John Cassavetes: Five Films

“What? Foundational, found, foundational, foundational. Talk about empathy, you know, both in the film, but also just having empathy for the actors and what they're going through. Like, like, there's a film school in this box set.”

“So, since I’m an actor, you kind of have to get the full John Cassavetes. He really did something different than anybody else has ever done in cinema: create authenticity so that you have this feeling that you’re inside the experience. That’s what we all hope for, as actors, that the audience is in there with us, that they’re behind our faces, behind our eyes and our expressions, experiencing the things that we’re experiencing. This box set is a pretty great one. It’s got Faces, it has A Woman Under the Influence, with Gena Rowlands. That was John Cassavetes’s partner, Gena Rowlands, one of the greatest actresses that ever lived. And that is an extraordinary performance about madness. I just love this movie.”

“And this, what is this? It’s the fat one. Cassavetes. That’s the birth of the modern cinema, really.”

“John Cassavetes: Five Films. Classic, Cassavetes. Another thing that you hear a lot of people say, like, “Oh, I love the film…” And they say it for a reason, because he’s great. But Woman Under the Influence, amazing. I don’t think I’ve seen enough of– I don’t know enough about it. It’s one of those ones that I feel, when I hear people… It’s like when people talk about art. And I pretend that I’m cooler than it, but it’s really because I just don’t know. So I don’t know enough about Cassavetes, but I’m about to. And once I watch these, get ready for a discussion on film from me.”

“Maybe everybody picks Cassavetes. Now, this is very special to me, because in, like, the early 2000s, I was… I was in America, and I wasn’t really happy with the sort of work I was doing and I wasn’t really happy with my approach to acting, and everyone was like, “Man, you gotta watch Cassavetes.” Like, it was kind of embarrassing that I hadn’t watched it by then. So I went out and I bought this collection and, over a weekend, myself and my wife, we watched every single film on this. I mean, the standout movie for me is A Woman Under the Influence. The other nice anecdote about this box set is that I then made a movie in… in LA that year, and the makeup artist who was doing my makeup, I was telling her about how much I love this, Woman Under the Influence, and she says, “Oh, Gena Rowlands, she’s a good friend of mine.” And I said, “Would you ever mind… Would you mind asking Gena Rowlands to sign this?” So she signed my DVD version of this. And then I went out and bought the Blu-ray. So I have two of these. So I don’t really need a third, but it had a huge influence then on me, once I discovered him, as it does on everybody who discovers Cassavetes.”

“John Cassavetes: Five Films. And it also has this, like, insanely long documentary in it. It’s, like, three or four hours. And I used to watch this all the time as a way to gird myself for notes on scripts from entities that didn’t understand it. And I would think, “John Cassavetes would fight that note.” And then they’d yell at me and I’d give in.”

“-oh. I just talked about John Cassavetes and my eyes just kind of went out– I didn’t… See, I don’t have this. Look at that: Five Films, John Cassavetes. See, this is why the Criterion is so special, because… I first got turned onto them by Jim Jarmusch when I when I was looking for his old films and I found Down by Law. This was one of the films that led me to the Criterion Collection, because I was looking for Jim movies and this came out on it. And then I started just searching that whole section, back when we was able to go to our DVD video stores. But anyway, Down by Law goes in. John Cassavetes goes in my bag.”

“This and A Woman Under the Influence, which is… I know it’s here. I know it’s here. A Woman Under the Influence. Gena Rowlands, I mean, just everything. But I’m going to take the Cassavetes box set because Christmas came early.”

“This has to end with Cassavetes. I feel like… I’m going to take it out, the All About Eve. Now I’m trying to find it, but All About Eve and Cassavetes films were the main reason why I wanted to become an actor in the first place. A Woman Under the Influence is one of my favorite films. Opening Night as well. And he was a great actor as well. I love Husbands. And, to me, he was a pioneer of independent– American independent cinema. And we love that.”

“This Five Films, John Cassavetes. Gena Rowlands is I think the greatest actress who's who I've ever seen. Gena had a huge impact on me doing what I'm doing because my mother was a projectionist and I when I was very, very young I she had some connection and I got to watch Cassavetes films at a really young age and I didn't really understand what was going on 'cause I was too young, but I remember watching Gena and just that's I just wanted to do what she was doing.”

“And I spy Cassavetes. Where's Cassavetes? Oh, right. There you go. Now I've got that. I got that the last time. Shadows. I'm sure it's here. I've got it. Don't want to see it again for the time being, but you know... It's right here. It was a great influence in the sense that it made me start thinking about improvization and stuff. Right. Although when you look at it now, it's not his greatest film at all. It's interesting. Yeah. There you go.”

“Okay, look, enough said: John Cassavetes: Five Movies. And I had the great privilege to work with John and Gena, in the theater. And, he made everybody that worked with him much better than we were, that because he believed in people so much, and so I was so lucky. And Gena, as we know, is a, a queen and a goddess, and you got to see Opening Night, oh my God, and they're so great together. Okay, I better move on.”

“Then, Cassavetes.”

“Oh, the John Cassavetes: Five Films. I'd really love to take this because, I love John Cassavetes. I mean, what he says is all of his movies are pretty much about love: how people love, why they love, you know, why. He's like, 'I just basically keep making the same movie again and again,' because that's, that's what obsesses him, that's what obsessed him. And, excited about that.”

“And John Cassavetes, which I have shamefully only seen maybe one or two of his movies, and they were all when I was starting out in acting and trying to get more serious about what good acting is and trying to seek it out. And as the years of doing It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia have transitioned me more into loving the work behind the camera just as much as in front, I think I need to revisit and do my homework on how this guy did that.”

