"This movie has been a touchstone for me through my entire adult life. I first saw The Apu Trilogy when I was in art school, and I think I was confused or overwhelmed by it at the time—it was my first encounter with that kind of cinema. But it stuck with me, and I return to it over and over again because it’s endlessly beautiful. I love the economy of Ray’s shooting style; he always does these simple pans, or he’ll just have people walk toward and away from the camera. There are no complicated bilateral moves, and he really just goes with what’s in the frame. And his sound design is so powerful. These films manage to fit big political elements into tiny, familiar stories that follow the course of the life of a family. I got to see Pather Panchali in Portland on the big screen right before I started shooting First Cow, and it definitely had an impact on that film."

"Obviously that's a great soundtrack, and also my favourite blaxploitation film. I kind of remember growing up [thinking] blaxploitation films were silly, like I remember, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, but then once I started getting into them, I was like, oh wow, they are really political movies that don't really exist any more, and what I wanted to highlight was the score by J. J. Johnson. He's pretty much up there with Quincy Jones, but I would love to see a biopic about someone like that who has this really long career spanning from bebop and going to Hollywood and starting to score for blaxploitation films towards the end of his career. These guys are just genius arrangers, composers, players, and while their struggle was within the Hollywood system, it's not like it was a face you know from a college dorm poster like Miles Davis or something - it could be played by anybody you know."