Mikey and Nicky

“Cassavetes and Peter Falk. This is Mikey and Nicky. This is a film by Elaine May. It’s a film that I love. I’ve seen many times. And there’s something about Cassavetes’s Performance. Cassavetes as a great filmmaker. A Woman Under the Influence, and all his other films, Shadows, Faces, Gloria, I’m a big fan of. And Peter Falk is just flawless.”

“Mikey and Nicky. I’m talking about Peter Falk and John Cassavetes. You know, when you think of a movie like Midnight Cowboy... You get this buddy energy that the ’70s is bringing to us, but I don’t think no film did it like Mikey and Nicky. I’d never seen this film before. Criterion released it. I suggest this to anyone who’s trying to write a buddy film. This is a master class of that technique.”

“I wanted to get something from Elaine May because I was listening to Nichols and May. I don't think this is a comedy, I think it's about gangsters but maybe has some funniness to it. I want to check it out. I love a female trailblazer.”

“Another one of my favorite Criterions that I let people borrow all the time: Mikey and Nicky. Elaine May. And I think for people who just know Peter Falk as like Columbo, it will give you a completely different version of him. And of course John Cassavetes. This is a masterful film. And the real thing about this that I love is some of the special features on this are really top-notch. There's a making-of here that I watch all the time just to show you how The Process is going around.”

“And since we talked about Mike Nichols, Elaine May. We actually watched this film with Emma Stone before we made Bugonia. John Cassavetes is one of my favorite filmmakers ever, and this film by Elaine May has somehow both of their geniuses combined. And, of course, Peter Falk, also incredible. There’s something about this film, it feels so raw and crazy and intense, and I think it’s just, like, the perfect collaboration. Mikey and Nicky by Elaine May.”

“Mikey and Nicky, Elaine May, written and directed by her, John Cassavetes, incredible. I mean, you just have two childhood best friends and like Nicky's kind of like in this delusion, you know, he thinks he's going to get murdered and killed and you realize that it's true. I can watch this over and over every day. I'm really excited for this.”

“Oh look, this—I don't think I've ever seen this all the way through. This is written and directed by the woman who wrote The Birdcage, the genius known as Elaine May. One of the first of three women directors in the Director's Guild. It was Ida Lupino, Elaine May, and some other woman who I'm sure was wonderful. But Elaine—and now we realize how brilliant she was. This is Peter Falk and John Cassavetes as small-time hoods.”