Dave Gibbons’ revered work in the comic book world stretches back to the 1970s, when he contributed to cult British publications 2000 A.D. and Dan Dare, before illustrating both DC and Marvel series in the early ’80s and collaborating with writer Alan Moore on the seminal Watchmen — the graphic novel that upended the genre. As the film adaptation of Watchmen arrives on DVD, we asked this inherently cinematic artist to name his five favorite films. On the spot. “I wish I had time to prepare this,” he protests. “Okay, this is absolutely off the cuff… ”
I generally like very visually striking films. I love a lot of Stanley Kubrick’s films. I would have to say Dr. Strangelove, which of course has got resonance in Watchmen. It’s a favorite movie of mine.
Apocalypse Now is a favorite movie of mine. Again, there are kind of Watchmen resonances there.
For a slightly off beat one, you know sometimes you see a movie and you think, ‘That’s a really good movie — why did I never ever hear of that?’ A movie called Grosse Pointe Blank, which is an incredible movie.
I really actually liked this one. There’s a thing with genre movies and science fiction movies that number two is the charmed; two seems to be the best. I loved Terminator 2. I think of all those kinds of movies, that has to be my favorite ‘blowing big shit up’ kind of movie. How many is that so far?
So I have to think of one more? Okay, I’ll say that on the plane coming here I saw The Reader and I thought that was an amazing film, a very affecting film dealing with an almost overfamiliar subject but in an almost novel and emotional way. That’s my current favorite movie.
Read RT’s full interview with Dave Gibbons, in which he looks back on his experience with Watchmen and shares his thoughts on the film.
