Survivor host Jeff Probst just revealed his four favorite movies in a red carpet interview with Letterboxd. And, no, Cast Away is not one of them.
In the clip, which Letterboxd shared on its social media channels, including Instagram, Jeff shared that his four favorite movies are: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Boogie Nights, Almost Famous, and Do the Right Thing.
Jeff explained his thinking in the interview.
"Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood by Tarantino, Boogie Nights by Paul Thomas Anderson, and Almost Famous by Cameron Crowe, because all three of those filmmakers take you in these giant, sprawling worlds," Jeff said. "Whether it's music, or the porn industry, or Hollywood, but then inside, there are these tiny, personal stories, and I love that kind of storytelling where you feel like you're immersed inside a world, but it's super specific."
"And then my fourth one, it wouldn't be a list if you do not have Do the Right Thing on it. One of the all-time great movies."
I have to say, I agree with three of Jeff's choices, but one of the picks is a bit puzzling to me. Do the Right Thing by Spike Lee is an absolutely iconic movie. I have no probelms with Boogie Nights and Almost Famous. Those are incredible movies. While not my favorites, I totally understand why those would be on the list!
It's the first one I don't quite understand, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino. I don't think that's even in Tarantino's top three. There are at least three Tarantino movies better than that movie, I'm sure of it. I respect Jeff's opinion, and I agree that it's a good movie. I do understand his reasoning, but it's an obscure choice when we're talking about all-time favorites!
Telling stories is a huge part of Jeff's life. You don't get to his level of fame, status, and sucess running Survivor for more than two decades without being a good storyteller and understanding what makes a good story. It's also one of the reasons that his favorite movies are not all that surprising.
Survivor is a big sprawling game, but within that game, there are so many smaller, more personal stories that need to be told and make the game everything that it actually is.
If you haven't seen the movies Jeff mentioned, well, you have some homework to do. They are all great movies, and I think that you'll have a different appreciation of Probst, the Cinephile, if you watch those movies.
We have one episode of Survivor 48, the season finale on May 21, left before a huge break between seasons. Unless you're rewatching all 48 seasons of Survivor before the premiere of Survivor 49 in the fall and Survivor 50 in the spring, you should have more than enough time to watch some of Jeff's favorite movies.