Cooper Hoffman

“I do think it makes sense to start here because of what happened last night: Hoop Dreams. It represents everything I love about basketball and everything I kind of find to be deeply sad about basketball as well. It was one of the first documentaries I ever saw, and it was something that my mother showed me. And in light of how well the Knicks are doing and the incredible comeback that happened last night, and how much of a fan I am of them and basketball just in general – it really was my first love – this movie kind of encapsulates all of that.”

“This is a polar-opposite movie: Come and See. It is the movie I watched before shooting The Long Walk, that Francis Lawrence told us to watch, and it is because I think he wanted to replicate the fact of how you go into things and how you come out of them. I think it does a really good job of showing, in a very intense way, of how much kids want to grow up and then realize, as they grow up, how kind of more difficult it gets. This movie’s incredible.”

“I’m going to go with two together. And it’s because my girlfriend showed me both of these. Or didn’t show me both of these. Sorry. This is her favorite movie, and I love this movie: Paper Moon. Another great director showed this to me, Paul Thomas Anderson, and I was blessed to watch it in a screening room with him and my family. Tatum O’Neal is someone that I’ve always loved. This and also Come and See are two child-acting… It makes no sense. But when you watch it, you feel all of the things.”

“And then Thelma & Louise, it’s something I just watched. Also incredibly exciting. And my girlfriend showed this to me and we watched it together, and she has much better movie taste than I do. This movie’s fantastic.”

“Okay, we’re going to pivot. We’re going to totally pivot. But, you know, who the hell cares? Happiness. This movie… You know, not everyone gets to see their father jerk off on-screen. I did, in this, and it was something that really shocked me. And, you know, maybe I didn’t like it at the time, but I’ve recently rewatched it in the theater. And Todd Solondz was one of the first directors I ever asked to go meet when I got an agent, because I love this movie so much, because I think it’s an incredible testament to how imperfect humans are and how much empathy Todd has for them. And I think that’s a testament to also my father’s acting in this, and everyone’s acting in this. But yeah, this is one of my faves.”

“Punch-Drunk Love is a movie I just recently rewatched. It’s not my favorite Paul Thomas Anderson movie. My favorite Paul Thomas Anderson movie is The Master. But this movie is… feels like lightning in a bottle in a different way that I can’t totally describe, but when I watch it, I just want to keep watching it.”

“I haven’t seen this movie, Hud, but I want to take it with me because Paul Newman is one of my favorite actors of all time. He is unbelievable. Cool Hand Luke, The Sting. I could go on. He is remarkably handsome, and yet loses none of his empathy, his sadness, his depression, his guilt, his hilarity. He’s someone that I will never be but admire watching. And it’s really nice with an actor like that, where you aren’t striving to become them and you can just watch their work and be happy that they’ve done stuff.”

“Mean Streets. This movie is something I also just recently rewatched and it’s… not in the same way, but it feels like, with Paul, with Punch-Drunk Love, and with this – and by the way, also, these are two fantastic directors and this is just my opinion – but it feels like they were both trying to figure something out, and it worked so well. And I really enjoy the fact that both… Mean Streets feels like something that… it feels, even though it might not be, tangible for me and my friends to go make. And that’s really exciting as a young person who’s trying to make stuff with their buddies. And also, by the way, Robert De Niro in this is just a godsend. It’s crazy.”

“Love Streams, Cassavetes. My friend told me to watch this. James, shout out to you. And actually, hold on, we’re going to do a little twofer because he also told me to watch Salesman because I was shooting a movie called Wildcat, where I had to play a Bible salesman. Let’s talk about Love Streams first. Love Streams is one of those that I wish I had a more interesting take on, but it just felt so natural and kind of almost the feeling that I got watching, like, Y tu mamá también, where it’s a little bit, like, you just want to… you just want to be the camera and you don’t ever want it to shut off. And I think that that’s really sometimes hard to do because I have so many annoying critiques about things at times, but I don’t have any for this.”

“Okay, let’s go with another person that’s incredibly good at dealing with very dark subjects and creating humor and light out of them: Gregg Araki. This is a little controversial. I haven’t seen The Doom Generation, I haven’t seen Nowhere, but I’ve seen Totally F***ed Up. I want to watch both of these. I need to watch both of these. But Gregg Araki, I just worked with him, he is as funny and fun as his movies are, even though they deal with very intense subjects. You can’t lose your sense of humor. It’s something that my mom always taught me, and I like when movies have it, too.”