Director Edgar Wright’s Reveals His Favourite Movies To Watch

Who is Edgar Wright? Edgar Wright is a British film director, screenwriter, and producer known for his work on several critically acclaimed and popular films. He was born on April 18, 1974, in Poole, Dorset, England.

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Wright first gained recognition for directing the British sitcom “Spaced” in the late 1990s, which he also co-wrote with Simon Pegg. He then went on to direct the feature films “Shaun of the Dead” (2004), “Hot Fuzz” (2007), “The World’s End” (2013), and “Baby Driver” (2017). His films are often characterized by their fast-paced editing, visual humor, and pop culture references.

Wright has received numerous awards and nominations for his work, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Director for “Baby Driver”. He is also a frequent collaborator with actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, who have appeared in several of his films.

Wright’s 2022 Sight & Sound ballot contained a mix of lauded classics and cult films, which reflect his passion for all things cinematic.

Edgar Wright is the ultimate pop culture omnivore. The British director is one of the most outspoken movie and music fans of his generation, taking every opportunity to hype up his favorite artists in interviews and reference them in his films. He seldom discriminates by genre, expressing equal admiration for highbrow art films and mainstream blockbusters.

That passion for all things entertaining is reflected in Wright’s eclectic filmography, which has seen him pivot from zombie comedies to video game-influenced breakup revenge sagas to car chase musicals without ever missing a beat. That isn’t to say that he doesn’t have a signature style, as his films all feature his famously playful camerawork and trademark sense of humor. But rather than limit himself to one genre — or even a few genres, for that matter — Wright is seemingly determined to apply his filmmaking sensibilities to any and every cinematic niche he finds remotely interesting.

The sheer scope of Wright’s movie knowledge can be overwhelming: the guy once had the guts to list his top 1,000 movies without a hint of irony. No matter how young you are, it is almost certainly too late to work your way through every movie that Wright has ever enjoyed.

That’s where Sight & Sound comes in. The magazine’s once-a-decade Best Films of All Time poll limits its contributors to selecting their ten favorite films (unless you’re Martin Scorsese, whose status as the godfather of cinephilia ensures that nobody questions when he submits 20). If you’re looking to dive into Wright’s favorite movies, the ones that made his Sight & Sound ballot are the perfect place to start.

Wright has made it very clear that he can discuss obscure cultural oddities with the best of them, but his Sight & Sound list largely sticks to classics that are indisputably great. Don’t be fooled into thinking he phoned in his picks though. Wright’s comments on his ballot reflect the deep appreciation for the filmmakers who came before him. Taken together, Wright’s ten favorite films reflect the “crowd pleasing genre fare executed at the highest possible level” ethos that has defined his entire career.

Keep reading to see the 10 films that made Wright’s Sight & Sound ballot, and everything he wrote about each of them.

“Singin’ In the Rain”

>Edgar Wright’s love of movies might be matched only by his love of music. The director is famous for his impeccable knack for needle drops, so it’s hardly surprising that he adores one of Hollywood’s most famous musicals.

In his Sight & Sound comments, Wright described Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen’s “Singin’ In the Rain” as: “Undeniably magical cinema, leaving every single audience member who watches it delighted and transported. It’s fascinating that what is ostensibly both a satire of the tricky transitional period from silent films to talkies, and a celebration of the back catalogue of songs from that era, becomes perhaps the most famous Hollywood film of them all.”

“The Earrings of Madame De…”

Max Ophüls’ landmark French romance was a staple on many top directors’ Sight & Sound lists, and Wright was no exception.

“To only be dazzled by Max Ophüls’ exquisite Fabergé eggs of the screen is to deny not just their sincere emotional power but countless other facets as well,” he wrote. “‘Madame De…’ is a film about love, loss and wild chance that is, all at once, romantic, playful, tragic, strikingly self-reflexive and (yes) about as ornate and breathtakingly elaborate as cinema gets.”

“Mad Max: Fury Road”

Wright has made some of the most visually dazzling, impeccably edited action movies of his generation. So of course, his Sight & Sound ballot had to include what many view as the most visually dazzling, impeccably edited action movie of his generation: “Mad Max: Fury Road.”

“We are in an era where most films released by major studios are so homogenised in their tone and execution that the use of the word ‘content’ to describe them feels sadly apt,” Wright wrote of George Miller’s modern classic. “And then, racing out of the desert, comes a wildcard masterpiece that is so idiosyncratic it seems miraculous that it even exists. George Miller’s visual wonder of an action movie is both thrillingly modern and a glorious tribute to engines of pure cinema like The General and Stagecoach. We should all be grateful that this film was made at all.”

