Doug Liman’s five favourite movies: “That makes me sound like a film snob”
When looking at Doug Liman’s body of work, his true influences might be hard to discern, given that each film is generally action-packed and full of chaos.
You could safely assume that the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie had an impact on his voice, with cult classic pictures like Go and Swingers that hinge around the raucous escalation of various misfortunes, sprawling storylines and endearing die-hard friendships.
However, when discussing his all-time favourites, the director revealed his love for a surprising selection of films that don’t compare to his own filmography in the slightest. Some directors try to mimic their favourite films, while others seem to understand that while you might love a certain style, you should still stay true to your own voice.
Liman first described his love for the Howard Hawks picture, Bringing Up Baby, the ultimate screwball comedy that features all your classic rom-com tropes – enemies to lovers, easily resolved miscommunications and of course, leopards. Following a scatty woman and type-A man, played by Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, the film follows the pair after being thrown together and finding themselves in the strange situation of having to capture a lost leopard.
It’s one of the most perfect and genuinely hilarious films of the decade, with a visceral chemistry between the lead duo and a wonderfully bizarre storyline that adds new twists and turns to an often predictable genre.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was next on Liman’s list, with the director saying, “That makes me sound like a film snob of some sort, because I’m just talking about black-and-white movies. I love those movies, but Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is just brilliant”.
Starring the great Sidney Poitier, it follows a white couple who find their beliefs being challenged after their daughter introduces them to her new fiancée, who is Black. Directed in 1967 by Stanley Kramer, it was pretty ahead of its time in the way it challenges attitudes of the time and tackles racism, despite now being somewhat dated in its approach. Katharine Hepburn is also brilliant in it, revealing the actor to be a firm favourite of Liman’s.
It’s perhaps less surprising that Liman is a huge Hitchcock fan, with many directors looking up the proclaimed master of suspense. The Go director described his love for North by Northwest, saying, “North by Northwest was a big influence for The Bourne Identity. I’m really drawn to adventure, and characters being plucked from normal life and sent on extraordinary adventures”. It was the influence behind many great spy movies, with it supposedly being the inspiration behind James Bond and many of Christopher Nolan’s pictures.
Next, Liman described his love for a classic superhero movie, with the 1978 Superman film flying to the top of his list. With the likes of Gene Hackman, Marlon Brando and Christopher Reeves in the cast, it’s a hard version of the film to beat, with James Gunn perhaps giving Richard Donner a run for his money after his latest interpretation of the classic story.
And lastly, Take The Money and Run was the final picture included on Liman’s personal list, the 1969 picture from Woody Allen that follows a man called Virgil Starkwell who is intent on becoming a bank robber, but doesn’t quite have the skills to make this happen.
The director described the nostalgia he associates with this film, saying, “The reality is, the movies that were most impactful to me growing up, when I decided I wanted to make movies, I was going to see Woody Allen double features with my brother, back when they had double features. Younger audiences today, they don’t even know what that word means. But they would show two Woody Allen movies back to back. Bananas. Take the Money and Run, that era of Woody Allen”.
