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Upon entering the Criterion Closet, “Finding Nemo” writer/director Andrew Stanton named it as “hallowed ground” and considering he joins an ever-widening array of talent to leave Criterion’s New York offices with a huge bag of goodies — from Ayo Edebiri to Mike Leigh — he’s not that far off. But for Stanton, his love for Criterion goes a lot deeper than its modern popularity.
“I have been a collector since the very beginning,” he said. “Matter of fact, I think Criterion started, similarly, a few years ahead of Pixar. So, when we were just a small group of nerds, we would just covet every new LaserDisc that came out. And here we are still.”
Celebrating the Criterion release of Peter Bogdanovich’s 1973 Depression-set comedy “Paper Moon,” Stanton broke down how well the film unfolds its narrative.
“Probably one of the strongest, most economical openings,” Stanton said. “In, I’d say 10 seconds, you are interested in character. In about 30 seconds, you are intrigued by the dilemma. And three minutes in, you’re rooting for the plot. And then ten minutes in, you are blindly allegiant to this relationship. I mean, I can’t think of a movie that does that more impactfully, more powerfully, more entertainingly.”
Taking Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” off the shelf, Stanton reflected on an experience he had as a student at CalArts around the same time the film was being made. Universal was refusing to release “Brazil,” so Gilliam took the film print hostage and drove it up to the school, where Stanton’s later Pixar collaborator Ralph Eggleston was a student projectionist.
“He told us that Terry Gilliam was coming up and he was going to show some film, and it just made such a difference,” said Stanton, “I mean, I was already a Monty Python fan, already a ‘Time Bandits’ fan, but this film has just… And I think you can see it in WALL•E, just the influence this had.”
After grabbing Bill Forsyth’s “Local Hero,” Stanton went on to select a more recent release with Joachim Trier’s 2021 romantic dramedy “The Worst Person in the World.” His reasoning behind the choice was for its thematic similarities with his favorite film, “Lawrence of Arabia,” as well as just being a great watch in its own right.
“The theme of it is, ‘Who am I?’ And it’s really the closest that you get to a novel, where it’s the internal desire to figure yourself out. So, you’re– all your choices as a protagonist are seemingly reactive to things happening to you, but what you’re invested in as an audience member is, ‘What will that person choose to do based on just trying to find their identity as they encounter these choices and obstacles?’ And this is very similar in that respect,” said Stanton of how the two films relate. “And I just found this the most amazing internal journey of somebody just trying to figure out their place in the world.”
Watch Stanton’s full Criterion Closet visit below.
English (US) ·