passion of the Christ and Apocolypto.

115

PhonkyMonky Mar 27, 2026 +6

Both are in dead languages though so lots of space for artistic license claim

6

flingebunt Mar 27, 2026 +6

Also The Passion of Christ was in Latin when in reality the Romans in that area spoke Greek.

6

GreenGorilla8232 Mar 27, 2026 +4

You can tell Apolocolypto wasn't made by someone from Meso America because Mel Gibson just threw together a bunch of different cultures and time periods and presented them as one culture.

4

RealCleverUsernameV2 Mar 27, 2026 +8

And it turned out awesome

8

onitshaanambra Mar 27, 2026 +5

That did bother me when I saw it. I loved the movie, but some events confused me at first. It's either the wrong ethnic group, or the wrong century. But I reconciled it by thinking that it is symbolic, not literal.

5

flingebunt Mar 27, 2026 +1

Meant to be an artistic summary of the culture not a documentary. Sort of problematic in that it reduces meso American culture but fine if you don't see it as literal but artistic

1

GreenGorilla8232 Mar 27, 2026 -1

I don't think I really buy that explanation. What's the specific artistic reason for presenting many different cultures as one culture? Imagine someone from the Americas made a movie set in Europe hundreds of years ago, while mixing up Italian, German, and English culture, but saying it was an artistic decision. How much sense would that make?

-1

DeathByLeshens Mar 27, 2026 +12

That literally happens all the time. Film critics refer to it as trying to capture 'the essence of Europe.' But it is super common in movies that fuse the Western European or Eastern European countries. Do you know how common it is to have movies set in Austria or Switzerland were everyone speaks German, or have you have seen a movie that takes place in Luxembourg that actually highlights any of its cultural significance? A lot of 90's French films have post USSR states all speaking and acting Russian, and my personal favorite is Norway, Sweden and Finland might as well be the same place in a lot of movies.

12

seeasea Mar 27, 2026 +5

Most medieval epics are exactly like that. And don't get get started on high fantasy - very typical. Also swords and sandals will smoosh classical roman/Greek culture from across locales and eras hundreds of years apart. It's like when every English language movie uses Scottish accents as a standin for scandanavian.

5

GreenGorilla8232 Mar 27, 2026 -3

Fantasy is... fantasy. it's not meant to take place in a real time or place. Fantasy movies are set in fantasy worlds. Apocalypto is not a fantasy movie. It's set in a real time and place, just portrayed very inaccurately. I don't think you've justified the artistic decision. You just listed other examples of historical settings that were portrayed inaccurately.

-3

PornFilterRefugee Mar 27, 2026 +58

Gareth Evans directed the Raid movies

58

gemko Mar 27, 2026 +45

Plenty of examples being supplied so let me just also note that the imbalance shouldn’t be surprising. There’s a big incentive for a major Korean director like Bong Joon-ho to make movies in Hollywood: larger budget, wider audience, etc. Very little incentive for Steven Spielberg to go shoot a Korean-language movie in Seoul. He’d need to be passionate about wanting to do that (as Eastwood was with *Iwo Jima*).

45

Bexhill Mar 27, 2026 +9

I remember reading that Spielberg originally intended to make Schindler's List in German but gave up because he felt he couldn't gauge the performances.

9

mikeyfreshh Mar 27, 2026 +63

The Zone of Interest

63

Batman_in_Vegas Mar 27, 2026 +22

Paul Schrader's "Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters" is entirely in Japanese, and was co-written with his brother Leonard and sister in law Chieko, who are both fluent in Japanese. Stunning Philip Glass score, and some gorgeous set design

22

Batman_in_Vegas Mar 27, 2026 +3

I guess I'd also throw in Sebastiane by Derek Jarman, the script is in vulgar Latin

3

nowhereman136 Mar 27, 2026 +20

Gareth Edwards - The Raid (Indonesian) Richard Linklater - Nouvelle Vague (French) Clint Eastwood - Letters From Iwo Jima (Japanese) Johnathan Glazer - Zone of Interest (German) Mel Gibson - Passion of the Christ (~~Arabic~~ Aramaic) Woody Allen - Stroke of Luck (French) Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (French) Wim Wenders is German filmmaker who directed Perfect Days (Japanese)

20

infinitemonkeytyping Mar 27, 2026 +8

Just to clarify, Passion of the Christ was largely in Aramaic (with a bit of Hebrew and Latin mixed in), not Arabic. Mel Gibson also had Apocalyto in Yucatec Mayan.

