John Cassavetes: Five Films

“Foundational. Talk about empathy, you know, both in the film but also just having empathy for the actors and what they're going through. Like, there's a film school in this box set. This is a bit overwhelming, there's just too much good here.”

“You kind of have to get the full John Cassavetes. He really did something different than anybody else has ever done in cinema: create authenticity so that you have this feeling that you’re inside the experience... This box set is a pretty great one. It’s got Faces, it has A Woman Under the Influence, with Gena Rowlands. That was John Cassavetes’s partner, Gena Rowlands.”

“And this, what is this? It’s the fat one. Cassavetes. That’s the Birth of the modern cinema, really.”

“John Cassavetes: Five Films. Classic, Cassavetes. Another thing that you hear a lot of people say, like, “Oh, I love the film…” And they say it for a reason, because he’s great. But Woman Under the Influence, amazing. I don’t think I’ve seen enough of– I don’t know enough about it. It’s one of those ones that I feel... I don’t know enough about Cassavetes, but I’m about to. And once I watch these, get ready for a discussion on film from me.”

“Maybe everybody picks Cassavetes. Now, this is very special to me, because in, like, the early 2000s... I went out and I bought this collection and, over a Weekend, myself and my wife, we watched every single film on this. I mean, the standout movie for me is A Woman Under the Influence... I have two of these. So I don’t really need a third, but it had a huge influence then on me, once I discovered him, as it does on everybody who discovers Cassavetes.”

“John Cassavetes: Five Films. And it also has this, like, insanely long documentary in it. It’s, like, three or four hours. And I used to watch this all the time as a way to gird myself for notes on scripts from entities that didn’t understand it. And I would think, “John Cassavetes would fight that note.” And then they’d yell at me and I’d give in.”

“I just talked about John Cassavetes and my eyes just kind of went out– I didn’t… See, I don’t have this. Look at that: Five Films, John Cassavetes. See, this is why the Criterion is so special... John Cassavetes goes in my bag.”

“A Woman Under the Influence, which is… I know it’s here. I know it’s here. A Woman Under the Influence. Gena Rowlands, I mean, just everything. But I’m going to take the Cassavetes box set because Christmas came early.”

“This has to end with Cassavetes. I feel like... All About Eve and Cassavetes films were the main reason why I wanted to become an actor in the first place. Woman Under the Influence is one of my favorite films. Opening Night as well. And he was a great actor as well. I love Husbands. And, to me, he was a pioneer of independent– American independent cinema.”

“This five films, John Cassavetes. Gena Rowlands is I think the greatest actress who I've ever seen. Gena had a huge impact on me doing what I'm doing because my Mother was a projectionist and when I was very, very young I got to watch Cassavetes films at a really young age. I didn't really understand what was going on because I was too young, but I remember watching Gena and just that's I just wanted to do what she was doing.”

“And I spy Cassavetes. Where’s Cassavetes? Oh, right. There you go. Now I’ve got that. I got that the last time. Shadows. I’m sure it’s here. I’ve got it. It was a great influence in the sense that it made me start thinking about improvisation and stuff. Although when you look at it now, it’s not his greatest film at all. It’s interesting.”

“John Cassavetes' five movies. I had the great privilege to work with John and Gena in the theater and he made everybody that worked with him much better than we were because he believed in people so much. And so I was so lucky and Gena as we know is a queen and a goddess and you got to see Opening Night. Oh my God and they're so great together.”

“Cassavetes.”

“The John Cassavetes: Five Films. I'd really love to take this because I love John Cassavetes. I mean what he says is all of his movies are pretty much about love, how people love, why they love. He's like 'I just basically keep making the same movie again and again because that's what obsesses him.' Excited about that.”

“John Cassavetes, which I have shamefully only seen maybe one or two of his movies and they were all when I was starting out in acting and trying to get more serious about what good acting is. As the years of doing It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia have transitioned me more into loving the work behind the camera just as much as in front, I think I need to revisit and do my Homework on how this guy did that.”

“Come on, and the way that he works with actors, it's so inspiring. I guess my favorite thing of the filmmaking process is building characters with the actors. I've been so fortunate to work with some great actors who have chops and who love digging in and going deep... And this again is going to be film school for what I'm writing next.”

“I have a feeling Jay picked this. Somebody’s laughing behind the camera right now, and I think that person was here when it happened, but I have to pick it. And what you need to know is that John Cassavetes is a hero of ours. He’s the model of everything I wanted to be, which was: act in Hollywood movies, take that money, blow it on your independent films that you make with your family and friends. So, John, you’re coming with us.”

“I also have this Cassavetes box set. And funnily enough, my film Lingua Franca is nominated for a John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards. And A Woman Under the Influence is, of course, a very, very influential film; it's also formative for me as a filmmaker.”

“Before I directed my first film, John Cassavetes and Elaine May were on the studio lot and they were improvising a play. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life. He was so generous and just hanging with him, you know, there'll never be a spirit of film like him. I'll make a case for him being one of the great men ever in film and started independent film. I mean, you can't be more important than him.”

“John Cassavetes. I was 15, I went to the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica and saw A Woman Under the Influence and then I kept coming back to it. There is a reason that he is sort of the load star for so many people now. There is an imperfection to it, there is a wildness to it, a sort of refusal to be anything other than himself at the edge of who he is, pushing the envelope of everything he had in him and putting it into all of these films.”

“John Cassavetes as well. I had a very interesting experience with him because you know, I discovered Ben Gazzara in The Strange One and John used him and John was very concerned. Because he wanted me to make another film. He loved my films. I ran into him one day on Wilshire Boulevard and he said, 'Jack, why don't you make another film?' He calls me and he says, 'All my cameras, editing, it's all available to you Jack. Go ahead, start making your movie.'”

“And you know about this guy right he was a friend of mine he was one of the sweetest characters ever and he was always interested in other filmmakers Cassavetes he's always wanted to know how you were doing and also Hal Ashby was the same way another friend and both these guys would be in heaven in this room they wouldn't want to leave you know...”

“Oh well this is a good place to start I just remember I mean A Woman Under the Influence amazing Shadows Faces but Opening Night for me was just there are scenes that sometimes I wake up in the morning and I think of them like when they're on stage and I just I love that movie...”

“[Translated] John Cassavetes: Five Films. Cassavetes is the most important filmmaker to me. To be honest, I already have it, but I'll take it as a memento.”

“I’ll just talk about this briefly because I’ve– this is a very early purchase that I made. This Cassavetes is fundamental, particularly A Woman Under the Influence. And Peter Falk in this is incredible and heartbreaking and so funny as well. The energy of this thing is something that I’m always... I always get inspired by watching this.”

“The Cassavetes box set. I mean, the greatest independent filmmaker in America ever. And probably my favorite film ever is A Woman Under the Influence. There’s also an incredible doc about– like, a three-hour doc about how he worked, which was very singular, with the great Gena Rowlands, maybe the best film actress of all time.”

“Definitely want to get the Cassavetes box set. Shadows, Faces, Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Woman Under the Influence. Incredible work.”

“I’m not, like, a Cassavetes expert, but I love his movie Shadows, because it’s hanging on by a thread. It feels like it’s edited like a Ornette Coleman saxophone solo. It’s completely atonal, if that term made sense for filmmaking. If you ask me about A Woman Under the Influence or another Cassavetes film, I’m gonna stare at you with a blank stare. I’m not an expert, but Shadows rules. It rocks. Period. On God. No cap. For real, for real.”