I hope everyone is staying well-hydrated and heated, because like our winter this year, Awards Season still has one more month to go. First up we have the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Sunday, then the BAFTAs the following week, with the SAG Actor Awards hot on their heels on March 1. Then everyone gets a two-week grace period to finalize/fit into their Oscar looks for the ceremony on March 15. (The IDES!) Of this lineup, the Spirit Awards probably do the least in forecasting the winners at any of the following awards. For example, this year there’s only one overlap with the Oscars in acting nominations: Rose Byrne. It’s actually a bit of fresh air to see new nominees, and especially to see the ever-dwindling field of Indie films getting due attention. And this year the show is hosted by Ego Nwodim! Ego appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week to promote Sunday’s show, and shared why former SNL guest host Josh Brolin is probably laughing at the idea that Ego is hosting a show dedicated to film.
During the Tuesday, Feb. 10 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the SNL alum caught up with Kimmel about her run-in with Brolin, 57, when he hosted the sketch-comedy show in March 2024.
“I have to tell you this story. Josh Brolin sized me up in an instant and was like, ‘You look like you’ve never seen any movies before,’” Nwodim, 37, recalled while laughing. “I don’t know. To this day, I’ve lost sleep over it. Because I’m like, what about me says I haven’t seen movies? Which is why I’m watching all the movies now, by the way.”
Nwodim then confirmed that “Josh was right” about her movie-watching habits, as Kimmel, 58, asked if she “said a little something that tipped him in that direction.”
“I was in a room with some other writers, another cast member. He said, ‘You seem like you’ve never seen anything.’ I was like, ‘How do you know that?’ And he was like, ‘Because you remind me of my wife and she’s never seen anything.’ And I’m like, ‘Thank you, I guess,” Nwodim said.
After their backstage exchange, Brolin sent Nwodim “a list of 53 movies everyone needs to have watched.”
“I just reviewed the list again recently this weekend. I was like, ‘Hold on, have I seen any of the movies on this list now?’ I saw one on the list of 53. I’ve seen one. I’ve seen one. The first one on the list, Jaws.”
While Nwodim initially thought the list appeared to be written by AI, it was actually from Brolin himself, she said. It included films such as Gaslight, 12 Angry Men and Dog Day Afternoon.
“I think, and I’m mad about this myself. I haven’t seen The Godfather,” she said when asked which film would most shock the audience. “I thought this was a safe space!”
So I’m the same age as Ego and I saw all of the five films she names here… before I left home for college! That was my family’s jam. We weren’t sporty, we were filmy. I’ll never forget the home library my father amassed, with I guess what you’d call his own version of the Dewey Decimal System. It involved multiple movies being recorded onto VHS tapes, each VHS being labeled with a three-digit number, two notebooks that listed the library by film title and VHS number, respectively, and a log of how long each movie was (so you knew how much you’d have to fast-forward to get to the second or third film on the tape). Frankly my dear, you don’t go through all that trouble unless you really give a damn about movies! That was the in-house education my parents gifted me, and I’ve thanked them for it profusely. It’s also what made me the super nerd/secret weapon my office friends turn to when playing Movie Grid during lunch. Seriously, I was out sick last week and they still called me midday to croak out movie titles. Can’t lie, I loved it.
Anyway, mark your calendars for Sunday! The Spirit Awards will stream live on YouTube at 5pm ET. Utter lack of film history aside, Ego will be a great host. I was sorry to see her leave SNL, though I never begrudge a cast member for bowing out when the time is right for them. And I’ll be over the moon if Ego and/or Josh Brolin ever release the full list; I simply MUST know if I’ve seen all 53!
PS — I just don’t have the strength to get into the uncanny yet bordering on creepy way Brolin approached Ego when he profiled her as a person who reminded him of his wife and hasn’t watched enough movies, but the pinging definitely went off in my head, fear not.
Photos credit Getty Images and via YouTube
I want the list tbh.
I’m glad you mentioned the creepy aspect of Brolin’s behavior Kismet because I was like WTF at the way that went down.
Love her though!
Absent anything else, I do not see why a coworker in the same business as one giving a person a list of seminal movies is creepy or odd. Show business is such an odd sort of culture where people don’t necessarily have to have some education so sometimes you run across people with little history of their line of work. What’s wrong with someone suggesting (not even demanding) that you see some great and well-known movies, which can help them in future recognize good scripts, good parts, and differentiate that from derivative roles they are offered or just downright junk. She didn’t say that he slipped her some porn movie list or offered to personally take her to the movies.
If I was at work and some guy I didn’t know well took it upon himself to give me the once over, pass judgement that I was culturally illiterate based on *his personal* assessment and presume I wanted him to prescribe how I can correct what he found wanting … when I hadn’t asked for his input?
yeah, personally, I’d find it creepy (some combo of uncomfortably attentive, presumptuous, know-it-all-ish, a hint he had some issues with boundaries/controlling others, and since I’m a woman, possibly dismissive of woman’s autonomy … etc)
Agreed. This is obnoxious and offensive. It’s like the guys who lecture you on what “great music” really is and take it upon themselves to “educate” you. I also wonder if there are any films by women or people of color on his list. I’ve been biased against him ever since his arrest do DV and I have never understood his appeal.
North of Boston — AGREED
It’s not creepy or offensive and because Ego hadn’t seen any of the movies Josh suggested, he wasn’t that far off target. With all that’s going on in the world I wish folks would stop pretending to be outraged over stuff that has nothing to do with them.
