Rian Johnson

“I’m going to start with one of my dearest friends, Karyn Kusama, and her brilliant movie Girlfight. One of my favorite directors. I do fundamentally believe that a movie ends up reflecting, almost unintentionally, the spirit of the director. And I believe that with Karyn’s work absolutely. And you watch Girlfight and it feels punk rock and it feels, at the same time, deeply, deeply human. Karyn is also one of the best cooks that I know... She served this one up. Girlfight.”

“I want to talk about one other friend. I want to talk about Gina, Gina Prince-Bythewood and Love & Basketball. She’s always a little bit kind of sitting back and a little bit quiet sometimes. But then you get to know her and you realize she’s got an athlete’s confidence. And this first movie is a fantastic romantic exploration of that. It makes all the sense to me that she’s now making some of the most human, kick-ass, huge action movies... Gina, I love you. And I Love & Basketball.”

“So we can talk about Mike Leigh all day long. I think my favorite Mike Leigh movie is actually Topsy-Turvy. Period piece about Gilbert and Sullivan who created these wonderful little operetta soufflés. This is about the making of The Mikado. It’s about the creative process and it’s about us doing what we do, making these things, even when the thing itself is this Topsy-Turvy, beautiful little confection. Just the blood, sweat, and tears that go into it. Jim Broadbent is absolutely fabulous.”

“Hell’s Angels. Okay, so I’m actually picking this– Really my wife, Karina Longworth, is the one who should be here right now talking about this movie. I’m picking it because I want to reacquaint myself with it. I want to rewatch it. And also how amazing is the artwork? Anyway, my wife, Karina, wrote a book about Howard Hughes, which was called Seduction, and this was a movie that Howard Hughes made and famously spent so long making it, spent so much money, remade it. I believe they started ma...”