Eric Bana Fills Out His Physical Media Collection with a Visit to the Criterion Closet — Watch Here
Harrison Richlin
Eric Bana loves a good Steve McQueen movie (the actor and driver, not the director for those keeping track). During his visit to the Criterion Closet, the Australian actor — known for his performances in Steven Spielberg’s “Munich” and Ang Lee’s “Hulk” — started his selections by praising the work of Anthony Hopkins in Jonathan Demme’s “The Silence of the Lambs,” but quickly shifted gears toward one of McQueen’s first films, the 1958 version of “The Blob.”
“I grew up in a time where these movies weren’t readily accessible, so you’d have to wait for them to come on television,” said Bana. “And if it was a Saturday and ‘The Blob’ came on, it was like, ‘Game on, we are sitting through ‘The Blob.” I’ve probably seen this film 10 times over the course of my life.”
He added, “This is one of Steve McQueen’s early films, but…one of the most ridiculous films of all time. Also like slightly scary, I think, when you’re a young kid. This notion that a blob could appear and just…take over everything. ‘Incredibly unique’ is how I’d describe ‘The Blob.’ If you haven’t blobbed before, you gotta blob.”
Moving into ’70s cinema, Bana went on to highlight Terrence Malick’s first feature film, “Badlands,” starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek, which he called “one of the great road movies of all time.”
“One of the things that I most love about ‘Badlands’ is I think it may be one of the best car chases in cinema ever,” Bana said. “And the reason I say that is I’m a car guy. I’ve raced, cars and bikes are my life, but what Terrence Malick does in this car chase is he doesn’t overpower it with stunt driving and vehicles that are obviously built to do it. It looks like these cars are about to break every second and the cars are driven like there are normal people driving a car in a car chase.”
Continuing his appreciation for metal and speed, Bana took home John Sturges’ WWII prison break drama “The Great Escape,” another film featuring McQueen. It famously features a scene involving McQueen attempting to escape Nazi soldiers on the back of a motorcycle that Bana holds in high regard.
“You know, you can do all your crazy modern-day stuff,” he said, “but sometimes just a good old visceral man without a helmet, bit of grass, bit of razor wire, it works.”
Watch Bana’s full Criterion Closet video below.
