"The Count of Monte Cristo, which I happened to have been in. Only because, man, I really dug how Edmond Dantes went about, his passion in getting his revenge. The movie just looks absolutely beautiful, but, like I said, it was just the story and how well it was made into film. Not just how it was a guy who’s like, “Okay, we’re gonna go get our stuff, we’re just gonna shoot this guy, we’re gonna have a shootout…” No, Dantes really processed his revenge in such a passionate way. Makes you wish other people went about doing thing more thoughtfully and more passionately."

"Directed by the Danish master Carl Theodor Dreyer, Ordet is yet another film made in 1955 to which I’m deeply indebted. There is a stunning scene of literal resurrection that inspired my own visual approach to The Exorcist and gave me the courage to stage a supernatural event as if it were actually happening, without scary lighting or weird angles. Like many of Dreyer’s other films, including Vampyr and The Passion of Joan of Arc, Ordet is based on literary source material (in this case, a play). But all his films are deeply spiritual in their examinations of the mystery of faith, and purely cinematic."