James Mangold, the director behind the new Tom Cruise movie Knight and Day, shared his favorite summer movie with the New York Times: Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Mangold, who admits to admiring cinema heroes Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, attended the first matinee for Raiders of the Lost Ark at the Mid-Valley Mall in Newburgh, New York when he was 17, noting that the film was put together by his “cinematic dream team.” For him, the movie “embodies all of the creative promise and universality of what a summer film can be with none of the cynical downsides.”
For the director, Raiders of the Lost Ark offers an entirely original story that “runs counter to almost all other Hollywood wisdom,” with “glowing old-school cinematography” and “breathtaking visual effects made by hand, not on a hard drive.” Throw in an unforgettable score by John Williams and stellar performances from the cast, and Mangold has what he calls, “a high bar, summer, winter or fall, a touchstone for filmmakers, and a great memory for me, 17, jaw dropped, in my seat at the Mid-Valley Mall.”
Check out the action that Mangold himself shot in the Knight and Day movie trailer:
