Liev Schreiber’s five favourite movies of all time: “Always been huge to me”
Between Wes Anderson comedies, several cult classics, a long-running television drama, and a Tony Award-winning performance in Glengarry Glen Ross, Liev Schreiber is a versatile actor who has dabbled in nearly every genre, so it makes sense that he’d count an eclectic group of comedy and science fiction films among his all-time favourites.
It’s hard to say that an actor who has worked as long as him is underrated, but there are not many other stars who can claim to have worked on such a wide array of projects and still not be as well-recognised, and Although Schreiber is perhaps most famous for his gritty role as the titular fixer in the Showtime drama series Ray Donovan, he’s also a lot funnier than he’s given credit for.
It was during his breakout years in the late 1990s that his performances in the cult comedies Party Girl and The Daytrippers proved he had a very intellectual sense of humour, and this love of high-minded satire, according to his interview with Rotten Tomatoes, stems from his appreciation of Peter Sellers and his performance in Being There.
“I think Peter Sellers’ performance in that just really knocked me out, what you can do with character,” Schreiber said, “I think Hal Ashby just embraced that naturalistic and really deep performance and took it to the next level, so it became this almost remarkable piece of surrealist social commentary.”
The “naturalism” that the actor referred to is clearly important to him, which is why he cited the underseen French drama The Promise as another one of his picks. While it isn’t the most famous film by the iconic director brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Schreiber said that it was “a lesson in minimalism” that showed “just how simply you could tell a powerful and substantive story”.
Listing a more obscure arthouse title could lead some people to assume that he is being pretentious, but one of his other favourites is perhaps the most famous film of all time, and although his mother didn’t allow him to watch mainstream films until he was nearly a teenager, Schreiber said that his life was changed when he finally was able to see Star Wars.
“It just blew my mind,” he said, “It was the first colour film I saw, and it just knocked me out. I don’t think I ever forgave my mother after I saw that film. But also just the kind of iconoclastic myth retelling that combined with science fiction, which has always been huge to me.”
Star Wars didn’t just introduce a generation of young moviegoers to the magic of cinema, but kicked off a new wave of innovative sci-fi films that took more risky approaches; however, despite being a massive fan, Schreiber said that he doesn’t “think anyone’s ever done sci-fi better than Blade Runner”.
According to him, Blade Runner is “the ultimate, deep, immersive fantasy picture,” but it’s not the only futuristic neo-noir thriller he admires, as he also loves Brazil, a groundbreaking sci-fi epic that continues to spawn different interpretations to this day. Schreiber declared that “Terry Gilliam’s imagination is just unrivalled”, because of how Brazil was “pushing the boundaries of what’s possible on film”.
If the intellectual way that the actor describes his favourite films doesn’t indicate his genius, then his choice of roles should; in recent years, Schreiber has co-starred in such acclaimed hits as Asteroid City, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and Caught Stealing, showing that he clearly knows what great filmmaking looks like, which is why his career continues to feel so exciting.
Liev Schreiber’s five favourite movies:
- Being There (Hal Ashby, 1979)
- The Promise (Dardenne brothers, 1996)
- Star Wars (George Lucas, 1987–present)
- Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
- Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985)
