Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has always been vocal on social media about his favourite films and celebrating the work of his peers and quarantine is certainly no exception.
Last evening the Oscar-winning filmmaker started a Twitter thread asking people to share what they’ve been watching and reading, whilst also sharing his own recommendations. The thread quickly became a filmmaker group chat of sorts with the likes of directors such as Taika Waititi, Edgar Wright, Brad Bird, Ava DuVernay, Ari Aster, Rian Johnson, James Gunn and others joining in and trading recommendations. The result is the mother of all quarantine watch lists.
A selection of the filmmakers’ Tweets are listed below:
Ari Aster
The Hereditary and Midsommar filmmaker recommended HBO’s iconic crime drama The Sopranos as well as sharing his reading list including authors such as Walter Benjamin, Robert Walser and Jack Handey.
I've been rewatching Sopranos season 3, which is a supreme work of art. Also been rewatching the TV version of 'Scenes from a Marriage.' It's been a comfort to watch two morbidly disenchanted people decimate each other in the comfort and privacy of THEIR homes.
— Ari Aster (@AriAster) April 20, 2020
Ava DuVernay
The celebrated filmmaker shared her strange tastes in quarantine which includes a back-to-back binge of Notting Hill and Béla Tarr’s The Turin Horse.
And “Notting Hill.” I mean, need I say more? Caught it last night on insomnia-time cable. Delicious. “I just a girl, asking a boy…” Horse + Hound Magazine. His odd, great group of friends. Her smile where you can see every tooth. Bill Withers montage in the middle. I mean… pic.twitter.com/nrN18GbUKs
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) April 20, 2020
Darren Aronofsky
The Mother! director shared his watch list which includes Amelie and Rashamon as well as reading Henry David Thoreau and Pablo Neruda.
gdt nice to be talking. i’ve been catching up on a lot of classics. watched so far: barton fink, amelie, roshaman, total recall (original). reading: thoreau walden and pablo neruda. listening to: KMLN and schubert. been in quarantine for 40 days. https://t.co/sv2XtVsWbO
— darren aronofsky (@DarrenAronofsky) April 20, 2020
Edgar Wright
The mind behind the Cornetto trilogy has been watching multiple films a day working through his extensive BluRay collection of films from around the world which he shared a picture of.
Here’s a full stack of the recently watched physical media at least. There’s more including streaming. pic.twitter.com/K2XM04Nfxr
— edgarwright (@edgarwright) April 20, 2020
James Gunn
The Guardians Of The Galaxy director has been busy engaging with all kinds of art, sharing book, music and streaming recos including Amazon Prime Video series Patriot.
I'm reading @Gladwell's What the Dog Saw. I'm watching @StevConrad's absolutely wonderful tv show Patriot on Amazon. I'm listening to @jessiereyez new album. I've been inside for 6 weeks, except for taking someone to the emergency room a month ago, and going for safe walks. ❤️
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) April 20, 2020
Taika Waititi
Taika Waititi, on the other hand, says he’s been using this time to catch up on writing while sharing a list of the few things he has managed to catch in lockdown including Armando Iannuci’s The Death Of Stalin (to which Iannuci responded with talking about his love of Jojo Rabbit).
Last film we watched in the cinema as a family was the wonderful ‘JoJo Rabbit’ then the cultural shutters came down. Stay safe, Taika, and stay perky.
— Armando Iannucci (@Aiannucci) April 20, 2020
Brad Bird
The mind behind The Incredibles says he’s been busy watching old films as well as reading about the making of films he loves such as Chinatown and Casablanca
I’ve been watching old films, rediscovered the pleasure of reading books; some about the making of certain films I love (“Chinatown”, “Casablanca”) others about current things (“Catch & Kill”— which I really liked), etc. Right now I’m reading “The Wright Brothers”.
— Brad Bird (@BradBirdA113) April 20, 2020
Rian Johnson
oooh and also the other night we rewatched The Prestige, which I’ve seen a ton but gets better every time.
— Rian Johnson (@rianjohnson) April 20, 2020
