"I love Woody Allen‘s movies, and it’s hard for me to pick only one, but I’d pick Manhattan because so many of his films feel influenced by his heroes — you see some Bergman or Fellini or the Marx Brothers or whoever — and to me Manhattan is the one that most captures Woody. Even Annie Hall has bits of Amarcord in it; it’s a perfect movie, and it’s unique, but Manhattan seems to be the one where Woody does everything he does in his own particular way. One of the things I love about his movies is the tension between the sort of romantic ideals versus his true skepticism about human nature. There’s always this push, this back and forth, about how he loves people and hates people; the misanthropy and the idealism fight each other constantly in the movie, and that’s why I think his films have a special quality. Manhattan has beautiful cinematography and the Gershwin music, and the characters are actually pretty dark and lost and restless, and unhappy. You mix it together and I find it really fascinating. I know some people are really creeped out by him and the girl, but we’ll skip over that."

"I would start with Last Tango in Paris by Bernardo Bertolucci, which I think is amazing. Marlon Brando’s performance is just out of this world. It’s funny; today, I don’t think it would get the same kind of debate because of the sexual nature of some of the scenes, but for me, what was shocking was more the emotional intensity that he brought to the role. There’s a scene he has where he’s sitting at the bedside of his dead wife, and it’s just the most amazing scene of grief. And later, there’s a scene at the end where he’s in this dance hall, and he’s drunk. It’s just a beautiful performance. I think it was just unbelievable.And, of course, there’s also the romantic idea of Last Tango in Paris. I think everyone loves the idea of just him having an affair with a stranger and insisting on staying strangers. It’s a very simple idea, and the beauty of it is that they swap. She wants to know his name in the beginning; he refuses. And then slowly he needs her, he falls for her, and they change roles, and now she doesn’t need him any more."