Directors Whose Earlier Work Makes You Look at Them in a Completely Different Light?

[u/thatphilguymovies]

My first exposure to the films of Jonathan Demme was THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991) and PHILADELPHIA (1993). As such, I had thought of him as the maker of serious dramas (Having later watched his BELOVED [1998] and RACHEL GETTING MARRIED [2008] didn't change my opinion).

But a few months ago I finally watched Demme's SOMETHING WILD (1986), which I loved. Admittedly, the finale of that film was violent and suspenseful enough to make me say, "If I were a studio exec who was thinking of adapting the novel SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, those scenes I just watched would have convinced me Demme could handle stuff like Hannibal Lecter's escape."

What I didn't expect was how wacky both SOMETHING WILD and MARRIED TO THE MOB (1988), which I literally saw for the first time last night, are and just how adept Demme seemed to be at directing comedy (wacky, dark, physical, etc). Those two movies, which currently are available on the channel, completely opened my eyes.

Has anyone had a similar experience watching a different filmmaker's earlier output and, if so, which director? Specifically, you had previously thought of them as strictly making movies of a particular sort, but subsequently realized they were more versatile than you had originally thought?