Five Favorite Films with Hitchcock Director Sacha Gervasi

Well I guess my first one has to be Withnail and I, the 1987 Bruce Robinson classic. You know, the plot is one that would get you laughed out of any Hollywood studio: Two unemployed actors go on a holiday, drinking, to one of their uncle's cottages for the weekend; but it's one of the most deeply rich, brilliant, tragicomic tales of male friendship. I actually remember seeing it when I was a kid, and walking out of the theater in London -- and by the way, it did not do well at the time it was released; it was a tiny little film -- but I remember thinking that I wanted to become a filmmaker after that.

The second one is that incredibly brilliant movie Betty Blue, which I love because it opens with that incredible lovemaking scene with Béatrice Dalle. There's just something so vivid and luscious about it. It's just so beautiful and sensual in every regard and I absolutely love the film. I saw it recently and it's just as brilliant. And the incredible soundtrack, you know. It's just as brilliant as when I first saw it. Withnail and I and Betty Blue were both in the same period; they were both seminal cinematic experiences for me.

The Sweet Smell of Success is, I think, one of the best -- certainly one of the greatest New York films, for me -- ever made. Alexander Mackendrick, great director. Unbelievable script. James Wong Howe, unbelievable camerawork. And Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster -- to see those two going at it, and really, you know, the tragedy of corruption and how it infiltrates every aspect of peoples' lives. There was something so deeply dark and cynical about it. But yeah, there's this sort of tiny little germ of hope at the end of the film, as Susan walks off with the musician boyfriend that Hunsecker has tried to destroy, and you just feel like, you know, absolute power corrupts but not totally. Still, it has a vicious sting to it, that film. It really affected me.

Obviously Chinatown. Seeing Nicholson with his destroyed nose [laughs], as Polanski is slitting his nose by the reservoir and calling him "pussy cat," and all that stuff; and him and Faye Dunaway, you know, it's just extraordinary. It's one of my favorite movies of all time. It's one of the greatest screenplays ever written. I'm a huge Robert Towne fan, and a Polanski fan. And it was great on this movie -- on Hitchcock -- to work with John Huston's son, Danny. He had some stories about his dad. [Laughs] That Noah Cross character [played by John Huston], I think is one of the darkest villains in cinematic history. Every little detail of that film, you know -- whether it's Gittes choosing the cheap bourbon at the beginning, rather than the expensive stuff; every single touch, I think, was masterful. It has such brilliance, and poise, and ultimately humanity to it. And again, it's a story of power, of big city power and corruption and how power and privilege can destroy people and families. That's a theme in Sweet Smell of Success as well.

The last one, for me, just in terms of comedy, is This is Spinal Tap. [Laughs] I mean, I love Spinal Tap. When I first saw it in 1984 I was the only person in the cinema at Swiss Cottage in London, and I didn't know whether it was real or if it wasn't. [Laughs] It was just so profoundly funny. I think it obviously inspired me personally, in a huge way. I would say that the movies that inspired Anvil! were a combination of Withnail and I and This is Spinal Tap. [Laughs]

That's why Anvil! is so good, you see.

[Laughs] It really was those two movies I saw early on. I just love the pomposity and ridiculousness of being an artist and trying with absolutely no-one caring. [Laughs] There's an inherent tragedy to it. It's the same thing in Withnail and I, you know -- the philosophical ridiculousness of it, of a thespian in crisis. No-one really cares. There's something so deeply hard about being an artist, because most of the time no-one gives a sh-t. But there's something very sort of tragic and uplifting and real about that. I think with Spinal Tap it also has the humor, you know -- how these guys, who have grown up, are still basically children. That was something that I also responded to in Anvil! But you know, Spinal Tap -- the original and best. There would have been no Anvil! without that film. The best part is having the two films play on double bills all over the world. [Laughs]

Did you ever meet those guys, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest?

Yeah, I did. I did, actually, and they were fantastic. They were very funny.

Now, did you know they were American actors when you first saw the movie? I didn't.

I didn't know it wasn't real, but eventually I figured it out.

A lot of people were fooled, 'cause they made records and toured after that film.

Oh absolutely! Their second album, I believe, was called Break Like the Wind [laughs], which I think sums it up. And they had a video for a song called "Bitch School," which I though was very funny.

They were genius.

They were genius. I just think it was ironic that I found the guys that were part of the reason that inspired movies like Spinal Tap -- they were guys like Anvil. It was very similar, the Anvil story, to Spinal Tap -- Anvil had songs like "Butterbutt Jerky" and "Whiteknuckle Shuffle." You could never make it up. I remember being on the road with Anvil, as a roadie, in 1982, before Spinal Tap came out; so I was living that life, you know, as a young kid on the road with a rock band. So when [Spinal Tap] came out, it was like my holiday job was up there on screen.

So it's no surprise that you thought Spinal Tap were real.

Exactly! I was the drum tech. I was the drum roadie for [Anvil's] Robb Reiner. [Laughs] And again, the crazy magical connection between Anvil with Rob Reiner, obviously being the name of the director of Spinal Tap. So it's like, it was just so meta. It was just very surreal. I'm still amazed to this day by that film.