"Having lost Robert Altman in 2006, it’s so moving to hear his commentary on this wild, dreamy movie. I saw this film in the theaters when it was released and always loved it. I don’t care what anyone says, Robert Altman has directed more interesting roles for women than just about any director alive or dead. On his commentary, Altman reveals how all Millie’s diary entries, the menus she makes up for her “dinner parties” (which she’s “famous for”), and even her eye makeup were created by actress Shelley Duvall herself. I could never get enough of Janice Rule, and seeing her in this movie, so beautiful and soulful, I get the same ache as when I see Warren Oates on-screen . . . knowing they’re gone and I will never get that chance to work with either one of them. So Janice Rule’s performance here is all the more precious to me. Sissy Spacek is able to go from completely naturalistic to totally surreal . . . and still hold her character—it’s amazing. She was very young and novice at the time, yet she completely pulls it off brilliantly."

"I would go back to Buster Keaton’s The General. The accomplishment of that movie in those days, you know… First of all, Buster Keaton as an actor — and as a comedian — but as an actor really, was… again, I think the word “sublime” comes across, because of that sort of deadpan quality that he had. When he was still, you felt as though his feet had roots, and they were sort of embedded and grounded into the ground. And, you know, a hurricane could come and it would never push him over. So that sense of stillness that he had, that had this kind of emotional weight inside of it, created juxtaposition to the stuff that he would do. Even if he was moving around, there was always a sense of a “man against the world” kind of thing that was always very compelling. But that movie, what he did with that movie, with that train, and the kind of stunts he was doing on his own, and just running around… I mean, just the accomplishment of that movie from a technical standpoint in those days was quite something. So that’s my list as of today."

"Two Days One Night, it’s perfectly directed. The way the Dardenne brothers frame her, making her kids’ bed before she goes and tries to overdose in the bathroom — it stays in that one shot. It’s this wide shot, handheld, which nobody does like the Dardenne brothers. I’ve tried to chase it; there’s nothing like it. There’s nothing like watching a scene unfold and becoming something you did not expect in the beginning of the shot. It’s like one shot can tell an entire three-course meal. Also, that movie is one of the few movies that made me uncontrollably sob at the end, because of her power, the sweetness of it. I can’t believe the sweetness; it made me so raw and vulnerable. It’s not just that it’s tragic. It’s such a small story, but I connect with it. I connect with needing people and needing for them to hear from you. I feel like getting heard at the end of the movie, or not getting heard, depending on how you look at it, is so unbelievably moving. Marion Cotillard is the god of our generation. Not a goddess, she’s god!"

"When we were growing up, we had mutual friends. I used to go and watch them play at the Bug Bar in Brixton when I was 14… I remember them getting signed to Fiction and how exciting that was. I’ve still got one of their demo CDs, in a photocopied and stapled-together packet, which had their early song Latchmere on it. Latchmere was a swimming pool we all went to; it had a really good wave machine. That’s how their song goes: “Latchmere’s/ Got a wave machine.” When I watched the Maccabees play at Glastonbury this year, it was so moving – seeing all those random people singing their song back at them, about a little swimming pool that was a huge part of my youth. It took me back… I’d say they’re the most consistent band in the UK right now. Without fail, they deliver with their songs, and I find them very inspiring for that. They know who they are; as individuals, as friends, as a band. They’re lovely boys – and with their new record, Marks to Prove It, they had their first No 1 album."