Sarah Wayne Callies

"[It] would have to be up there for sheer enthusiasm. I love it for a million reasons. It’s just such a celebration. But I think I also — god not to sound like too much of a shrink — I grew up in a family with lots of divorces and things. Growing up, the first couple I knew that were really, truly like Disney movie in love and devoted to each other was a gay couple. And then one of them died — of AIDS — and I remember I was so young; I was in junior high when it happened. It was still at a time when gay culture was so judged and so reviled in so many places. The movie was such a celebration of song and dance, but also of a gay lifestyle, and it was a beautiful thing to see at that point in my life. For there to be something out there in pop culture that was celebrating and not apologizing [for] all of that — I just thought it was brilliant."

"I’m about to sound like such a nerd. There’s a film I saw in college called Gabbeh. It’s about a Gabbeh — and I didn’t know this until I saw the film — it’s a kind of a carpet. It’s the story of this nomadic family that makes them, and it’s beautiful with all these amazing images — it’s very visual. I loved it and made my boyfriend at the time watch it — it was only like 10 minutes in. I did marry him anyway. [laughs] It’s amazing."

"There’s a film called Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring. I saw it at the Angelika on my birthday in New York, maybe ten years ago? It never left me — it’s such a good film. It’s tremendous and beautiful. There’s like twelve words in the whole thing. It’s about a floating monastery in the middle of a lake. There’s like three people in it. That was amazing."

"The Wong Kar-wai movie. If you haven’t seen it, you must. It’s beautiful, and romantic, and sexy, and impossibly romantic — did I mention? The imagery and the lighting is gorgeous. It’s a DP’s [director of photography] dream. I think I’m a sucker for images. I don’t really need the words as much as I just want beautiful pictures of places I’ve never been and things I’ve never seen."

"I loved Chocolat. The Lasse Hallstrom movie with Juliette Binoche — who’s perfect — and Johnny Depp who was at the height of being the unsung crush of my life."