Pick the Correct Director Trivia Quiz

Answer: Steven Spielberg

"War of the Worlds" was originally a novel by H.G. Wells, published in 1898 in hardback form. The 2005 film was based on the book and starred Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, and Tim Robbins. The film is basically about an alien life form attacking the human race on Earth. The aliens drain the blood and take tissue from humans to fertilise the alien vegetation. The film follows how the human race beats the intruders.

The film was one of the best films in 2005, earning more than $603 million worldwide. The film also was nominated for three Academy Awards for Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects.

Answer: Steven Spielberg

"Schindler's List" was released in late 1993 in the US and on 18 February 1994 in the UK. The film is set in World War II. The film starred Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, and Caroline Goodall, among others. The film did well, earning $322 million (£250 million) worldwide. Considering the film only had a budget of $22 million (£17 million), it was a good investment.

"Schindler's List" was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and came away winning seven. Steven Spielberg won the award for Best Director.

Answer: Steven Spielberg

"Bridge of Spies", based on a true story, is a gripping spy film released in 2015. The film starred Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Amy Ryan, and Alan Alda. The film is about two men who were spies for the US and Russia. The American was flying a U-2 spy plane and was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960, and how an American lawyer negotiated his release in exchange for a convicted Soviet KGB spy.

Answer: Steven Spielberg

"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was released in 1977. The film starred Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François Truffaut.

This science fiction drama film was not your normal alien versus the human race story - far from it. The film starts off with the story of an aircraft that went missing in 1945 and was found years later in the Sonoran Desert and a ship that went missing and was found in the Gobi Desert. Then two aircraft had a narrow escape from colliding with a UFO. A little boy was in his bedroom when his toys started to play by themselves and food fell out of the fridge. His dad was on his way home when he saw a UFO.

The film follows Roy, who becomes obsessed with the sighting and follows his instincts. Roy tracks down where the UFO can be found. Near the end of the film, Roy enters the spaceship as others leave. The aliens are friendly and are of no threat.

Answer: Martin Scorsese

"Gangs of New York" was released in 2002. Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz and Jim Broadbent all had starring roles in the film.

In a neighborhood in 1846, two rival gangs, the Anglo-Protestant Confederation and the Irish Catholic immigrant "Dead Rabbits", have a very violent gang fight with each other to see who will claim a piece of territory. The leader of the Dead Rabbits gets killed, watched by his young son. The young boy takes the knife that killed his father and is taken by the leader of the gang to an orphanage where he grows up. After 16 years in the orphanage, he then leaves and seeks revenge on the man that killed his father. If you've never seen the film, put it on your wish list. It's a very good film.

Answer: Martin Scorsese

"The Wolf of Wall Street" was released in 2013. Leonardo DiCaprio played the part of Jordan Belfort, who was in real life an American stockbroker and financial criminal who spent time in prison for fraud. Jordan Belfort wrote a book titled "The Wolf of Wall Street", which was about the corruption and fraud he committed. The film is based on the book and tells the story of how his firm, Stratton Oakmont, robbed people who dealt with his company.

Also starring in the film were Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Rob Reiner and Jon Favreau. This film was nominated for several awards.

Answer: Martin Scorsese

"The Colour of Money" was released in 1986. The film starred Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Helen Shaver. The film was a sequel to the 1961 film "The Hustler", which also starred Paul Newman.

The plot for the film is based around the game of pool. Paul Newman plays the part of Fast Eddie, who is a retired professional pool player, and Tom Cruise plays Vincent, a hustler. Eddie takes Vincent under his wing and teaches him how to hustle on the pool table. Eddie and Vincent go on a six-week tour of pool halls, with Eddie leading the way.

Later in the film, both Eddie and Vincent take part in a nine-ball tournament at Atlantic City. Eddie draws Vincent and beats him. Eddie reaches the semifinal but withdraws from the game. At the end of the film, Eddie and Vincent take part in a private game against each other, with Eddie saying to Vincent, "I'm back."

The rest of the cast was John Turturro as Julian, Bill Cobbs as Orvis, Forest Whitaker as Amos and Keith McCready as Grady.

Answer: Martin Scorsese

"Shutter Island" was released in 2010 and featured Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow. The plot revolves around the hospital for the criminally insane. Rachel Solando, a patient from the hospital, disappears. DiCaprio (Edward "Teddy" Daniels) and Mark Ruffalo (Chuck Aule) go to the Island to investigate what happened to the missing patient. Lots of twists and turns occur throughout the film.

Answer: Tim Burton

"Edward Scissorhands" was released in 1990. The film starred Johnny Depp as Edward Scissorhands, Winona Ryder as Kim Boggs, Vincent Price as The Inventor, and Dianne Wiest as Peg Boggs. The film is a gothic fantasy and tells the story of the relationship between Kim Boggs and Edward Scissorhands, who is a humanoid. Scissorhands was created by an inventor (Vincent Price) who gave him scissor blades instead of hands.

The inventor dies before he can finish his invention. Scissorhand is taken in by the Boggs family, and a love affair starts between Scissorhand and their daughter.

Answer: Tim Burton

The science fiction action-adventure film "Planet of the Apes" was released in 2001. The film was based on the novel "Planet of the Apes", written by Pierre Boulle in 1963.

The film starred Mark Wahlberg, Tim Roth, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Clarke Duncan, Kris Kristofferson, Estella Warren, and Paul Giamatti. The film starts off with a crash landing on a planet called Ashlar. The planet is ruled by apes, and humans are slaves. Captain Leo Davidson (Mark Wahlberg) finds out there is another space pod that also crashed and looks to be intact. The captain locates where the pod is and tries to get back to Earth. The pod goes through a time warp, and later it crashes on Earth in Washington, D.C., not knowing many years have passed. The captain soon realises that Earth is now also ruled by apes and the humans are slaves.

Answer: Tim Burton

"Dark Shadows" is a 2012 Gothic dark fantasy film. It was also a TV program that aired from the 1960s to the early 1970s. Four of the stars in the film were Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, Michelle Pfeiffer as Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, and Eva Green, who played the part of Angelique "Angie" Bouchard.

The film is based around vampires and witches. When Barnabas Collins was a young boy, his family moved from Liverpool, England, to Maine in the US. The family built up a town called Collinsport and built Collinwood Mansion. Several years later, Barnabas gets engaged to Josette while at the same time he cheats with Angelique, who is a witch. Angelique kills both of Barnabas's parents and then makes Josette kill herself with a spell she cast. The film then tells how Angelique tries to get Barnabas for herself. The film has twists and turns and the unexpected. Well worth a look if you've not seen the film.

Answer: Tim Burton

"Sleepy Hollow" was released in 1999. The film's genre is gothic supernatural horror. The film starred Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, Christina Ricci as Katrina Anne Van Tassel, Miranda Richardson as Lady Mary Van Tassel, and Michael Gambon, who played the part of Baltus Van Tassel.

The film is basically about Ichabod Crane, who has deep feelings for Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter of a rich farmer. They live in a town called Sleepy Hollow, and Ichabod Crane moves in with the family as a lodger because being a teacher, his wages are so low.

In the town, several people have been killed by decapitation. The townsfolk believe that a soldier who was killed in the American Revolutionary War rides a black horse looking for his lost head. Ichabod Crane is not convinced about the story and starts to investigate.

The film has several more murders, and the relationship between Katrina and Ichabod is not straightforward. There are conspiracies going on in the town between the community and cover-ups. At the end of the film, the lost head is found and returned to the soldier, who then goes back to hell. Katrina and Ichabod leave Sleepy Hollow and go to New York.