"It’s the ultimate, sprawling ensemble Altman film — the way each character has their own story to such a degree, and he pulls it all together. It has these thrilling moments, these funny moments. The music is both very moving and satirical, funny and beautiful too. Keith Carradine’s song, “I’m Easy,” is a beautiful song, and some of the other songs like “200 Years” by Henry Gibson is hilarious. It’s just ridiculous. So, that you could have all of this go into one big collage where you have realism, satire, romance — it’s all there — is quite a feat. And I actually saw this when I was a teenager — fourteen or fifteen — and I was bored. I didn’t really understand what I was watching, but I saw it a little bit later, and it kicked off something else in me."

"It may not be fair to say this is one of my top five, since it’s my dad’s film, and I’m in it as a youngster (playing Kevin Costner’s son); but even at 7 years old, when I first saw it, I remember sitting through the whole 3-hour film without moving. There’s something to the interplay of editing and dialogue that hooks me, no matter how many times I watch it, back into the investigation of the murder of President Kennedy. And perhaps because the crime remains unsolved, the film remains infinitely intriguing to watch, as though each time viewing it, you expect new revelations Instead, upon each viewing, I feel compelled to go out and research more about our country’s dark, hidden history. To create that kind of curiosity in an audience is a remarkable feat in itself."

"For some weird reason Sinéad O’Connor came back into my life. I re-indulged and reconnected with her and I was such a happier person for it. I go through long periods of forgetting and then I’ll just have major sessions and listen to just that for weeks on end. I thought the way she handled “Nothing Compares 2 U,” the Prince song, was genius. It is so moving and sad. I must be a sentimentalist and I’ve never realized until now. Oh, and Dolly Parton runs through all of this by the way. I’m a Dolly man—you can all knock “9 to 5,” but I love it. One of the greatest tragedies of my life so far is that I’ve never been able to make it to Dollywood. I think I’d have a hoot."

"RoboCop is one of the few films I remember from my early youth. When I was in sixth grade, I had a friend whose grandfather had a movie theater at home in Mexico City and he took us there and showed us the film several times. I was just blown away. I loved the rhythm, the intensity, and the honesty. Everything was straightforward but meaningful and deeply felt. The actors were unknown to me and so ordinary that it made it all so real. This was also probably the first time in my life that I realized that sound in cinema could be so important. I could hear every bolt in the machine moving, and it was the first time I realized that what I was hearing was actually artificial sound, which was what made it all so real."

"Charles Laughton plays an English butler whose British lord loses him in a poker game to a cowboy from Red Gap, Washington. Ruggles is the butler, a manservant, and he’s forced to move to America, and this cowboy doesn’t [Heaton goes into cowboy twang] feel comfortable having a manservant because it’s ‘Merica and every man is his own man and we have freedom. He tries to help Ruggles become a free man and Ruggles’ family’s whole tradition was being menservants to people. He finds it very hard to embrace American freedom. It has really funny, terrific, and moving performances, and not very many people watch it — or have even seen it or heard of it. I make my boys watch it every Thanksgiving. I’m like, “Boys, it’s that tiiiime!” and they’re like, “Noooooooo, not Ruggles.” but I think they’ll come to appreciate it."