Gregg Araki

“I am going to start with this classic Bringing Up Baby by Howard Hawks, one of my all-time favorite movies. I used to write papers on this movie a lot when I was in film school and for people who've seen my films, particularly The Living End and Doom Generation... Living End is actually called an irresponsible movie by Gregg Araki because of this movie. There was some Robin Wood essay called The Lure of Irresponsibility that I read when I was in film school.”

“Something Wild by Jonathan Demme. I'm actually screening this movie today at IFC Center. I picked it as an oldie but a classic. The reason I picked it is Jonathan Demme, he was sort of hitting his stride right as I was in film school and a big inspiration to me. He was very much influenced by New Wave music the way I was and also very much like a film school kind of director. Something Wild is like Living End and Doom Generation, very much related to Bringing Up Baby.”

“David Lynch, Fire Walk with Me, I think is his masterpiece. I know it was critically attacked when it came out and my story about it is we actually got the Showcase Theater on the Brea in Los Angeles for The Living End because Fire Walk with Me was such a commercial disaster. It opened and closed in L. A. In like a week, so we got a better theater in L. A. Because of the flop of Fire Walk with Me. But to me, just that amazing perfect movie, I love it so much.”

“Masculin Féminin by Godard. I mean, Godard is a huge, huge idol of mine and I took a Godard class in my senior years in undergraduate and it was life-changing for me. And it's such a profound influence on my like voice as a filmmaker and what I wanted to do, when I started making my own movies.”

“Pink Flamingos by John Waters. John Waters is the original godfather of everything to me. I just want to really pay tribute to him and this movie. I remember just being blown away by how intensely punk it was and how outrageous and shocking it was by 90s standards. This is for John. I mean, I just, you know, he is a national treasure and thank God for John Waters.”

“Stranger Than Paradise by Jim Jarmusch, 1984. I was in film school like at the peak of who am I, what am I gonna do? I'm just this weird artsy Godard punk kid, this queer punk kid, like where's my place in the filmmaking world? And this movie came out and I just remember seeing it and being so stunned by it and so inspired. The idea that there was this indie cinema that could exist was for me as a young filmmaker life-changing.”