Laura Dern

“We have to talk about Robert Altman if we’re going to talk about acting. He is the gift to actors: to find truth in everyday circumstance. I had the privilege of working with him. And 3 Women is such an influence on me. These performances are so incredible. Just staring at Sissy Spacek’s face makes me want to cry.”

“Also, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Warren Beatty and Julie Christie.”

“But also, while we’re at it, Tanner ’88. I was just thinking how many series and limited series watched this to discover the intimacy of storytelling, by being on the road with a political candidate, in the way he did his hand-held work, and the performances are incredible, like everything he gave us.”

“And therefore you have to talk about Persona, two of the greatest female performances of all time. I talk about these performances, I think and dream on them.”

“And a great hero of mine and a deep hero of my Mother’s is Simone Signoret, and you have Diabolique. Please see this film, see all her work. Every cell is true.”

“But let’s talk about her masterful performances, like in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, which has influenced, obviously, so many films. The vulnerability of her, all while in song, is just extraordinary.”

“Belle de jour. Oh my God, this film. She brings innocence to brokenness and she brings innocence to sexuality in a way I had never seen, and was such an influence on me as an actor.”

“But in Philadelphia Story, the greatest screenplay. I don’t even understand this writing, it’s so brilliant. It’s insane. Every Performance is perfect, and it’s so radical, slightly mean-spirited. Everybody’s a mess. Frankly, a total shit show. Jimmy Stewart is raw and sassy and amoral at moments and yet we fall madly in love with him.”

“David Lynch, The Art Life, which I’m staring at right here, which I started to watch and had to stop because I wasn’t quite ready, but I cannot wait for.”

“And Inland Empire, which speaks to his radical reinvention of cinema. He wanted to use the crudest camera possible, so he grabbed a Sony camcorder and a couple hundred thousand dollars, and for three years we made this movie, at times just The Two of Us, with a camcorder, in Poland and France and LA, and it was one of the great gifts of my life.”

“You guys have Smooth Talk on Blu-ray, and I made this movie when I was 15 years old, directed by Joyce Chopra, an amazing filmmaker, with Treat Williams, who’s so brilliant in this movie, and I think a fascinating movie. I’m really, really lucky to be part of it. It was, I think, my first lead in a film.”

“Real Life, the mockumentary, which… I mean, honestly, I want to do lines from it. Nothing is a greater gift.”

“Except top-five favorite movies of my life: Defending Your Life. When I told Meryl Streep this may be my favorite Performance of hers because she’s so perfect and he’s so perfect, and it’s the most romantic film. It makes us reconsider our lives, and it’s the funniest idea of what happens to us when we go.”

“I asked when I came in if you had Scorsese Shorts. The Big Shave is such a brilliant and radical short in his political subversion and all that he has always said with his films. And of course, the performances mean everything.”

“Irene Dunne, my grandmother loved Irene Dunne, and I chose The Awful Truth with Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, and screwball comedies have meant everything to me, as you heard. Amazing that I got to choose this.”

“And I got a Spike Lee movie and this makes me so happy. This, we all know, is a masterpiece, a masterpiece in acting, a masterpiece in filmmaking. Spike Lee, I think, is the comparable master of creating the world of truth in space like no other filmmaker. He is such a genius.”

“Night of the Hunter. It is absurdist, it’s incredible, and my godmother, Shelley Winters, is so incredible in this movie, as she is in every Performance. You must see this movie.”

“If you have not seen all of Bogdanovich’s work, you better. And you better read everything he gave us on film and about other filmmakers, including John Ford. The greatest teacher about film, and The Last Picture Show is one of my favorite movies of all time. Such incredible performances.”

“The first movie I saw in the theater with my grandmother, of Bergman, she took me to see Fanny and Alexander, and I will never forget being such a little girl and saying to my grandma, “I’ve seen the color red for the first time.” Everything was so vibrant and so powerful and taught me about life and grief and love.”

“If I’m talking about actresses, I have to talk about Giulietta Masina. And I see this… extraordinary gift of Fellini, but within Fellini’s work with his amazing wife and muse, we have La strada, one of the most important female performances of all time.”

“Last of the bonus round. Okay, first of all, it has The King of Marvin Gardens. I love this movie so much. My dad, Bruce Dern, his best buddy, Jack Nicholson. The acting is incredible. Thank you, Bob Rafelson, for this incredible movie... But also, didn’t know, Drive, He Said, directed by Jack Nicholson, starring Bruce Dern. Two friends making a movie together, and it’s so raw and beautiful... This is an incredible series. I can’t believe this.”