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The Library
MTV Movie House - Maggie Gyllenhaal's Video Picks
Source: http://www.mtv.com/onair/moviehouse/picks.jhtml?epiNum=18
Her dad's a director, her mom's a screenwriter and her brother is "Donnie Darko." Maggie Gyllenhaal knows movies —
and everyone in them. Read on for her very personal video-store recommendations.
"My Fair Lady"
I really like "My Fair Lady," with Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. I used to watch this when I was a kid. I used to watch tons of musicals when I was really little, before I really understood what was happening in them. It was like, "Look at her hat, her white dress." Audrey Hepburn is so appealing and Rex Harrison is so mean! I'd love to see this again.
"Stranger Than Paradise"
I love it. This girl, she's from Romania and she comes to stay with her cousin who is John Lurie. And she's got one of those handheld tape players ... a portable tape player. She listens to it all the time and John asks, "Who is that?" And she says, "This is 'Screaming' Jay Hawkins and he is a crazy man." They go to Florida. It's really good.
"Crimes and Misdemeanors"
I haven't seen all [Woody Allen's] movies, but of the ones I've seen, this one is the best, I think. I met Anjelica Huston, actually, and it was when I was working on a movie and having a really hard time and she gave me some great advice. I'm not going to tell you what it is because it's private. But she's really sexy and interesting.
"The Royal Tenenbaums"
I like Wes Anderson a lot. My friend Ebon is in this. He has a small part. He's the bellboy. If you watch the DVD with the director's commentary, he says something about him, like, "This is Ebon Ross-Bachrach and he's great." I loved this movie. I really liked Gwyneth Paltrow in it. Anjelica Huston again is in this and Gene Hackman — great actor.
"A Woman Under the Influence"
It's a Cassavetes movie with Gena Rowlands in it. I think her performance in this movie is my favorite performance I've seen in any movie ever. It's about a woman — all Cassavetes movies are not really about what they're about — but it's about a woman who is kind of losing her mind. She's a drunk and she's crazy and it's about her family and how they deal with her.
"Opening Night"
Another Cassavetes movie. Gena Rowlands is actually even better in "Opening Night." She plays an actress who's a drunk who's rehearsing for a play and can barely function. She's so good in this movie. There's a scene where she's rehearsing. Things are not really going well in this rehearsal and there's a part in the scene where the guy she's acting with has to slap her and she doesn't want him to. He slaps her and she falls down on the ground and lies there like she's dead. Can you imagine any actress just making that choice and doing it?
"A Fish Called Wanda"
This will sort of counter the Cassavetes. It will give it a little spice. Jamie [Lee Curtis] is a friend of mine, of my mom's. I love to see her be so good and so funny. It's nice to see your friends be great at what they do. Kevin Kline is great in this movie. Michael Palin is great when he's stuttering. This is a good fun one.
"Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore"
Ellen Burstyn is great in this. I just saw a little clip of this in that documentary they made called "A Decade Under the Influence," about '70s movies. She was so good. I don't know what it's about, but I'm going to definitely rent this one.
"Raising Arizona"
The Coen Brothers. I really want to see this movie again. Nicolas Cage, Holly Hunter. If most of the people watching this show are 16, you probably haven't seen this movie. You should see it.
"Barton Fink"
I've never even seen this. I met John Turturro the other day. ... Having seen him in movies, I think he's really good. This is about screenwriters, right? My mom's a screenwriter, so maybe I should watch this.
"Running on Empty"
My mom [Naomi Foner] made this movie. She wrote it. [It's] about a family of political radicals who, in the '60s, bombed a building and blinded a janitor who was not supposed to be there ... and so they've been on the run. It's them sort of sorting out how to be a family and let their kids do what they want to do and still run from the law. River [Phoenix]'s little sister Summer and I hung out when they were making this movie. River and Martha [Plimpton] would kiss and one of them would start out chewing gum and the other would end up chewing the gum. Me and Summer were like horrified at nine, you know. It's sort of sad looking at this movie.
"When We Were Kings"
This is a great movie. This is about the fight between Muhammad Ali and [George] Foreman. They fought in Africa. George Plimpton talks. He's so smart. It's so good. The "Rumble in the Jungle." This is a great one about Ali.
"Vivre sa vie/My Life to Live"
I love this movie! I watched it in college. I took a film class at college with this guy Richard [Peña], who runs the Walter Reid Theater and curates all these amazing movies and we watched this. Look at [Anna Karina]'s haircut. It's a little too short for me. She speaks French in this movie, but with this strong American accent. She doesn't try to speak French like a French person at all and it's really sexy. Isn't this about a hooker? At the end, there's a shootout. She's got great style, this girl.
"My Beautiful Laundrette"
My friend who I just did that play ["Homebody/Kabul"] with is in it. She's not on the cover. Her name's Rita Wolf. She's the girl in it, the Indian woman. Anyone seen it? I really want to rent this movie. I'm really going to rent this. I'm going to put some of these [other movies] down.
I only get to pick three. I've got four now. I've got "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," "My Beautiful Laundrette" and — I've seen both of these movies. But I haven't seen "Raising Arizona" in like ten years, so I'm going with "Raising Arizona." "When We Were Kings," you guys should rent it. There we go. These are my movies.
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