Second character from Strangers on a Train cast as film maker (9)
I believe the answer is:
tarantino
'film maker' is the definition.
(director Quentin Tarantino)
'second character from strangers on a train' is the wordplay.
'second character' becomes 't' (I am not sure about the 'second' bit.).
'from' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'strangers' indicates an anagram (I've seen 'stranger' mean this).
'on'+'a'+'train'='onatrain'
'onatrain' anagrammed gives 'arantino'.
't'+'arantino'='TARANTINO'
'cast as' acts as a link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
(Other definitions for tarantino that I've seen before include "He makes films" , "Quentin -, American film director" , "Quentin ... film maker" , "Who in tarnation is this US film-maker?" , "Quentin -, US director" .)