Jeremy Allen White’s four favourite movies: “It’s a comfort film for me”
After a decade of playing Lip Gallagher in the US offering of Shameless, Jeremy Allen White emerged with a bright future ahead of him. Sure, he’d lent himself to some forgettable films in the process, like the lambasted Movie 43, but he couldn’t finish that popular ten-year-long role and simply fade into Hollywood nothingness.
Luckily for White, a role came knocking that would be exactly what he needed to carry his career forward. He proved to be perfect for the part of a chef battling grief who returns home to take over a sandwich shop well below his skill level; The Bear earned significant acclaim, and if White wasn’t a star before, he was now.
It feels like the actor’s career as a film star is only really beginning following his TV fame, buoyed by his portrayal of Kerry Von Erich in the acclaimed 2023 film The Iron Claw. With this, he has found himself leading the latest music biopic – that divisive genre that usually stinks of Oscar bait – playing the man himself in Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere. Is his role Oscar bait? Perhaps a little, especially coming so soon after the Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, but White is clearly dedicated to his role, and that’s something.
White really loves cinema and the power it has to unite us and to tell stories that wouldn’t otherwise be told – that’s why he’s in the business. Thus, when he revealed his four favourite movies to Letterboxd, his answers came with vivid descriptions of his appreciation for each, starting with Goodfellas, the Martin Scorsese gangster classic.
Explaining, “It’s become a comfort film for me. I really like the flow of that film. It’s the editing, it’s the music, it’s the journey. It’s so smooth. The cinematography is so beautiful. Excellent performances. A perfect movie for me. I can watch it at Christmas time. It feels like a Christmas movie to me somehow. I can watch it in the summer. If I don’t know what to watch, I’ll put it on.”
Regularly regarded as one of Scorsese’s best, if not one of the greatest movies ever made, Goodfellas is one of those films that most people love, but for good reason. With its studied depiction of some unforgettable mobsters, the film features some incredible performances across the board that have inspired actors since its release in 1990.
White also loves The Princess Bride, Rob Reiner’s beloved family-friendly tale of the fight for love, full of magic and charm that has endeared many, like The Bear star himself, since he was young. Describing it as a movie he used to watch over and over as a kid, he added, “It’s funny, it’s exciting, there’s fantasy, romance. My sense of love and what love is was set up in that film, that pursuit and unwavering love.”
Speaking of family-friendly films, White gushed about watching another favourite, Singin’ in the Rain, with his two daughters on New Year’s Eve, with the ‘Make ‘Em Laugh’ sequence leaving his four-year-old laughing in a way he’d never seen before. “All of us were laughing. Generations, you know, were able to connect with the sequence in Singin’ in the Rain. So beautiful, it really is, every frame.”
It’s a classic for a reason – Singin’ in the Rain has all the ingredients to make a pretty flawless film, from astounding musical numbers to its joyous sense of appreciation for the medium of performance. I’m sure for many actors it reminds them of why they love being a part of Hollywood, with the film truly celebrating the art of singing, dancing, and acting.
Finally, The Great Beauty, a film that left White gasping for more as soon as he’d watched it, so much so, he actually watched it again 45 minutes after first seeing it. As soon as the screening was over, he went straight back to the box office to buy another ticket. Directed by Paolo Sorrentino, the movie won the Oscar for ‘Best Foreign Language Film’, and White will be the first to advocate for its brilliance.
“So beautiful, so funny at times. So grand, so strange. It made me think about my life differently, and that’s what film at the highest level, you know, can do for you,” the actor said.
Jeremy Allen White’s four favourite movies of all time:
- Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
- The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987)
- Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, 1952)
- The Great Beauty (Paolo Sorrentino, 2013)
