Ronin was directed by at least one deceased director.
John Michael Frankenheimer ( February 19 , 1930 -- July 6 , 2002 ) was an American film and television director known for social dramas and action/suspense films . Ronin is a 1998 American spy action-thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer , starring Robert De Niro , Jean Reno , Natascha McElhone , Stellan Skarsgård , Sean Bean , and Jonathan Pryce , and written by David Mamet ( under the pseudonym Richard Weisz ) from a screenplay by first-time writer John David Zeik .