"Blue Sky. I love Blue Sky. It was just very inspiring to me, and I love that movie. Jessica Lange is such a huge inspiration to me, because she plays these very sexual, dark characters, but also she shows vulnerability and innocence. And I think that contrast is something that I’m just very drawn to watch."

"You can put the Grey Gardens documentary in there. That’s pretty amazing. You know, Mike Sucsy is a friend of ours and I think he did such an extraordinary job in remaking that movie. I thought it was great, and so colorful and fun, you know, to watch Drew Barrymore really stretch herself, and Jessica Lange again. She’s just incredible. But Grey Gardens really is a great documentary. I love watching documentaries. Slice of life, you know?"

"This is the second film on my list about a dying man, and like Hunger, it’s based on true events. Bob Fosse came to feature filmmaking by way of dance, which is entirely evident here. This film features a lot of actors dancing, dancers acting, and dancers dancing. It’s a sweaty and sexy take on the stress and fragility of the creative process. Plus, it features an early-career Jessica Lange as the Angel of Death."

"There are so many great performances in this movie, it’s hard to pick just one, but the choice for me is obvious. I fell so hard for the character of Tootsie, I guess I never got over it. Definitely my favorite thing Dustin Hoffman has done besides Marathon Man. The scene where Tootsie and Les both have something to tell each other is one of the funniest scenes ever. Teri Garr, Jessica Lange, Dabney Coleman, Doris Belack, Bill Murray, Sydney Pollack, Geena Davis. Sheesh."

"And then Frances — do you remember the movie Frances, with Jessica Lange? I love that movie, too. It’s such an amazing portrait of a woman losing herself into a different reality. I did a movie called Babycall and it’s also about a woman with two realities, in a way, and she’s kind of drifting in and out. She knows that she should stay in this world and that she should be focused; she needs to pull herself together and sort out her brain, but at the same time she can’t control it. I think that Jessica did it beautiful and so strong. It just broke my heart, that movie. So when I did Babycall, I revisited Frances. So that one is a movie that I love. It always inspires me."

"All That Jazz (1979) is a perfect film, in my book: insanely well acted, incredible art direction, great writing, beautifully shot, just a director firing on all cylinders. Did I mention the amazing song-and-dance sequences? And Bob Fosse does all this, in a movie that is a very autobiographical account of his own struggle juggling: multiple productions, girls, booze, and pills; all of which lead to a series of heart attacks that culminate in the most spectacular and fantastical deathbed scene ever, with Jessica Lange as the loveliest angel of death. Forget Jaws: Roy Scheider as Joe Gideon, Fosse’s alter ego, is equal parts heroic captain and man-eating shark in this masterpiece."

"Frances, starring Jessica Lange, is one of those movies that for me was quite connected to my wanting to be an actor. I had obviously been to the movies many times as a young person, but I think I was about 14, or 15 when I was at home on a Sunday, and this movie … I turned a channel, and it was on cable, or whatever cable was at that time. And it was midway through the movie, and I just was transfixed and went out, back when we could go to the video store, and I rented it, so I could watch it from the beginning. And to me, it’s just an extraordinary portrait of an actress. Frances Farmer, I didn’t have knowledge about her and her work, but also whatever I knew of her working-wise, I certainly didn’t know anything about her real life, which is really tragic, and a painful movie to watch. Jessica Lange gives one of the greatest performances, and it was my introduction to Kim Stanley, who is actually the screensaver on one of my cell phones. [The pictures is] from her performance in Bus Stop, not from Frances; it’s just been on my phone for I don’t even know how long. And just again, there’s a thematic thread here [with Frances]: it’s another story about mother and daughter. At its core that’s what it’s about. And I just find it incredibly powerful. It was just like watching two acting titans and thinking, “Oh, if that’s what acting is, I want to do that.” And of course, I’ve come to learn that a lot of times acting doesn’t get to be that, but every once in a while you get to touch on that, and it was really inspiring – and another movie poster I had in house."