Reinaldo Marcus Green had dreams of playing in the major leagues. "I wanted to be a professional baseball player. I still want to be a professional baseball player," says the director. "I was the closer on my college baseball team. I loved competing at the highest level. Directing is the closest thing to the art of being a big-league pitcher. I guess my dream actually came true."
The Bronx-born writer, director and producer made his feature debut with 2018's Monsters and Men, which won a Special Jury Award for Outstanding First Feature at Sundance. His 2021 biopic King Richard, about the father of Venus and Serena Williams, earned six Oscars nominations — including Best Picture — and won Will Smith the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role.
Green's latest is another biopic, Bob Marley: One Love, in which Kingsley Ben-Adir plays the legendary reggae singer. For the filmmaker, "They're simply great stories," he says.
"King Richard is an underdog story about a father and his family raising five girls from Compton, two of whom would eventually become arguably two of the greatest athletes to ever live. Bob Marley: One Love is about a homeless kid from the streets of Trench Town who rose to become one of the greatest musicians to ever live," Green explains. "Just remarkable stories."
Below, Green shares with A.frame his five favorite films. "Whether it's Goodfellas or Rain Man, these stories are based on real people, real lives. I'm drawn to stories of deep human connection and experience and subjects that bind us all — with One Love, it's Bob's message of love, unity and peace."
Directed and Written by: Spike Lee
My dad used to fall asleep with the TV on. Do The Right Thing was one of the films he'd have on VHS, where he would put it on like a record and repeat for months on end. This film is a classic which stands the test of time. It's as relevant today as it is when Spike Lee first created it. This film was the reason my brother, Rashaad, and I both decided to attend NYU Tisch Graduate Film School, chasing Spike, who would eventually become our teacher and mentor. Do The Right Thing became the foundational film for my first feature, Monsters and Men, a triptych set in BedStuy and an ode to Spike Lee’s monumental film.
Directed and Written by: John Singleton
This film represented so much to the communities where I grew up. Even though I'm from New York, John Singleton captured the essence of what it's like being Black in America. It's brilliant storytelling. Raw, unflinching, unnerving, and deeply human.
Directed by: Barry Levinson | Written by: Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass
Cruise and Hoffman are incredible in this film. It's an incredible story of two brothers, and what happens when money or greed tries to get in between love. This is a love story — a genuine love story between two brothers, and their yearning for their father's love.
Directed by: Martin Scorsese | Written by: Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese
I was born in the Bronx, but I grew up in Staten Island, New York. This film represented every kid I ever knew or had played baseball and football with. These guys were my friends. This film made us fall in love with gangsters. It humanized the bad guys. That's the mark of a great filmmaker. Scorsese is one of the best to ever do it. He helped to set the highest standard of the cinematic experience in our industry, with a unique and gifted eye for human storytelling.
Directed by: Gus Van Sant | Written by: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon
I don't know if I ever rewatched a film more times in my life. This film just gets me every time — "it's not your fault." Robin Williams is unbelievable. Damon is equally stellar. Gus Van Sant's filmmaking is exquisite, delicate and human. It's the movie that I keep coming back to for everything: Structure. Character. Story. You laugh, you cry, you feel all the rainbows of emotions. It's simply a gem of a film.
