Five Favorite Films with William Fichtner

Movie obsessives know him by name, while everyone else will definitely be familiar with his face: William Fichtner is one of Hollywood's finest and most prolific character actors, with supporting roles in dozens of films as varied as The Dark Knight, Heat, Black Hawk Down, Crash and Armageddon... to name just a handful.

In this week's deliberately trashy, neo-grindhouse actioner Drive Angry, Fichtner takes a co-starring role opposite Nicolas Cage and Amber Heard, playing a mysterious, black-suited pursuer known only as "The Accountant" -- a supernatural agent hot on the trail of Cage's hell-bent motorist. It's a funny, eccentric performance that near steals the film, and has already drawn praises (and some Walken comparisons) from early reviews.

"I had a great time doing it," Fichtner says of his role, "the best time I ever had, working on a film. Probably my most fun character. I just liked the guy." Curiously, for an actor who's played numerous parts across the moral spectrum, Fichtner's philosophy is, "If I don't like the character, if I can't find something, what am I gonna do with it? I can't play somebody I don't like."

Having discovered his co-star's Five Favorite Films recently, we decided to ask Fichtner to follow suit...

The Graduate, you know, it's just so frickin' romantic. I just love that. The music, the performances; everything about it. I saw it at a time in my life that was truly eye-opening.

Godfather one and two 'cause it's just... perfect.

Deer Hunter -- the human experience was just so pointed; their journeys were so difficult, as life is sometimes. I remember after seeing it, walking down the street -- I actually went with a girl on a date and saw The Deer Hunter, and we left the theater and walked for like an hour and nobody said anything; we were just kind of stunned about that.

Strictly Ballroom -- again, such a romantic film. The ballroom dancing was just so exciting and Baz Luhrmann's such a genius.

Three Days of the Condor just seems to be one of those films that, if I'm flipping around the channels late at night and I land on that one, I just can't shut if off -- you just have to watch that whole journey with Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway. It's so good.

Drive Angry is released this week.

(1 - 20 of 30 Discussions)

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Five Favorite Films with Moby

One of the most accomplished and successful electronic musicians of the past two decades, Moby has also created a body of work synonymous with the world of film soundtracks. His 1991 techno hit "Go" sampled Angelo Badalamenti's "Laura Palmer's Theme" from David Lynch's Twin Peaks, and his music has since accompanied dozens of films and television shows, from 007 to Michael Mann to Danny Boyle and beyond. (Not for nothing was his 1997 movie music compilation entitled I Like To Score.) He even came something of a full circle when Lynch directed the music video for his 2009 single, "Shot in the Back of the Head."

Moby's tracks provide the musical foundation for Lucy Walker's Oscar-nominated documentary Waste Land, which is being re-released in select theaters this week ahead of the February 27 Academy Awards. An unexpectedly moving piece, it chronicles the journey of Brazilian-born artist Vik Muniz as he returns to the favelas of Rio and engages the local "garbage pickers," who work in a literal city of trash, to become a part of his art project. More than simply an eco-themed documentary, it's a surprising human story that captures the transformative effect that art can have on peoples' lives.

Read through for our full conversation in which Moby discusses Waste Land, the issue of licensing his music, his impetus to compose original soundtracks... and what it was like to DJ his friend David Lynch's wedding.

But first, we got him to talk about his five favorite films.

Well, in no particular order, and not to be sycophantic, number one would be INLAND EMPIRE, the last David Lynch movie. I saw it four times in the theater, at the IFC theater on Sixth Avenue in New York, and I loved it because it plays with a lot of narrative conventions but then disposes with them. It made of lot of more traditional filmmaking seem sort of adolescent to me. And I might be alone in my opinion, but I think it's the best movie David Lynch has ever made.

Number two is Fireworks by Takeshi Kitano. I remember when I saw it, I love the way he marries in that movie... it's emotional and impressionistic but it still has these amazing outbursts of violence. I can't think of a single movie [like it] that goes from, in one instance, being very delicate and poetic, to being almost obscenely violent. I think he's remarkable.

