Richard Linklater (School of Rock) on Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull
“Something was simmering in me but Raging Bull brought it to a boil. I just started looking at movies differently.”
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John Waters (Hairspray) on The Wizard of Oz
“And when they throw the water on the witch, she says, ‘Who could ever have thought a good little girl like you could destroy all my beautiful wickedness?’ That line inspired my life. I sometimes say it to myself before I go to sleep, like a prayer.”
***
John Woo (Face/Off) on Rebel Without a Cause
“I love James Dean. After I saw this movie, I began to dress like him. I combed my hair like him, but I couldn’t afford to buy the wax, so I had to use water. I even talked like him.”
***
Kevin Smith (Clerks) on Richard Linklater’s Slacker
“I wasn’t prepared for it at all. But it was amazing, ‘cause it was such an insane, wonderful, and fresh experience but at the same time the film was very mundane. It’s not like Richard Linklater took us on a journey to space but he might as well have, because the people were very strange, and the idea, the whole idea behind the movie, was very strange. But insanely liberating for me, and very inspiring. Because it was like, ‘So you can make a movie about anything, apparently.’ ”
***
John Landis (Animal House) on The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
“Everything about a movie, and I mean this sincerely, is who you are and where you are when you saw it. Because it’s hard just to say, ‘This movie is a piece of shit,’ because depending on who you were and where you saw it, it can be a great and important thing. There are great films that are completely misunderstood because the people weren’t ready for them. Or they were seeing them under bad circumstances. There are too many wonderful films that people disregard.”
***
Chapter list:
1.) Edgar Wright on An American Werewolf in London
2.) Rian Johnson on Annie Hall
3.) Danny Boyle on Apocalypse Now
4.) Bill Condon on Bonnie and Clyde
5.) Richard Kelly on Brazil
6.) Peter Bogdanovich on Citizen Kane
7.) John Dahl on A Clockwork Orange
8.) Henry Jaglom on 8½
9.) Brian Herzlinger on E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
10.) Alex Gibney on The Exterminating Angel
11.) Kimberly Peirce on The Godfather
12.) Steve James on Harlan County U.S.A.
13.) Austin Chick on Kings of the Road
14.) Guy Maddin on L’âge d’or
15.) Michel Gondry on Le voyage en ballon
16.) Michael Polish on Once Upon a Time in America
17.) Arthur Hiller on Open City
18.) Pete Docter on Paper Moon
19.) Atom Egoyan on Persona
20.) Gurinder Chadha on Purab aur Pachhim and It’s a Wonderful Life
21.) Richard Linklater on Raging Bull
22.) Jay Duplass on Raising Arizona
23.) John Woo on Rebel Without a Cause and Mean Streets
24.) John Landis on The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
25.) Kevin Smith on Slacker
26.) Chris Miller on Sleeper
27.) Neil LaBute on The Soft Skin
28.) George A. Romero on The Tales of Hoffmann
29.) Frank Oz on Touch of Evil
30.) John Waters on The Wizard of Oz
