The 10 unmissable movies Bill Hader couldn’t live without: “Completely changed my life”
These days, Bill Hader is one of Hollywood’s premier celebrity cinephiles. The former Saturday Night Live star and creator of the hit HBO series Barry is never afraid to share his film opinions during interviews or podcast appearances, and they encompass everything from the most mainstream blockbusters to indie curiosities to foreign films.
In truth, Hader’s continued love of cinema in all its forms is heartwarming and more unusual than you’d think. After all, many working actors have admitted over the years that they don’t watch nearly as many movies as they did before they broke into the business. Whether it’s because they know how the sausage is made, so to speak, or it’s a simple case of not having the time to watch as many movies, many of our favourite stars have seen far fewer films than their fans.
When it comes to his favourite movies of all time, Hader has ten unmissable ones that he reckons he couldn’t live without. These are the pictures that have stayed with him for his whole life, and include several classics he first saw as a child. It’s another story whether he should have been watching these flicks as a kid, though, because it seems apparent that 10-year-olds aren’t the ideal audience for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. Well, unless that 10-year-old is Hader, of course.
“I first saw this when I was in fifth grade at a sleepover, and it completely changed my life,” Hader told Time Out in 2015. While this raises all kinds of questions about what type of kid picks a harrowing depiction of a man’s mental state deteriorating thanks to the oppressive, decaying state of ’70s New York City to watch at a sleepover, it’s undeniably impressive that Hader was able to appreciate the film at such a young age. He believes “it’s the best directed and acted film of all time,” and adds, “If you want to learn how to act on film, all you have to do is watch Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver.”
Somewhat preposterously, this sleepover must have been a meeting of a future cinephile’s society, because Hader claimed he also saw A Clockwork Orange on that fateful evening. “A double mind-blower,” he gushed. Once again, should Hader have been watching Kubrick’s anarchic dystopian classic at that age? Probably not. But hey, it helped him bond with his father in an unexpectedly wholesome way. “My dad’s favourite movie,” Hader chuckled. “We used to listen to the soundtrack when he drove me to Little League games.”
Thankfully, Hader also watched more suitable movies when he was growing up, which is why Steven Spielberg’s Jaws is one of his ten unmissable movies – although it likely gave him a healthy distrust of the ocean. “I watch it every 4th of July,” he revealed. “It has everything you’d want in a movie. It’s what we’ll show the aliens when they land: ‘This is called a movie.'”
Despite only being born in 1978, Hader is devoted to several other classics from the ’70s, the decade that completely transformed American cinema. He loves Sidney Lumet’s Network (“My favourite satire, or future-predicting film, whichever you like”), Woody Allen’s Love and Death (“I love Diane Keaton in this movie so much. My first real movie crush.”), and Hal Ashby’s The Last Detail (“Jack Nicholson is unreal in this.”).
Rounding out Hader’s lifetime favourites list are Ikiru, an Akira Kurosawa classic, and Kes, the seminal Ken Loach coming-of-age drama from 1969. Hilariously, because that movie is set in working-class South Yorkshire, Hader suggests that his fellow Americans watch it with subtitles. “The Yorkshire accents are so thick,” he chuckled, “but it’s worth it. There’s a scene where a young boy explains to his class how he trains a kestrel, [and] that is one of the truly transcendent moments in film. It’s beautiful.”
Finally, two indies from the ’90s are very close to Hader’s heart. The first is Todd Haynes’ drama Safe, starring Julianne Moore as a suburban woman convinced that her environment makes her sick. Hader is endlessly inspired by Moore’s performance in the film, stating, “She’s a master. If there’s one actor whose career I’d love to have, it’s hers.” Then, fittingly for a man who made his name in comedy, Hader’s final pick is the Christopher Guest mockumentary Waiting for Guffman, which he watches every single year.
“Everyone in this movie is perfect,” Hader said. “Every performance is beyond inspired.”
Bill Hader’s 10 favourite movies:
- Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
- A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
- Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952)
- Waiting for Guffman (Christopher Guest, 1996)
- Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976)
- Safe (Todd Haynes, 1995)
- Love and Death (Woody Allen, 1975)
- Kes (Ken Loach, 1969)
- The Last Detail (Hal Ashby, 1973)
- Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
