Alison Brie’s five favourite movies of all time
The career breakthrough of Alison Brie arrived when she landed the role of Trudy Campbell in the beloved TV series Mad Men, starring Jon Hamm. Since then, Brie has also starred in the TV shows Community, BoJack Horseman, GLOW and films like Promising Young Woman. Back in 2015, Brie named her five favourite films of all time in a feature with Rotten Tomatoes.
Brie’s first pick is Mike Nichols’ 1988 romantic dramedy Working Girl, starring Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver and Melanie Griffith. She particularly admired “Melanie Griffith’s transformation” in the film that tells of a secretary who takes on her boss’ position when he breaks his leg. She said: “Her wardrobe and her makeup [are] amazing because it’s the ’80s. It’s unbelievably awful; you can’t even believe that people used to think that was okay to dress that way, or that other people found it attractive.”
Sigourney Weaver is something of a point of admiration for Brie, and she admits to having something of a “fetish” for the legendary actor. So it makes sense that her second pick is another Weaver film, Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror classic, Alien. Brie loved the special effects in the film in particular. “For the time when it was made, the effects, I think, hold up completely,” she said. “You know, the scene with the alien popping out of the guy’s chest. It’s gripping.“
Up next for Brie’s favourite films is the 1987 picture Broadcast News, in which Holly Hunter played a talented news producer who has frequent emotional breakdowns. Discussing her love for James L. Brooks’ film, Brie said, “I’m a big Holly Hunter fan. I just think it’s a great movie; it’s funny, it’s sad, it’s interesting. It’s got that archetype of the ambitious newswoman, you know? I like that she’s behind the scenes. It’s a character that I’ve never played in a movie.”
Evidently, romantic comedy is a genre close to Brie’s heart, as three of five of her favourite films can be categorised as such. However, the next one, The American President, took Brie a while to realise that it was a rom-com at all. She said, “But I realised it took me a second to realize that The American President is a romantic comedy, because it has a political angle, and it’s got that [Aaron] Sorkin dialogue.”
One film that is certainly not a rom-com, though, is Brie’s final pick, Jonathan Demme’s 1991 classic The Silence of the Lambs. While Brie does indeed love rom-com, she also loves “dark movies and thrillers.”. Discussing the Thomas Harris film adaptation starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, Brie said, “Obviously, great characters in that movie. The shots last for like a million years. Anthony Hopkins never blinks. Jodie Foster’s character is obviously strong.”
She added, “At the same time, she’s so vulnerable. It’s her vulnerability that enables her to have this connection with this psychopath. It’s a brilliant performance, and I just love that movie. It’s so good.”
Alison Brie’s favourite movies:
- Working Girl (Mike Nichols, 1988)
- Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)
- Broadcast News (James L. Brooks, 1987)
- The American President (Rob Reiner, 1995)
- The Silence of The Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991)