How does the treatment of a woman in a workplace — that many of us are finding condescending and inappropriate — not have anything to do with us women who have had similar experiences? It’s the same behavior, over and over again. I assure you the outrage is quite genuine, thank you very much.
Good thing he included the movie Gaslight on the list, but a pity he probably doesn’t see the irony.
I would love to hear about all of the random white male comedians Brolin must have approached and decided he would “educate” in this way. There must be so many, right?
Jay, I agree about Gaslight. One of my alltime favorite movies. Ingred Bergman and Charles Boyer and Joseph Cotton. I had someone come out to my house once to jumpstart my car, and we got to talking about movies, and I made him promise me he would see Gaslight, and he did.
For those who want to learn more about film, check out Roger Ebert’s top 100 films. I can’t find the list online now, but there are several of his top 10 lists out there.
Some folks didn’t like Ebert, but I did enjoy working my way through the list back in the early 2000s to learn more about film and what specially makes a film great. It was also a terrific way to see movies you’d never watch otherwise. I discovered Terrence Malick with Badlands and Days of Heaven. Other amazing films like The 400 Blows, Belle du Jour, Cinema Paradiso, Wings of Desire. It’s a fun exercise to work your way through a list of favorite films!
Ebert won a Pulitzer quite early, I miss him every week and have a couple books. He wrote about life and movies.
I LOVE Ego and I miss her too on a weekly basis. Also hilarious with Phoebe Waller Bridge or as Miss Eggy. She can do anything and everything! I wouldn’t listen to Josh Brolin either. What the hell.
Not gonna lie, the first thing I did when I read Josh Brolin told Ego Nwodim she reminded him of his wife, I googled his wife to see if she was black. I was like, what is he doing, profiling Black women for not being movie buffs? But now that I think about it, I think Ego would have said that and maybe raised more of an issue about it. Anyways, Josh Brolin’s current wife is white. But I’d love to know what was going through his head when he decided Ego needed a movie education.
I’m not much of a classic movie watcher and I haven’t seen any of the movies Ego mentioned either apart from bits and pieces of Jaws. I’ve seen it on TV while channel surfing but never sat down and watched the whole thing. Books are more my jam than movies.
Have you read the books Jaws or Godfather? If not add them to your list. While both movies are awesome, the books are slightly better.
I have only seen Jaws out of the ones she mentioned! I am trying to focus my viewing habits on movies with women directors. Here is a great list if you are interested in seeking them out : https://stacker.com/stories/movies/100-best-movies-directed-women
Thank you for this list, @Chaine. Great suggestion.
So happy to see Ida Lupino on this list – she was a real trailblazer for women directors.🎬
I’m glad he did it. Too many young folks walking around arrogant and as dumb as a bucket. I know actual people who will not watch a black and white movie because its “old”. You work in the business, she eventually will want to do a move, maybe watch a few and learn something? These same people will go and bathe other folks in their ignorance. I’m tired of young people being dumb and wanting shoot off their mouth.
Ego is a comic genius so we often overlook or forget that that woman is an absolute smoke show. She is SO gorgeous. I would bet money that he was low key hitting on her.
Adding that Brolin was known to have beaten his former wife, yes, I find it hella condescending for him to give a female colleague a list of movies to “school” her. Would he have given that list to a man? She is incredibly gracious about it (and gorgeous!), but no to his f-cking list.
I find this a very interesting conversation that could go many ways. I am very sensitive to someone “schooling” the little lady, me, to how I should think. Ego is a lovely young lady who has a great career ahead of her, I think and hope. She is also very young, and Brolin’s wife is young. So I am divided about that. But I do love to share great movies with people, and that’s how people and myself discover gems that might be overlooked. As far as Brolin, I resisted him/hated him in the past because of DV. Then I read more about his horrible childhood, and that he has sobered up and reformed himself. So I hope he was “sharing” his list. And I agree that his manner was not OK. I hope he is still working on himself. But I saw him coming. He had a brutal mother and brutal childhood, so I give him some grace. As far as Ebert, he and his partner Siskel quarreled and sniped at each other, even as guests on shows, and I was shocked and really didn’t like it. But I watched them every week and loved their show. And I must say, that Ebert was married to a black woman, and both of the men were very sensitive to how women were treated in movies, and I grew to trust and like them. When “Born Yesterday” was remade with Melanie Griffith, and they reviewed it, they were both upset that she was hit in the movie, and they said that wasn’t necessary at all for the film. Loved Kismet telling how she was called to croak out movie titles for coworkers. And my other favorite Ingred Bergman film was and is Notorious, with Cary Grant. May be one of my favorites of all time. Ingred is a spy in a house full of Nazis right after WWII.
Theresa, with you on Notorious with Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant. He is my favorite actor. Did you see him with Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest, directed by Hitchcock? The train car scene with Cary and Eva Maria is the sexiest moment in all of cinema (IMO). I still think of it randomly every once in awhile. And I think Hitchcock said Grant was his favorite actor.
Chained, I saw Agnes Varda’s One Sings, the Other Doesn’t in my college cinema club. Have loved it for decades. Another French film (not directed by a woman) that I loved from that time was Celine and Julie Go Boating. I have both in my DVD collection. I’m interested in your other woman-directed films, most of which I haven’t seen. Thank you for your list.
Kismet, I love your childhood VHS library system so much! Your Dad set you up for success, this made my day.
I hope she gave him a list of genius sketch comedies. Certainly this is a woman who’s educated in many things — you don’t get that far in a career if you haven’t done some studying. That whatever she studied might be different from what Brolin studied doesn’t make her ignorant.