Number three, I don't know the name of the director [Ed. note: Eliseo Subiela], unfortunately, but it was a movie made in the '80s called Man Facing Southeast. It's an Argentine film. I should really find out who the director is, 'cause I saw it a bunch of times in an art theater in the mid '80s when it was released. I fell in love with it and I dragged all of my friends to go see it, and of course none of them liked it as much as I did, but something about it I just found incredibly powerful and it really resonated with me.

And four... oh, this is tricky. I'm just trying to go through them in my head. It's probably easier to pick 30 favorite movies as opposed to five. It might seem like an odd choice but I really loved it, the Tim Robbins movie Dead Man Walking. I just thought it was such beautiful, emotional, thoughtful filmmaking, and I'm surprised it hasn't taken a bigger place in the western film canon.

Okay, so I can think of about 300 to possibly choose, but this was one of my favorite movies when I was growing up. It's a movie called Them!; it's about giant ants that invade Los Angeles. My friend Paul and I, when we were growing up, we had a videotape of it and we just watched it obsessively over and over again. Especially like the first 20 or 30 minutes of it, it's so apocalyptic and quiet and disconcerting. And the sound design [of the ants] is amazing. I was gonna pick Godfather II or something a little more predictable, but I'll go with Them! 'cause it truly is one of my favorite movies.

Next, Moby talks about the score for Waste Land, licensing and composing music for soundtracks, and his friendship and collaboration with David Lynch.

(1 - 16 of 16 Discussions)

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Five Favorite Films with Mimi Rogers

If you scanned the credits for Unstoppable, you may have noticed a familiar name near the top: Mimi Rogers. Best known as a versatile actress, Rogers made a splash as a producer in 2010 by shepherding the based-on-true-events tale of a runaway train to the big screen. Producer is just one of Rogers's talents, however -- in addition to her widely-praised performances in such diverse films as The Rapture, The Prince of Tides, and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Rogers is also one of Hollywood's finest competitive poker players. With the Certified Fresh Unstoppable hitting DVD shelves this week, we talked with Rogers about her favorite movies, the rigors of producing films, and what she learned from some of her previous directors.

MASH. To me, MASH is the superb realization of [Robert] Altman. Amazing. Whether it's the improvisational nature, the way he layers dialogue, the way that he has scenes that are alive on every level. The rebelliousness, the anarchy, the humor. You know, Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould were just [great]. To me, it was sort of like the perfect realization of what he does, although McCabe & Mrs. Miller is another favorite.

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is another one of my favorites. Jeff Bridges, just, wow.

I like a lot Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It was hilarious, it was incredibly well done and well written. The chemistry between those two is spectacular. And I fell deeply and madly in love with them.

I like Cool Hand Luke. To me, it's an iconic [Paul] Newman performance. Everything from Newman to George Kennedy to just watching that spirit, and the sort of bitter triumph of that spirit even at the end. An amazing, unforgettable movie for me.

I like The Exorcist. I mean, for me, it worked on such a psychological level. For me, it sort of grasped the idea of what horror is, what the mind can conjure up.

Next, Rogers talks about bringing Unstoppable to the big screen.

(1 - 20 of 22 Discussions)

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Five Favorite Films with Mimi Rogers

If you scanned the credits for Unstoppable, you may have noticed a familiar name near the top: Mimi Rogers. Best known as a versatile actress, Rogers made a splash as a producer in 2010 by shepherding the based-on-true-events tale of a runaway train to the big screen. Producer is just one of Rogers's talents, however -- in addition to her widely-praised performances in such diverse films as The Rapture, The Prince of Tides, and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Rogers is also one of Hollywood's finest competitive poker players. With the Certified Fresh Unstoppable hitting DVD shelves this week, we talked with Rogers about her favorite movies, the rigors of producing films, and what she learned from some of her previous directors.
MASH (1970, 89% Tomatometer)

Five Favorite Films with Elton John

In the pantheon of popular music, few artists have been as celebrated and enduring as Sir Elton John. The Grammy/Oscar/Tony winner is also a Kennedy Center honoree, a Rock and Roll Hall-of-Famer, and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. And, with lyricist Bernie Taupin, John has crafted some of pop's most iconic