8

MesmersCure Mar 27, 2026 +12

This is the case for a fair amount of blacklisted American directors. Jules Dassin and Joseph Losey being prime examples.

12

Jonneiljon Mar 27, 2026 +13

Gareth Evans made THE RAID movies

13

superdupermensch Mar 27, 2026 +11

Several blacklisted directors worked overseas. Jules Dassin - **Rififi** is one of the best examples.

11

Comprehensive_Dog651 Mar 27, 2026 +24

linklater recently, Nouvelle Vague

24

Caliclimber_ Mar 27, 2026 +4

For which he won best director at the César Awards

4

Wordnerdette999 Mar 27, 2026 +18

Wim Wenders is German, but he made many English language movies and also the Japanese- language movie Perfect Days.

18

Shepher27 Mar 27, 2026 +10

Ang Lee is obviously a Mandarin speaker, but Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon was written by James Sheamus in English and then translated to Mandarin with the English writing used for the subtitles

10

0verstim Mar 27, 2026 +6

Leslie Stevens, an American, directed Incubus entirely in Esperanto.

6

t_newt1 Mar 27, 2026 +2

Starring William Shatner!

2

GlamMetalLion Mar 27, 2026 +7

Steven Sodebergh's Che Guevara duology with Benicio del Toro.

7

DoctorBocker Mar 27, 2026 +9

*Apocalypto* comes to mind.

9

dontbajerk Mar 27, 2026 +4

Finnish is his mother tongue, but Renny Harlin is fluent in English of course. He went to China and made several films in Chinese.

4

Academic_Bluebird455 Mar 27, 2026 +10

Not the same, but Inglorious Basterds is as much a French/German movie as it is an English one.

10

nowhereman136 Mar 27, 2026 +8

Kill Bill also has entire sequences in Cantonese and Japanese

8

pacoja89 Mar 27, 2026 -1

I think Tarantino count as an Honorable mention on this topic

-1

Deep_Loss_4084 Mar 27, 2026 +6

Mel Gibson is the obvious one — "The Passion of the Christ" in Aramaic/Latin, "Apocalypto" in Yucatec Maya. And also Clint Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima" — the man made an entire WWII film in Japanese and got an Oscar nom for it

6

whorewithnoworkethic Mar 27, 2026 +7

Slumdog Millionaire had Hindi and marathi dialogue directed by Danny Boyle

7

Bexhill Mar 27, 2026 +3

Little known fact that Boyle had an Indian co-director!

3

Varekai79 Mar 27, 2026 +1

Damn, where's his Oscar?

1

FernanditoJr Mar 27, 2026 +3

Sin Nombre (2009) by Cary Fukunaga

3

jpow33 Mar 27, 2026 +3

El Mariachi, written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. Alex Cox, who did Sid & Nancy and Repo Man, did the Mexican movie Highway Patrolman.

3

res30stupid Mar 27, 2026 +3

Well, that doesn't really count since... Huh. F*** me, he's American.

3

guantamanera Mar 27, 2026

I don't know if Robert Rodriguez counts. Most chicanos first language is Spanish and English second.

0

fishred Mar 27, 2026 +2

Men with Guns by John Sayles (so good)

2

unkyduck Mar 27, 2026 +2

There was a clip posted yesterday of Werner Herzog telling of directing a film in Greek, and his anecdote of speaking French only at gunpoint. Herzog is not USican but he speaks excellent English.

2

RapaNow Mar 27, 2026 +2

Angelina Jolie - First they killed my father - Cambodian

2

pogpole Mar 27, 2026 +2

If Esperanto counts, there’s Leslie Stevens’ Incubus.

