The Film That Changed My Life 30 Directors on Their Epiphanies in the Dark

The movie that inspired filmmakers to direct is like the atomic bomb that went off before their eyes.The Film That Changed My Lifecaptures that epiphany. It explores 30 directors' love of a film they saw at a particularly formative moment, how it influenced their own works, and how it made them think differently. Rebel Without a Causeinspired John Woo to comb his hair and talk like James Dean. For Richard Linklater, "something was simmering in me, butRaging Bullbrought it to a boil."Apocalypse Nowinspired Danny Boyle to make larger-than-life films. A single line fromThe Wizard of Oz--"Who could ever have thought a good little girl like you could destroy all my beautiful wickedness?"--had a direct impact on John Waters. "That line inspired my life," Waters says. "I sometimes say it to myself before I go to sleep, like a prayer." In this volume, directors as diverse as John Woo, Peter Bogdanovich, Michel Gondry, and Kevin Smith examine classic movies that inspired them to tell stories. Here are 30 inspired and inspiring discussions of classic films that shaped the careers of today's directors and, in turn, cinema history.

Robert K. Elder’s work has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Salon.com, and elsewhere. His books include John Woo: Interviews and Last Words of the Executed.