Alfonso Gomez-Rejon started out his career as a personal assistant to some of the greatest names in the film industry, including Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, and Nora Ephron. He soon transitioned to the position of second unit director, through which he worked on films like Babel (2006), Julie and Julia (2009) and Argo (2012). Not much later he became a full-fledged television and commercial director. He is credited for directing several episodes of the popular musical drama Glee (2010-2012) and the horror series American Horror Story (2013-2014), for which he was even nominated for an Emmy award. His most widely known work is his second feature film Me And Earl And The Dying Girl (2015), a comedy drama film about young filmmakers who befriend a girl diagnosed with leukemia. He was roped in to direct the Will Smith starrer Collateral Beauty (2016) but later opted out due to creative differences.

In 2017 Gomez-Rejon worked on the period drama The Current War, however, the film was heavily edited and altered in opposition to Gomez-Rejon`s wishes. After getting negative reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival, the director was disheartened but his agents found what is being called the `Scorsese Clause` in the director`s contract. The clause stated that if The Current War was set to release without Gomez-Rejon`s approval, it required the approval of Martin Scorsese. This clause gave the director a second chance at completing the film. This new version of the film is a 2019 release.