"I remember when I saw On the Waterfront for the first time. With that, it was kind of the chemistry between Brando and Eva Marie Saint that was so gorgeous to watch on screen. And that’s a wonderful film to go back to. And actually, in the film I’m just about to do, one of the relationships that I have with another character kind of really reminds me of their relationship. So that’s lovely."

"As a sixteen-year-old when I first saw it, I was mesmerized, if utterly baffled, by Buñuel’s delightfully told, superbly crafted, and deeply disturbing fable of a young married woman, frigid at home, prostitute by day. Fantasy and reality interplay so freely that it is impossible to know the difference. And it matters not a whit. Love is punishment either way. And Catherine Deneuve’s almost unbearable beauty makes it hurt all the more."

"I’m grateful I saw this movie when I was twelve years old, without a scrap of cynicism. It was my first exposure to the anatomy of a sequestered jury. I remember I couldn’t wait to get my turn to serve, to be like Henry Fonda and repudiate bigotry once and for all. This was the American dream—not a Cadillac and a cigar but justice—righteousness and fair play that any child could understand."

"Life of Brian is the one Monty Python movie that really works as a movie (they’re all funny). The hardest I ever saw my dad laugh is when it cuts to the Sermon on the Mount and the camera slowly zooms back to reveal a huge crowd of people listening and finally settles on Terry Jones, playing Brian’s mother, at the very back, and he shouts “Speak up!” One of the best comedies ever."

"I’m in no particular order, but I will go Blazing Saddles, which was the first R-Rated movie that I ever saw. We had it on VHS. It was our first VHS new. Me and my brothers — my two brothers — we watched it probably a hundred times and loved it. Mel Brooks is a hero of ours, and Rhett actually ran into him at the grocery store. Like, went up to him."

"To me it’s the greatest comedy ever made, and I just love the fact that it’s a comedy but it’s just such a dark one. Apart from the visual treatment of the film…I guess it was the first Kubrick film that I ever saw, and it really had an impact on me as a result of that — because I hadn’t really seen a film that looked like that, that had it’s own unique style."

"It’s hard to boil them down. I would say, well, Harold and Maude, obviously, because it seems like something… you know, when I saw Harold and Maude, I didn’t laugh; I was a boy and I just felt like a Starbelly Sneetch finding the other Starbelly Sneetches, you know. So that movie was a biggie, and still is. I’m thinking of movies that I go back and watch, ever time I see them."

"I just saw this for the first time while dizzy with some sort of flu, and I thought it was lovely. I suppose your personal results may vary. Smeary and dreamlike and bustling and human, in every frame it seems like there’s some sort of constant struggle to breathe, to be seen, to shake through. And the sudden weird handful of dialogue sequences are almost impossibly stiff, making the whole experience that much more surreal."

"In one of the most indelible scenes of the early French New Wave, Jeanne Moreau searches for her lover in rain-swept Paris streets, accompanied by the only film score that Miles Davis ever composed. Her iconic suit was designed by Chanel, as were her dresses in another 1958 Louis Malle classic, The Lovers. The actress and designer saw each other often, loving to share anecdotes and book recommendations in Chanel’s personal library."

"I moved to Brooklyn from Panama when I was twelve going on thirteen. I saw Do the Right Thing on VHS. No film has struck more of a chord with me on the subject of race in America. It’s funny and saturated and larger than life. There’s a danger lurking early on. The film’s explosive opening signals that something big will happen. When that big arrives, it’s a knife in the middle of your chest."