Matthew Fox’s Five Favorite Films

Ever since I read the Heart of Darkness for the first time — I really loved that book and loved the sort of question at the heart of that book, which is, “What is the true nature of the human species?” So Apocalypse Now is just an incredible adaptation of that concept and a movie that I never get tired of watching. There are so many interesting things in it.

I’m a huge fan of the western genre, I really am. I grew up on a ranch in Wyoming; from a very early age I loved westerns. Read a lot of westerns. Went through a period when Louie L’Amour was something that I just read tons of, then sort of moved onto The Virginian, and then movies. I just totally loved that genre. Been a dream of mine to be a part of one.

RT: And now you are.

Yes, it’s one of the things about Bone Tomahawk that’s so exciting.

I loved Drive. Drive is one of my favorites, actually. Yeah, I would put that down.  Stylistically, it was like nothing I’d seen in a while. The soundtrack is one of the best soundtracks ever — I loved the soundtrack — and the way that he directed that; there are so many interesting directorial choices there. Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan — their falling in love with each other, the kiss that is in that movie in the elevator, and then the violence that proceeds right after that. And it’s one of the most amazing movie kisses ever because you kind of sense that this thing is coming right afterwards, and it’s so, so brutal. There are so many elements of that movie that I think are really, really well done. Great movie.

Blade Runner goes down as one of my favorite movies and I have to watch it every opportunity that I get to watch it; and it seems to me that every single time I watch it, I discover something that I never knew was there. I mean, the fact that that movie was close to 30 years ago, it’s absolutely astounding. I actually watched it recently again and — you look at it now and it’s just — the set design and the way that thing is shot, it feels… it’s absolutely amazing. You can’t say that of some movies. Like, if you go back and watch Alien — the first Alien — it looks dated now. It really does, because of how much technology is moving forward and the kinds of things that are being done onscreen because of CGI. But if you go back and watch Blade Runner, it’s incredible how well it’s held up over time. It’s amazing.

And then for something light and fluffy I would have to say Trading Places (laughing). Hilarious. Light, and fun, and hilarious, and a lot of laughs. I had to throw one comedy in there. I remember the first time I saw it — I don’t remember exactly where I was; I was young — I think the first time I saw Trading Places I was 15 years old, 16 years old, something like that. Eddie Murphy was just in his comedic prime; I think he came off Saturday Night Live not long before that. It’s absolutely a great premise and really funny, really enjoyable. I just loved it.