Logan Lerman’s four favourite movies: “Everyone should watch”
For Logan Lerman’s latest role in Sophie Brooks’ dark comedy, Oh, Hi!, the Perks of Being a Wallflower star straps in as Isaac, one half of a fresh new couple who head upstate for a romantic weekend vacation.
At least that’s what his other half, Iris, played by Molly Gordon, most recently seen in the fourth season of The Bear, thinks. When she realises Isaac isn’t as committed to the relationship as she is, she takes him hostage, resulting in a pretty messy fallout.
The actor, who recently took to the red carpet for the film’s premiere, revealed his four favourites for Letterboxd alongside his co-stars Molly Gordon, Geraldine Viswanathan, and John Reynolds, traversing over four decades of movies and disparate genres.
First up was Richard Linklater’s 2003 comedy classic School of Rock, which Lerman described as “the most watchable movie ever”. Starring Jack Black as Dewey Finn, an iconic amateur rock enthusiast who takes a role as a substitute teacher despite bearing zero qualifications and starts training students to form a band, it’s charming and hilarious and was an instant classic. Funnily enough, School of Rock was actually written by White Lotus creator Mike White, who also plays Finn’s best friend, Ned, in the film.
Lerman’s second choice employs dark comedy to explore the life of a struggling creative in A Different Man. Directed by Aaron Schimberg, A Different Man tells the story of Edward, an aspiring actor with neurofibromatosis played by Sebastian Stan, who undergoes a radical medical procedure to transform his appearance.
But Edward’s dreams of gaining more acting jobs fall apart when he meets the confident and quirky Oswald, who’s not only a successful actor but also a socially high-functioning and well-liked individual, despite also having neurofibromatosis. This results in the former becoming obsessed with regaining the past he’s tried to leave behind.
A Different Man explores the aesthetics of beauty through an off-kilter, quasi-body horror lens while remaining real, honest, and sincere throughout. Watching Adam Pearson and Sebastian Stan’s chemistry offscreen makes the breakdown of their friendship onscreen even more fun; as Lerman attests, “If you haven’t seen it, you should watch that; it’s a fantastic movie.”
The actor’s third favourite is Network, another fall-from-grace character study which remains an American classic over 40 years since its release in 1976. Conjuring the spirit of American evangelist Billy Graham and Donald Trump, Peter Finch stars as Howard Beale, an ageing news anchor for a struggling TV network who breaks character to speak his mind on live television.
Beale’s delirious rants prove to be a surprise hit, inspiring a series of dark and chaotic events. A commentary on American discontent and evangelism as well as the pitfalls of capitalism and media conglomerates, Sidney Lumet and Paddy Chayefsky’s dark satire won Peter Finch a posthumous Oscar and remains highly relevant to the state of American politics today.
Lerman took a lighter turn for his fourth favourite, Life Is Sweet, Mike Leigh’s heartwarming comedy about a North London family set against the backdrop of Thatcher’s Britain. Starring Alison Steadman and Jim Broadbent as mum and dad Andy and Wendy, Life is Sweet really is as sweet as its film suggests, exploring all the mundane, charming and difficult aspects of British life, with Lerman proclaiming that “everyone should watch that film”.
Logan Lerman’s four favourite movies
- School of Rock (Richard Linklater, 2003)
- A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg, 2024)
- Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976)
- Life Is Sweet (Mike Leigh, 1990)
