Seth Meyers

“Army of Shadows. This is a fantastic film. This is a movie about the French Resistance. And I think oftentimes we think that it was so dashing and romantic, the Resistance. This is a very bleak film, and I think a very honest appraisal of what it was like to be in a resistance movement in that time. But it is a beautiful film, and there are great character names. Le bison. Le masque.”

“Okay, here’s another movie that dabbles with the idea of fascism and what it does to us, but… Here’s what I want to say about Grand Budapest Hotel. I think Ralph Fiennes should’ve been nominated for an Oscar. And I think sometimes when actors are funny, they don’t get the same respect they deserve. And he was so very funny. And also, you know, deeply sad. It was real emotion to the character he was playing, who was trying to hold onto this thing, this past that wasn’t going to be part of his present or his future. And so those are the two real oversights for the Academy, I think, as far as comedy not getting Oscar, which is Ralph Fiennes and then Ted Knight in Caddyshack.”

“Miller’s Crossing. I mean, there’s not a bad Coen brothers movie for me, but this one, there’s just sort of a… an entirely new vocabulary this film teaches you in the first 30 minutes that you have to understand to appreciate the rest of the movie, and so it’s so much better on each rewatch. And let me tell you, not one of us, not me, not anybody who watched it, is ever gonna wear a hat as well as Gabriel Byrne wears a hat in this movie. Best hat work in cinema history.”

“Watership Down I’m only bringing up because it is truly– I think this is the scariest moviegoing experience of my life. My mother took me to see this movie when it came out. What year did this come out? So 1978– I was five years old. My mom thought it was an animated rabbit movie. And, guys, it is technically that. If you’ve got a five-year-old who loves rabbits and also dreams of just blood running through fields, run, don’t walk to Watership Down.”

“Okay, Lost in America. There’s a scene where Albert Brooks loses his life saving in a casino, and Garry Marshall runs the casino. And Albert Brooks is an ad exec and his pitch is that Garry Marshall should give him all his money back and then do an ad campaign about how Desert Inn is different than other casinos because they have heart. And Garry Marshall just impresses upon him that would be a terrible way to run a casino. But the special thing about this is I worked with Garry Marshall and I was in one of his movies and basically the main reason I did it was to talk to him about this scene. It was so funny because he was so frustrated by how many takes Albert Brooks made him do. They were friends. All these years later, I’m like, “It’s the best scene,” he goes, “We got it on the first take and he makes me do it again and again.” Perfect scene, Garry Marshall was complaining that Albert Brooks made him do a lot of takes. The movie I did with Garry Marshall was New Year’s Eve. New Year’s Eve… Where is the Criterion? Oh, out of print. The Third Man and New Year’s Eve are out of print due to popularity.”

“Withnail and I. The greatest movie about getting drunk ever made. And when it’s over, you either never want to drink again or you want to have a ton of drinks. I think that’s a good test to let you know which way you’re breaking. Richard E. Grant, he drinks in this movie like Gabriel Byrne wears a hat in Miller’s Crossing.”

“Okay, Long Good Friday. I love this movie. Just top to bottom. It’s just a British mobster over the course of one long Good Friday as everything falls apart. Helen Mirren is his wife and, you know, so fucking hot. Just Helen Mirren– and I say this as a friend of Helen Mirren’s. Just outstanding, and final scene in this film, greatest face acting you’ve ever seen. Just Bob Hoskins, not talking, telling you literally everything his character’s thinking. It’s…”

“So, Grey Gardens, the Maysles. Couple Maysles. Salesman. These are two fantastic films, both of which we used as inspiration for a show I created with Fred Armisen and Bill Hader called Documentary Now! Alex Buono, Rhys Thomas. I’m shouting them out because this is the sorta… this is the sort of thing they’re going to watch. John Mulaney. But we were lucky enough– Alex and Rhys actually talked to one of the Maysles, talked to them about using the right lenses, and the thing is, when we write one of these episodes, you know, I wrote both of these, I had to watch them so many times to see if there was stuff I could find as inspiration. And you just– the humanity that they managed to get, the way that they are present, but not in a way that gets people to be anything other than their true selves.”

“Salesman. These are two fantastic films, both of which we used as inspiration for a show I created with Fred Armisen and Bill Hader called Documentary Now! Alex Buono, Rhys Thomas. I’m shouting them out because this is the sorta… this is the sort of thing they’re going to watch. John Mulaney. But we were lucky enough– Alex and Rhys actually talked to one of the Maysles, talked to them about using the right lenses, and the thing is, when we write one of these episodes, you know, I wrote both of these, I had to watch them so many times to see if there was stuff I could find as inspiration. And you just– the humanity that they managed to get, the way that they are present, but not in a way that gets people to be anything other than their true selves. Also, a little bit of bonus, the Doc Now! Episode about Salesman, called Globesman, Globesman is available on this.”