"Well, it was an actor playing Othello. It was written by Garson Kanin, who later married a teacher of mine, but he was married to Ruth Gordon, who was a favorite actress of mine. And it was a movie about the theater. I love those kinds of in-house things. I love political movies or plays, but especially plays about the inner workings of the business, or that give you insight into the process of what actors go through."

"Most of my life I’d heard of this amazing film and knew that Akira Kurosawa created the original visions that spawned The Magnificent Seven and Sergio Leone’s “Man with No Name” flicks, which I watched regularly growing up. It wasn’t until Kurosawa’s Ran hit theaters in the eighties that I was finally exposed to his artistry and power. And Criterion has given me my favorite of his films in the most pristine, perfect presentation I could imagine."

"I always think of Renoir whenever I make any picture, and he made a comedy about show business called French Cancan. It’s set around the turn of the century, and Jean Gabin plays the guy who invented the Moulin Rouge night club. He did it by championing the return of the can can, and it’s a glorious film. Gabin was great and Renoir is my favorite director. It’s a show business story, and so is ours."

"Preston Sturges at his best. This was the first of his films I ever saw, in a revival at the Regency in New York, and it was a revelation. You’ve never heard dialogue so funny or move so fast. Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda are hysterical, and it has maybe my favorite line ever in a movie—Fonda asks a fancy old society lady at a dinner party if he’s missed anything. She says, “The fish was a poem.”"

"Ms. Aretha is one of my main go to’s for inspiration. Her piano playing, gospel, soul style is something that you literally have to be DEAD not to feel and she always brings me light and strength even through her most vulnerable performances. 'Ain't No Way' is one of my favorite songs in the world. You can tell that song was one of the realest moments in her life. That is music at its best. Capturing an honest moment!"

"Directed by the Portugese master Manoel de Oliveira. Mr. de Oliveira made his first film, a silent one in 1929, and is probably shooting something [now]. A very idiosyncratic and unique filmmaker with a very singular sense of storytelling and pace. This is his adaptation of Flaubert’s Madame Bovary. It has probably my favorite last line in cinema – along with “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” – which is, “No one is so good as I, in pretending life is beautiful.”"

"Going a little more lighthearted, number three is the original Jumanji, which is so cheesy because I was in the remake, but that was always one of my favorite films of all time. It’s just pure nostalgia. I think I’m right in that age bracket where it’s like a classic to anyone who’s around my age, and anyone who’s outside of that, it doesn’t seem like it’s so much of a classic to them. Loved it."

"One of my all-time favorite novels is The Paris Wife. I am fascinated by Ernest Hemingway’s storytelling, so I loved reading about his own story and getting to know the heart of his incredibly strong and complicated muse, Hadley. I found myself transported back to the Jazz Age in Paris, one of the most romantic time periods, and totally mesmerized by the love, dependency and devotion that these two iconic characters had for each other. "

"Once again, we see sex and death wed like chocolate and peanut butter. Jane Fonda looks like the angel of bitter, angry suicide girls before such girls were ever born. Bruce Dern plays the psycho hillbilly we loved him playing in ‘The Big Valley’ on television. Gig Young claws his way to the bottom of the bottom-feeders, winning the Oscar just before his own real-life suicide. Here’s my favorite “date movie” of all time."

"Dr. Strangelove, I got to revisit recently. My daughters, obviously, said, “Well, Pop, what film should we watch?” It’s been an eye opener. You name one of your favorite films, and then you sit down and watch it with them and, “It’s no good! It’s really dated and slow.” Oh, my God. Like, I pushed Airplane on them. I said, “Funniest movie ever made.” Well, there’s funny bits in it, but it’s hard to sit through now."