As you can imagine, the Director is an obvious role, because they basically "direct" all aspects of the film. They are the central brain, and they get to Boss every other person - cast and crew - to ensure that everything pieces together. They decide on the final script, they say where everyone should be and when it should be done.
Of course, not all Directors work in the same way. For example, some will finalise a script and demand that their cast stick to it with absolute rigidity, whilst others prefer to give their actors a rougher and sketchier script, and then allows the cast to improvise whilst sticking to a generalised story.
What makes a Director, an Auteur?
Many directors are known to have their own style, which would make them an "Auteur" as their films become recognisable by certain elements that always feature. Sometimes this is referred to as a "signature", because the Director stamps their name all over the film. For example, Quentin Tarantino's films always contain a large amount of violence, whilst George Lucas' films auteur "ness" is in the editing and overall look.
There are a large number of different signatures that Directors might use, from the way a film is shot, to the way that they choose to tell a story.
However, just because a Director establishes his or her self in a specific genre does not necessarily make them an Auteur. A Comedy Director, for example, may approach those comedies in very different ways.
What a Director doesn't necessarily do
Most Auteur Directors, are known as that, on the basis that the films that they make are based on ideas, scripts, novels etc that they have written themselves, or that have been written by someone that they work with a lot.Other Directors, on the other hand, probably have absolutely nothing to do with the script or even the overall idea behind the film. Often, this is because many films today are based on existing novels, that a person or company have bought the rights to, and they will then hire a director to oversee the transformation of that book into a film.
In short...
The Director is kind of like the Manager of the company, that is of course the film. Whilst he makes a lot of the decisions, it is quite likely that there are Executives and "Big Dogs" above him, who will inevitably get the final say.
Quite often, the Director will be so highly regarded that the Production Company will just trust his decisions. However, there have been many notable cases of Executives removing or adding elements to a film, despite objections by the Director.
I have a huge respect for Directors, and have featured them in a couple of Top Six Charts, in the past. Feel free to check them out:
Top Six: Film Directors Top Six: British Directors
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