A collection of Mac Miller’s favourite movies
The loss of Mac Miller has to be one of the biggest tragedies of recent years. From his earliest breakout mixtapes like K.I.D.S and Best Day Ever, it was clear that he was on a whole new level. The young rapper was taking the form and moving it in different directions, mixing in strains of indie, pop and cinematic sounds, especially on 2016’s The Divine Feminine.
So much of that has to come down to Miller’s own expansive taste in the big wide world of culture. His musical tastes ranged from Bob Dylan to Prince, OutKast to Portishead, covering the bases of just about every genre going. He loved The Beatles too, claiming that asking someone how they got into the band was like “asking, ‘How did you get into Jesus?’”
Miller shared a love for cinema as well, turning the album cover for K.I.D.S into his own film poster and taking the title from the 1995 coming-of-age cult classic. There has also been a lot of talk about Miller’s cinematic tastes recently after Ariana Grande titled her latest album Eternal Sunshine, after her late boyfriend’s favourite film, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. “Whenever I’m talking to a girl, I always tell them to watch Eternal Sunshine. It cuts deep,” Miller said of the film, making sense of Grande’s involvement with it.
Two key directors stand out as firm favourites of the rapper. He’s not immune to the genius of Quentin Tarantino, including two of his films in a list of his 15 favourite films. The blood-thirsty Kill Bill is in there, with Miller stating, “Both movies are just badass. Tarantino’s soundtracks are always so dope,” highlighting the musical links.
Pulp Fiction is also at the top. As the favourite movie of millions, it’s a classic piece of pop culture, but Miller loved it for a specific reason; “Samuel L. Jackson’s hair makes this movie. The scene where he yells at the dude: ‘Is Marcellus Wallace a bitch?’ I love that.”
Another director who appears several times is Wes Anderson. Do a little digging online, and there is a sweet photo of Miller and Grande dressed up as Suzy and Sam from Moonrise Kingdom, which he picks out as a favourite film. “I’ve already seen this movie a million times; it’s my favourite movie to come out in 2012. It was huge inspiration for the upcoming album for the state of mind it put me in,” he said. He used a sample from the movie’s soundtrack on his track ‘The Star Room’, sitting on the album Watching Movies With The Sound Off, as further proof that Miller was a cinephile.
His second Anderson pick is a sadder option, picking out The Royal Tennenbaums. For him, this film was quintessential of the director’s style. “Wes Anderson is one of my favorite directors. I love how he shoots everything, I love how he always has a returning cast,” he told Complex magazine.
The other films in his top list range from lighthearted flicks like Pixar’s Up, through to action movies like Gladiator or cult classics like American Beauty.
Throughout his all too short career, Miller regularly referenced or even sampled films. He even went so far as to work on some films, tying links between music and moving images on projects like Hi, How Are You Daniel Johnston? a short documentary about the musician. No doubt if he’d had more time on earth, Miller’s cinematic visions would have only got better and better, but without him, at least we have a list of his favourite movies to watch and remember him by.
Mac Miller’s favourite films
- Click (2006)
- Snatch (2000)
- Up (2009)
- Minority Report (2002)
- Dead Presidents (1995)
- American Beauty (1999)
- Paid In Full (2002)
- Kill Bill (2003)
- Pulp Fiction (1994)
- How High (2001)
- The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
- Gladiator (2000)
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
- Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)
- Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