2

HardSteelRain Mar 27, 2026 +3

Woody Allen's Coup de Chance

3

Calraider7 Mar 27, 2026 +2

didnt will ferrell do a movie in spanish. and of course that numbnutz gibsons trash movie with the Person of interest dude, and the apocolypto-now thing

2

philament Mar 27, 2026 +1

Kinda the other way round - George Sluzier made “The Vanishing” (1988) in Dutch, but then remade it in English in 1993. The remake’s pretty awful, though, so stick with the original 😁

1

DrSpacemanSpliff Mar 27, 2026 +3

I fuckin love Spoorloos

3

djangobhubhu Mar 27, 2026 +3

Spoorloos is such a f****** unsettling film. Masterfully crafted

3

spit-on-my-dress Mar 27, 2026 +2

It might be also worth mentioning that the original film was not allowed as Netherlands entry as best foreign film at the academy awards, because it’s in large parts in French.

2

philament Mar 27, 2026 +2

Til. Thanks for the tidbit

2

gold_and_diamond Mar 27, 2026 +1

John Sayles

1

wildcolonialboy Mar 27, 2026 +1

Casa di mi padre. Will Ferrell's Mexican telenovela western.

1

SerWrong Mar 27, 2026 +1

Sean Baker did 2. One in Taiwan and one in malaysia.

1

[deleted] Mar 27, 2026 +1

Mel Gibson - Passion of the christ , Jonathan Glazer - The Zone of Interest , Paul Schrader - Mishima, Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire

1

brokenringlands Mar 27, 2026 +1

Sean Ellis made *Metro Manila* (2013)

1

guantamanera Mar 27, 2026 +1

Matt Piedmont made "Casa de mi padre" Mel Gibson also made some non English movies

1

AfraidoftheLark Mar 27, 2026 +1

I think Alexander Payne is about to do this. His next movie, which stars Renate Reinsve, has a Danish-language script.

1

voivod1989 Mar 27, 2026 +1

The Taiwanese movie the sadness was directed by a Canadian.

1

Mysterious-Call-245 Mar 27, 2026 +1

Trainspotting

1

db0606 Mar 27, 2026 +1

Matt Piedmont directed and Will Ferrell starred in *Casa De Mi Padre*.

1

InitialConfection219 Mar 27, 2026 +1

Joe Wright (British) just did *Mussolini: Son of the Century* in Italian last year.

1

arkemiffo Mar 27, 2026 +1

Not sure if it's what you're looking for, but [Colin Nutley](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0638324/) is a British director, who started directing in England, but then moved to Sweden, and has since almost exclusively made Swedish movies and TV. I don't think many people know him outside of Sweden though, but he has been a very successful filmmaker in Sweden since the late 80's.

1

DDFoster96 Mar 27, 2026 +1

Would you count films that are entirely on Welsh, Scottish Gaelic or Irish, where the directors (predominantly) speak English day to day? Such films exist (see past British entries for the Best International Film at the Oscars)

1

darkvince7 Mar 27, 2026 +1

Nouvelle Vague by Richard Linklater.

1

El_John_Nada Mar 27, 2026 +1

Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth has 5 distinct parts, 3 of them are in a foreign language.

1

KeebZeus Mar 27, 2026 +1

German but he speaks English too; Wim Wenders - Perfect Days

1

NoiceProtonics Mar 27, 2026 +1

Alexander Payne is currently shooting a movie in Denmark in Danish. Somewhere out There I think it's called.

1

Rezart_KLD Mar 27, 2026 +1

Incubus (1966), the one with William Shatner, is in Esperanto.

1

generalzee Mar 27, 2026 +1

Passion if the Christ

1

danceswithsteers Mar 27, 2026 -2

Pan's Labryinth / El laberinto del fauno

-2

gautsvo Mar 27, 2026 +7

Guillermo del Toro is Mexican.

7

suitcasedreaming Mar 27, 2026 +1

Not the director, but Doug Jones did the spanish dialogue for the faun by learning the spanish phonetically.

1

Somnambulist815 Mar 27, 2026

Marty! Kundun! I liked it!

0

Ill-Combination-9320 Mar 27, 2026 +1

But Kundun is english spoken

1

AandRRecords Mar 27, 2026

Is Slumdog Millionaire not an example you are accepting?

0

Are there any examples of English-speaking directors creating movies in a Foreign language?

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