Sam Mendes: Life Cinematic – BBC4

Edith Bowman Sam Mendes Sam Mendes: Life Cinematic

(Image credit: BBC/Somethin' Else)

Director Sam Mendes talks to Edith Bowman about the films that have influenced his career in Sam Mendes: Life Cinematic, the first in a new BBC4 series

Considering that Sam Mendes was originally a theatre director, he’s done pretty well for himself since transitioning to the big screen, and he talks to Edith Bowman about that, and the films that influenced his career, in BBC4’s Sam Mendes: Life Cinematic.

His real debut – we’re not counting the 1993 film of his stage show Cabaret – was 2000’s American Beauty, and it won him the Best Director Oscar.

Sam’s up for that statuette again this year (plus Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay) with must-see film of the moment 1917, having directed Tom Hanks and Paul Newman in Road to Perdition, and Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road (which will be shown straight after this documentary) in between.

Not forgetting Skyfall and Spectre, his two Bond movies with Daniel Craig, of course.

But which films have made an impact on him?

For full listings, see our TV Guide.

TV Times rating: ****