Is the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp pairing the one with the most frequency of a director working with a certain actor?

Ever? Truffaut did the Antoine Doinel series with the same actor playing the same character for something like 7 or 8 movies (I think one is a short movie). Started with 400 Blows.

post-IMDB: Jean-Pierre Leaud

Deniro and Scorsese.

Jimmy Stewart and James Capra. (also with Hitchcock and Anthony Mann)

Fellini and Marcello Mastroianni.

Woody Allen and Diane Keaton.

Bergman and whathispuss? Max Von Sydow.

Siegel & Eastwood did five movies together. Or six, if you count Eastwood directing Siegel.

Jimmy Stewart and James Capra

I think you mean Frank Capra, Hec. And they only made three films together (Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith...., and You Can't Take It With You), hardly that many.

Burton/Depp is one of the longest big star/big director working relationships around at the moment, but historically I don't think they're that special. In the old studio system days you would get stars and directors from the same stable coming together frequently all the time.

The other contemporary pairing which springs to mind for me is Clooney/Soderbergh (4 films made and one in production - oh, it looks interesting); plus of course they produce other movies together and stuff.

Stephen Rea and Neil Jordan.

Kurosawa and Mifune

(imdb lists 16 joint efforts)

Frederico Fellini and Giulietta Massina, and Marcello Mastroianni.

With Truffault/Leaud and Fellini/Mastroianni there is a deliberate actor as alter ego thing going on.

Ingmar Bergman had a repetory of actors that he employed again and again especially Liv Ullman, Gunnar Bjornstand, Max Von Sydow and Bibi Andersson.

Cassevettes had a regular cast of actors. Hal Hartley often employs the same people.

Kevin Smith has some old faithfuls.

Derek Jarman and Tilda Swinton have worked together a lot.

Quick, someone go see The Island and tell me if it's worth going to. Of course, who am I kidding? I'll see it just for Scarlett Johansson.

Should I see March of the Penguins or Happy Endings today?

Should I see March of the Penguins or Happy Endings today?

If only they'd combined the two... a movie about a penguin masseuse.

ION: The similaritites between The Island and the 1970s movie Parts: The Clonus Horror (which was shown on MST:3K): [link]

They have the exact same plot.

The Internet Movie Database is considered the definitive source for information about films. On the IMDb's page for The Island, if you click "Movie Connections", it even says "Remake of 'Clonus' (1979)", and if you click on "Movie Connections" for Clonus, it says "Remade as 'The Island' (2005)".

Yet, amazingly, the original makers of Clonus (director Robert S. Fiveson, producer Myrl A. Schreibman, and screenwriters Bob Sullivan and Ron Smith) have been completely shut out, receiving no credit, no compensation, no anything. And that includes never being asked if it could be remade.

Do you need permission to remake a movie? If you remake a movie, do you need to credit the creators of the original?