“Come on, and the way that he works with actors, it's so inspiring. I guess my favorite thing of the filmmaking process is building characters with the actors. I've been so fortunate to work with some great actors who have chops and who love digging in and going deep. I mean, Sanaa Lathan, where it all started, Yale Drama School, someone with such incredible depth, work ethic, to then Gugu, same thing, incredibly dope, to certainly the folks that I just worked with on The Woman King, and this again is going to be film school for what I'm I'm writing next.”

“I have a feeling Jay picked this. Somebody’s laughing behind the camera right now, and I think that person was here when it happened, but I have to pick it. And what you need to know is that John Cassavetes is a hero of ours. He’s the model of everything I wanted to be, which was: act in Hollywood movies, take that money, blow it on your independent films that you make with your family and friends. So, John, you’re coming with us. Also, side note: the John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands house just came up for sale in Los Angeles. If anyone has $5 million, please buy it and turn it into a museum.”

“I also have this Cassavetes box set, and funnily enough, I, my film Lingua Franca is nominated for John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards. And A Woman Under the Influence is of course a very, very influential film, is also formative for me as a filmmaker.”

“Before I directed my first film, John Cassavetes and Elaine May were on the studio lot, and they were improvising a play. They were writing a play by improvisation. And it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life. And just before I, never directed before, I'm getting ready for my first movie, and he was so generous and just hanging with him, you know, there'll never be a spirit of film like him. I mean everybody, everybody expected to do it for the love. I remember there was one actor who was involved in it, it was going to be Christmas, and we were all at lunch together. I was just there every day in the audience, and sometimes they'd turn to me and they'd direct comments at me. I didn't know whether it was part of the improvisation or whether it was real. You couldn't tell reality and improvisation, eventually you didn't know what was real, what was unreal. But the, the spirit was extraordinary to be around. And then there was one day during the Christmas holiday where everybody, he took everybody and me, the audience, to lunch. And, and one of the actors said—well, they've been at it for several weeks—and one of the actors said, "I had to take a paying job." And, and it wasn't only that John said no, he said to the guy, "You better not let Elaine hear you said that." Because that was it, everybody was there for passion. Anyway, he's in, you know, I'll make a case for him being one of the great men ever in film, and started independent film. I mean, you can't be more important than him.”

“I'm here, so I'll do this. I said to you before, I think everyone probably does this, but it's worth it, John Cassavetes. I was 15, I went to the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, which is a spectacular repertory theater that I saw a lot of first films at, and saw A Woman Under the Influence, and then I kept coming back to it. And it, there is, there is a reason that he is, you know, sort of the lodestar for so many people now. There is an imperfection to it, there is a wildness to it, a sort of refusal to be anything other than his, his himself at the edge of who he is, at the, on pushing the envelope of everything he had in him and putting it into all of these films, and defying both external and internal hesitation or guardrails against, you know, him being anything other than his fullest self. I wish that more film artists were as fearless, basically.”

“John Cassavetes, well, I had a very interesting experience with him because you know, I discovered Ben Gazzara in The Strange One, End as a Man, and John used him and John was very concerned because he wanted me to make another film. He loved my films. I ran into him one day on Wilshire Boulevard and he said, "Jack, how come you don't make another film?" I said, "Well, you know, you," I said, "you're an actor, you earn money. So you get money and I admire you because you use the money to make movies, but," I said, "I don't get that kind of money. So I can't, I haven't been able to do it." "Okay Jack, I'll call you tomorrow." He calls me and he says, "All my cameras, editing room, it's all available to you, Jack. Go ahead, start making your movie."”

“And you know about this guy, right? He was a friend of mine. He was one of the sweetest characters ever, and he was always interested in other filmmakers, Cassavetes. He always wanted to know how you were doing. And also Hal Ashby was the same way, another friend. And both these guys would be in heaven in this room. They wouldn't want to leave, you know.”

“Oh well, this is a good place to start. I just remember, I mean, A Woman Under the Influence, amazing, Shadows, Faces, but Opening Night for me was just, there are scenes that sometimes I wake up in the morning and I think of them, like when they're on stage and I just, I love that movie.”

“[Translated] John Cassavetes: Five Films. John Cassavetes is truly the most important film writer to me. To be honest, I already have a copy of this, but I'd like another one as a souvenir.”

“I'll just talk about this briefly because I've– this is a very early purchase that I made. This Cassavetes is fundamental, particularly A Woman Under the Influence. And Peter Falk in this is incredible and heartbreaking and so funny as well. The energy of this thing is something that I'm always… I always get inspired by watching this.”

“The Cassavetes box set. I mean, the greatest independent filmmaker in America ever. And probably my favorite film ever is A Woman Under the Influence. There’s also an incredible doc about– like, a three-hour doc about how he worked, which was very singular, with the great Gena Rowlands, maybe the best film actress of all time.”

“Definitely want to get the Cassavetes box set. Shadows, Faces, Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Woman Under the Influence. Incredible work.”

“I’m not, like, a Cassavetes expert, but I love his movie Shadows, because it’s hanging on by a thread. It feels like it’s edited like a Ornette Coleman saxophone solo. It’s completely atonal, if that term made sense for filmmaking. If you ask me about A Woman Under the Influence or another Cassavetes film, I’m gonna stare at you with a blank stare. I’m not an expert, but Shadows rules. It rocks. Period. On God. No cap. For real, for real.”