Del Toro + 3 more sci-fi directors each name their 10 fave films
What's Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro's favorite movie? How about Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright? They'd probably be happy to name names if you met them, but thanks to the legendary Sight & Sound magazine poll to name the best of all time, we can read their top 10 lists right now.
Sight & Sound, under the direction of the British Film Institute, conducts a poll of film scholars every 10 years in an effort to compile a definitive ranking of the greatest films of all time. They also poll directors for a separate top 10 lists averaged from the choices of the filmmakers. Now, for our amusement, Sight & Sound has released a few of those director submissions, and we've got quite a few sci-fi directors to ponder.
Here's del Toro's list. You might be surprised how few genre films are on it.
8½ (1963) - Federico FelliniLa Belle et la Bete (1946) - Jean Cocteau
Frankenstein (1931) - James Whale
Freaks (1932) - Tod Browning
Goodfellas (1990) - Martin Scorsese
Greed (1925) - Erich von Stroheim
Los Olvidados (1950) - Luis Bunel
Modern Times (1936) - Charles Chaplin
Nosferatu (1922) - F.W. Murnau
Shadow of a Doubt (1943) - Alfred Hitchcock
What about Wright? Again, surprisingly few genre flicks on the future Ant-Man director's list.
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - Stanley KubrickAn American Werewolf in London (1981) - John Landis
Carrie (1976) - Brian de Palma
Dames (1934) - Busby Berkeley
Don't Look Now (1973) - Nicolas Roeg
Duck Soup (1933) - Leo McCarey
Psycho (1960) - Alfred Hitchcock
Raising Arizona (1987) - Joel & Ethan Coen
Taxi Driver (1976) - Martin Scorsese
The Wild Bunch (1969) - Sam Peckinpah
What about Amazing Spider-Man director Marc Webb? Have a look. Only one sci-fi film, though it's worth noting that 8 1/2 does feature some science fiction discussion, not to mention some seriously warped reality.
8½ (1963) - Federico FelliniAnnie Hall (1977) - Woody Allen
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) - David Lean
Children of Men (2006) - Alfonso Cuaron
City Lights (1931) - Charles Chaplin
Dead Poets Society (1989) - Peter Weir
The Graduate (1967) - Mike Nichols
Singin' in the Rain (1951) - Stanley Donen/Gene Kelly
Three Colours: Red (1994) - Krzysztof Kieslowski
The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) - Peter Weir
And finally, here's X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn's list, which includes one film that's probably not on any other list Sight & Sound received.
Back to the Future (1985) - Robert ZemeckisBeing There (1979) - Hal Ashby
The Deer Hunter (1977) - Michael Cimino
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966) - Sergio Leone
Lawrence of Arabia (1962) - David Lean
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - Steven Spielberg
Reservoir Dogs (1991) - Quentin Tarantino
Rocky III (1982) - Sylvester Stallone
Scarface (1983) - Brian De Palma
Star Wars (1977) - George Lucas
What's more surprising: that he put Rocky III on the list or that he prefers Rocky III over Rocky IV? But seriously, what do you think of this list? Was anything surprising? Can you see these films influencing these directors?
For more lists from filmmakers including Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and Francis Ford Coppola, head over to Collider.
(Via Collider)