Green will next direct the upcoming eleventh installment in the Halloween franchise, which he co-wrote with frequent collaborator Danny McBride and takes place forty years after the events of the original 1978 film.

Green's films, which are usually coming-of-age tales set in small rural towns, have been categorized as belonging to the Southern Gothic tradition. Green's dialog often has an obtuse, semi-poetic quality. While in university, he made the two short films, Pleasant Grove and Physical Pinball, at the North Carolina School of the Arts prior to his feature film debut in 2000, the critically acclaimed George Washington, which he both wrote and directed. He followed that in 2003 with All the Real Girls and Undertow in 2004. In 2007, he directed Snow Angels, his first film of another author's screenplay, adapted from the Stewart O'Nan novel. The film debuted at Sundance in January 2007 and stars Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale. It was released by Warner Independent Pictures.

Green's favorite films are, in order, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Gravy Train, The Bad News Bears, Deliverance, Nashville and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

It has been suggested, even by the Director himself, that Green's films take a lot of influence from the works of fellow Texan Terrence Malick. Malick himself served as an executive Producer of Green's 2004 film Undertow. Green has suggested that no other Director had used voice-over narration so well, citing Malick's classic 1978 film Days of Heaven as the principal source of inspiration for Undertow.

In 2006 Green was the opening night guest at the CineYouth Festival – a film festival celebrating the work of youth filmmakers and presented by Cinema/Chicago also the presenting organization behind the Chicago International Film Festival.

Green directed the Seth Rogen buddy comedy Pineapple Express and the HBO series Eastbound & Down, for which he directed twelve episodes and served as a consulting Producer. He is the creator of the animated series Good Vibes. He directed the comedy The Sitter, released in December 2011. Green also directed and co-wrote, Prince Avalanche in 2013.

Green will direct an untitled Halloween film, produced by Jason Blum and John Carpenter, which Green will co-write with Danny McBride, for a 2018 release. Green later stated that filming will begin in Charleston, South Carolina in late October 2017.