Bad labels and obscurity can often hurt good movies.
That’s why the UCLA Film and Television Archive uses
“The Film That Inspired Me” series to help big-name
artists catapult little-known, underrated films into the limelight
they deserve.
On Jan. 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the James Bridges Theater,
actor-writer-comedian Lily Tomlin will do just that when she
screens the source of her inspiration, a 1954 B movie titled
“Wicked Woman.” Following the screening,
director-writer-actor Curtis Hanson (“8 Mile,”
“Wonderboys,” “L.A. Confidential”) will
moderate a discussion between the audience and Tomlin, which
“begins with the movie that we watched, but then naturally
evolves into what they do,” he explained.
Hanson, who has been in charge of the series since 1999,
moderates the discussion with the interests of the audience at
heart.
“I’m not asking (artists) I know or friends to do
this,” he said. Instead, he focuses on inviting artists whose
work he admires. This way, he is on the same page as everyone
else.
“I think about it as though I was a member of the
audience,” he said. “I do my best to draw them out in
ways that would interest me, assuming and hoping that it will also
interest the audience.”
As a long-time fan of Tomlin, Hanson takes sincere interest in
her film choice.
“I’m anxious to ask her why, and I’m anxious
to watch the movie,” said Hanson. “You know
that’s part of the fun, too, … that the artist is in the
theater and you’re watching that movie knowing that they
picked it, and in a sense seeing it through their eyes.”
One of the major ideas behind this series is to expose young
movie fans and filmmakers to movies they otherwise would never see.
While classics are always fun to watch, the more obscure, the
better.
“The audience rises to the movie because they watch it
knowing someone brilliant like Tomlin connected with this movie in
some way,” Hanson said.
Unusual, obscure selections generate curiosity.
“The “˜why’ is often the most interesting part
because the picks are very often surprising,” he said.
“Like when Diane Keaton picked “˜Stagecoach’ (a
Western), or when Alexander Payne picked “˜Breaking
Point.’ These are not the kind of movies you would normally
associate with these people, and so it gets it off to a very
stimulating start.”
Payne (“Sideways”) screened the film that inspired
him, “The Breaking Point,” as the second chapter in
this year’s series. His prominence brought aspiring
filmmakers to the screening last Saturday, among them college
students.
“Sometimes young people are not that well-versed in what
one would call “˜old movies,’ and here they sit down and
they watch this picture that was made over 50 years ago in black
and white, and they hear (Payne) talk about why that movie’s
so important to him, and they hear not only why it was important to
him at one point in his life but why it still is, and that’s
what education is about,” Hanson said.
Often programmers at the Archive must go to great lengths to
obtain the best print available of these films.
“Most people thought (“˜The Breaking Point’)
was a lost movie, and the print we showed is the only 35-mm print
known to exist,” Hanson marveled.
Because the screenings must be scheduled around Hanson’s
busy schedule and the programming of the UCLA Archive, the annual
schedule is a bit irregular. But Hanson’s heart is in this
project and intends to keep it going. This year’s guests
included “dean of special effects” Ray Harryhausen
(“Clash of the Titans”), writer-director Payne, and
finally Tomlin (“Saturday Night Live,” “The
Search for Signs of Inteligent Life in the Universe”).
Screenings for “King Kong” (1933),
Harryhausen’s selection and Payne’s pick, sold out.
“It’s fun. It’s always good to be reminded of
the power that movies have,” Hanson said. “I enjoy
inviting people to make that pick and then explore their reasons
why. And I like that it’s not about me.”