“Don’t Look Now”

Wright has been increasingly interested in horror filmmaking lately, directing “Last Night in Soho” and developing a remake of Stephen King’s “The Running Man.” On his Sight & Sound ballot, he singled out Nicolas Roeg’s “Don’t Look Now” as a horror movie that shaped him.

“A horror masterpiece that marries its theme of precognition to the beguiling wonders of associative editing,” he wrote. “Colours, shapes, patterns, action and sound all merge to create a beautifully nightmarish palindrome.

“Taxi Driver”

Like many of the great filmmakers of his time, Edgar Wright has a soft spot for Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver.”

“An existential trip into hell so vividly depicted that you are not only transfixed by the fates of the characters, but concerned for the wellbeing of everyone involved in the making of it,” Wright wrote on his 2022 Sight & Sound ballot. “The enduring enigma of Taxi Driver is how such a dark and ugly spiral is so electrifyingly compelling, pulling the mesmerised viewer willingly into a waking nightmare.”

“Psycho”

Edgar Wright can go toe-to-toe with just about anyone when it comes to obscure film knowledge. But sometimes, you just can’t beat the classics. Wright acknowledged as much when he added Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” to his Sight & Sound ballot.

“Perhaps the most influential and indelible film of them all, with its then-shocking subversions of the genre becoming well-worn tropes ever since,” he wrote. “Yet even sixty plus years later, it still has the power to hypnotize. And it’s not just the shower scene. ‘Psycho’ lures you into a lucid dream from the first bleakly beautiful monochromatic frame.”

“An American Werewolf in London”

While many of Wright’s Sight & Sound picks were undisputed classics, he picked a wild card when he added John Landis’ horror comedy “An American Werewolf in London” to his ballot. He acknowledged the controversial nature of his selection in his comments explaining the pick.

“I’m fully expecting to be the only person to pick this film for their top ten and that would make it a more subjective choice as ‘the greatest film of all time,’” Wright wrote. “However, this would be denying the idea that a perfect movie is sometimes the result of sheer alchemy. It’s not clear to me why a film that mixes comedy, horror, pathos, groundbreaking effects, vivid gore, terrific location work, inspired casting, Buñuel-inspired dream logic, moon related soundtrack choices and jokes about British TV would merit being the pinnacle of the art form, but I’ve never spent a more enjoyable 97 minutes at the cinema and that alone earns a place on my list.”

“Raising Arizona”

Due to changing box office trends and Hollywood’s increasing focus on television, cinematic comedies have not exactly been having a great run lately. Wright is one of the few directors who still manages to make relatively large comedic films, and he has plenty of respect for others who do the same.

He included the Coen Brothers’ “Raising Arizona” on his Sight & Sound ballot, writing that: “Making comedy is hard. When a film is very funny, the word ‘effortless’ is often used. But this denies the fact that any great comedy is a Herculean task that requires screenwriting, performance, direction, composition, astute editing and, frankly, every department of the crew to hit a bullseye on a moving target. That ‘Raising Arizona’ also features exceptional action raises that difficultly level to ‘insanely ambitious’. Let’s please describe this, and any classic comedy, as ‘supernaturally funny.’”

“The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”

Wright’s first feature as a director is the little-seen 1995 spaghetti western parody “Fistful of Fingers.” So it’s fitting that he used his Sight & Sound list to honor the genre he once lampooned.

“It’s appropriate that an Italian version of an American genre would give us filmmaking at its most operatic,” Wright wrote. “Sergio Leone’s marriage of visual storytelling with composer Ennio Morricone’s score becomes utterly divine in this film’s climax, elevating a scene of three men standing in a cemetery to transcendent art. It was one of the first movies I saw again once cinemas reopened during the pandemic and it left me reeling and levitating at the sheer beauty of cinema.”

“2001: A Space Odyssey”

Wright has spent his entire career making genre films that are as immaculately crafted as anything you can find at your local arthouse. So it feels very appropriate that he honored “2001” — one of the first genre films to be seen as high art — on his Sight & Sound ballot.

“In the last decade, Kubrick’s 1968 masterpiece has become the film I’ve seen the most times on the big screen,” Wright wrote. “The reason I keep coming back is that the further we travel away from it in time and space, the more impressive it becomes. It was groundbreaking in its day, but if anything it’s even more confounding now. When a docking spaceship is soundtracked by the Blue Danube, I’m in heaven. Will we ever see a major studio film like it again?”