"Well, to be honest, it’s the first little book that’s in the [Imagination Library] program. It’s The Little Engine That Could. Because I’m the little engine that did. I always say that “I thought I could, I thought I could” and “I think I can, I think I can, and I still think I can.” So I think that’s a great little inspirational book. It really kinda sums me up pretty good."

"Life is Beautiful was a very big deal for me. Coming from a Jewish intellectual family, and also a family who was in love with the arts — and my sister’s an artist, and I’m an actor. Just mixing your brilliance with your imagination — just blew my mind, and I was fully swept up in the fantasy of Roberto Benigni and what he was able to accomplish in that story. I thought it was beautiful."

"One of the most beautiful films ever made. It’s a French movie with almost no dialogue, and I remember watching it in school several times. The innocence and the imagination of the young protagonist are threatened by bullies and adults, but the relationship he forms with his balloon gives us marvelous insight into childhood. I love how the film explores universal themes that can be enjoyed by audiences of all ages and backgrounds."

"Not a horror movie but a valentine to the imagination that hinges on one little girl’s need for an imaginary friend, who turns out to be Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein monster, stepped off the screen in rural Spain when a traveling cinema brings James Whale’s movie to town in the 1930s. Victor Erice’s study of childhood wishes showcases the huge eyes of Ana Torrent and grapples fascinatingly with the importance of fantasy in eras of repression."

"Several films by Martin Scorsese — I’m a huge fan of his — but at the top I would say Goodfellas, probably, as my favorite Scorsese film. That’s a movie that I always see when I feel that my imagination is kind of stuck and trapped, and I can’t think of a way forward. I watch Goodfellas and suddenly it frees me up entirely; it reminds me of what great film directing is all about."