The_Film_That_Changed_My_Life

Raising Arizona
209
started to learn what it meant to direct a movie, and then I dug back into
Blood Simple and started following them to learn how to anticipate what it
is they would do in the future.
And just ballpark here, how many times do you think you’ve seen it?
Duplass: I’m going to try to be really honest. I have a tendency towards
hyperbole here. So I’m going to check myself. I probably have seen the film
between thirty and forty times.
How do you think your life or your work might have been different if
you hadn’t seen the film?
Duplass: I probably wouldn’t be making movies—seriously. It held over for
so long. It really was the root of everything that Mark and I always hold ourselves
to in making movies. That is to say that Raising Arizona is the most
inspired movie that I have ever seen.
Inspiring or inspired?
Duplass: Inspired and inspiring, but mostly inspired. It’s an inspired piece
of art. I don’t know how to quantify that or how to even talk about it, but I
know that when they made this piece of art there was so much love, all pistons
firing. Because they were creating things in ways that hadn’t been done
before, and they had to ignore the fears about why it may or may not hold
up. Beyond that, the performances are inspired; it’s hard to describe this
electric thing that happens. I know it’s probably cheesy for a lot of people to
talk about or hear about, but—that really is the key element of that film. It’s
just an immensely inspired piece of art.