Andrew Stanton

“Today is the release date of Paper Moon, so I am excited that I get to be one of the first people to talk about it. Paper Moon. Probably one of the strongest, most economical openings. In, I’d say 10 Seconds, you are interested in character. In about 30 Seconds, you are intrigued by the dilemma. And three minutes in, you’re rooting for the plot. And then ten minutes in, you are blindly allegiant to this relationship. This is just a great, great, great, great, great, great movie.”

“Brazil, 1985. It’s kind of known in the lore that he had a cut of this that he wanted to release but Universal didn’t, and that he took the film hostage. I was already a Monty Python fan, already a Time Bandits fan, but this film has just... And I think you can see it in WALL•E, just the influence this had. I can’t say enough about this film. I love this film. Love, love, love, love, love, love.”

“Okay, Local Hero. I come from a small fishing village and I just totally got it. Every line is quotable. It was probably, to me, one of the greatest things Burt Lancaster did near the end of his career as Felix Happer. But this, this movie is– just speaks to my heart. I mean, if I could ever be involved in a movie that had this feeling that Bill Forsyth captured, I’d finish. I’d be done.”

“Worst Person in the World. This is a more recent film, ’21. It’s a great movie on its own. But my favorite film in the world is Lawrence of Arabia. And people think it’s for the spectacle, the scope, the scale. But it’s because the theme of it is, “Who am I?” And this is very similar in that respect. And I just found this the most amazing internal journey of somebody just trying to figure out their place in the world.”

“It’s staring right at me, so Defending Your Life. This is a perfect comedy. Came out in ’91. We were a year out from really getting serious writing Toy Story. I want to believe it’s why I fell in love with the concept of Albert Brooks being the voice of a fish. To have had the chance to be a front-row audience member for a one-man show in the recording studio with him for close to four to five years total was one of the biggest privileges of my career. But this movie is just flawless.”

“Probably saving the best for last. Matewan. My senior year of film school, I remember seeing an ad for this in the LA Weekly... And just kind of being intrigued and took a chance. And I did this and was blown away. John Sayles has a way, I would say Richard Linklater has the same, just a way of doing multi-protagonist movies. He just loves to make the worlds sort of greater and richer than just the singular protagonist. If you only take one movie away from this whole pitch: Matewan.”