Rebecca Ferguson names her four favourite movies
Throughout the 2010s and into the 2020s, Rebecca Ferguson has proven herself to be one of Sweden’s greatest contemporary actors. She has consistently delivered magnetic performances of nuance, versatility and emotive charm that have drawn huge audiences and widespread acclaim.
Her breakthrough came in 2013’s The White Queen and her portrayal of Elizabeth Woodville, and it wasn’t long before he adopted her MI6 agent character, Ilsa Faust, in a series of Mission: Impossible films. Since then, Ferguson has offered her talents to another massive franchise in the shape of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune.
The Swedish actor was once offered the difficulty of naming her four favourite films in the beloved feature with Letterboxd when on the red carpet for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. After deliberating on her choices, Ferguson proceeded to whittle down her all-time favourites.
She began with Sidney Lumet’s remarkable 1957 courtroom drama 12 Angry Men, starring Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, E.G. Marshall and Jack Warden. It tells of the titular group of men who comprise a jury that must decide on whether to convict or acquit a teenager charged with murder, with the deliberation forcing many of the men to interrogate their own moral biases.
Next for Ferguson was Carol Reed’s 1949 film noir The Third Man, starring Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Orson Welles and Trevor Howard, written by Graham Greene. It focuses on an American western fiction author who arrives in post-war Vienna for a job with his friend only to discover they have died, leading to a personal investigation.
The serious tone of Ferguson’s picks then dissipated with the iconic 2001 Pixar animated comedy film Monsters, Inc., featuring the voice work of John Goodman, Billy Crystal and Steve Buscemi. A truly legendary work of animation, it centres on two monster friends who work at an energy-producing factory that generates power by scaring children. When a young girl, whom the monsters themselves fear, arrives at the factory, the pair must help her find her way back home.
Ferguson rounded off her list after deliberating with The Usual Suspects, with David Fincher’s 1999 psychological drama thriller Fight Club. Based on the Chuck Palahniuk novel of the same name and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter, it follows an unnamed narrator who starts a “fight club” with a strange soap salesman suspected of being his alter-ego after becoming disillusioned with his white collar job.
Rebecca Ferguson’s favourite movies:
- 12 Angry Men (Sidney Lumet, 1957)
- The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
- Monsters, Inc. (Pete Docter, 2001)
- Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999)
