Ted Danson & Mary Steenburgen

“My friend Jason Schwartzman. Rushmore. Rushmore. So good. Yeah, so good. He and I got to work together for three years, and this was how I fell in love with him. It’s my favorite kind of comedy. It’s such a good movie.”

“Here’s Klute. This also is a friend, Ms. Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland. Donald Sutherland gave me my Oscar. She was moving, heartbreaking, brilliant in this movie. Scary movie. Yeah. That’s really quite extraordinary.”

“Funny Girl. Once again, we know the players. I got to work with Omar Sharif in England. He was deeply, deeply charming. And I asked him, “Of all your leading ladies, who were you the most in love with?” And it was Ms. Barbra Streisand. She famously has a sort of mall underneath her guesthouse. And there’s this beautiful room with this glass window, and in the window is the dress, the famous black-and-white dress from Funny Girl.”

“Being There, pull that down. I love that movie. Why pick this one, to demonstrate how tall I am? Yeah. Oh my gosh. Chauncey Gardiner, one of the great characters in movies. And I knew Hal Ashby, too. I used to go to his place in Malibu and watch him edit on a big flatbed. That’s a really, really great movie.”

“How about David Lynch, who made Inland Empire, because I do have a story about that. We’re very close with our friend Laura Dern. She calls me and says, “Can you come do a part in this David Lynch movie?” I just said, “Sure.” David had the camera and he goes, “You can’t look like that. You got to look worse.” He gets down on the ground, picks up dirt, and starts rubbing it all over my face. I was the Visitor. And that was how I ended up in Inland Empire.”

“Brief Encounter is so beautiful. That’s one of the movies that— Didn’t Jack Nicholson recommend that you watch it? Yes. He was my mentor and he gave me a movie list, and that was one.”

“Hobson’s Choice. This is an early David Lean film. It’s really charming and wonderful. I loved it. Brenda De Banzie is in this, who isn’t very well known, but absolutely brilliant in it. It’s really lovely. And Charles Laughton. It’s great.”

“John Ford, which one did you offer? Darling Clementine. Well, we have a granddaughter named Clementine. But I love John Ford. And Henry Fonda, who’s also an astounding actor in westerns, but John Ford made a lot of his films in that Four Corners area... And that’s where I grew up, so anything that John Ford shoots, I love to watch.”