Scorsese, by the way, has been a great champion of the little-known (these days) English film-making team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger ('The Archers').
Both great directors. But I'd go with Kubrick. He was more diverse in his subject matter, I think. And a few of his films are amongst my favourites: Paths of Glory, Dr. Strangelove, and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
I can't help thinking that Cortese can only have made such a decisive and irreversible move in sacking all three simultaneously because a) he has someone already waiting in the wings, and b) he will be bringing in his own backroom people.
A number of people have been posting rumours on this forum that AP was sacked because of personal misbehaviour. This is clearly libellous behaviour - defaming an individual in the public eye without sure knowledge that the information is correct. Not only is this sort of thing illegal, it is also morally wrong. These sorts of rumours should not be written up in a public forum.