"One of my favorite movies of Antonioni’s, and Antonioni is one of my big influences. I like the slowness of his movies, the nonnarrative structure. L’avventura was the one with which he really broke through into something new, and it was, at its release, a big mis-success. I like that at last it came through, and people realized how important it was."

"Hal Ashby: Often copied, never matched. The last 10 minutes of this movie might be my favorite piece of film on the planet. It breaks my heart to think that a film so weird and perfect might never be made again… or, if it was made, could vanish without a whisper, buckling under the weight of another billboard for Transformers 16."

"Altman! Pound for pound probably my favorite filmmaker. I’m deeply in love with Short Cuts as well, but Nashville was my first… and you never forget your first. The world, the performances, the music — all seamless. Altman had a way of saying things without ever showing his hand. His world washes over you — and as it does, your heart fills to bursting."

"My late father’s favorite movie. The film is disturbing on so many levels: the fact that it was made during the Occupation; the way theater and real life are layered and confused; the performance by Arletty, who would later be convicted as a collaborator. She notoriously justified her treason by saying, “My heart belongs to France, but my ass is international.”"

"This was the first real classic I remember reading. It occupied my heart from page one. It’s still with me. The whole panorama of life (yes our human experience too!) can be told through the experience of this magnificent noble beast. Riding was my first sport, horses were my first love. Black Beauty and Ginger were then my favorite fictional characters."

"My all-time personal favorite. I love this book, all of it: the plot, the characters, the dialogue, much of which was lifted verbatim by John Huston for his screenplay for the beloved movie of the same name. The single best monologue in fiction appears toward the end, when Sam Spade tells Brigid O’Shaughnessy why he’s giving her to the police."

"My favorite Cassavetes film, Husbands, is not in this set . . . but nonetheless, his films mean everything to me. And I find his way of making films just as fascinating and inspirational as the films themselves. So that is why I adore A Constant Forge. Out of all the films in this collection, Charles Kiselyak’s documentary is the film I revisit the most."

"My favorite children’s book was Dr. Seuss’ My Book About Me, which is a kind of guided workbook that lets you write your own autobiography. I carried it around as if I wrote it, which I guess I did. I was so proud. To this day, I love that book — I probably have 50 blank copies of it in storage."