Hi, it is Bill and Teddy the Chihuahua again!
We love the Films To Be Buried With podcast, where Brett Goldstein tells his guests they have died and then asks them about the films that have meant the most to them. Every time we listen, we can’t help imagining how we would answer the questions ourselves.
So this time we got our assistant Tab to play Brett and put the questions to us. We’ll give you one guess which film comes up a lot…
So, let’s get the bad news out of the way…
How did you die?
The thing is, with every answer I could probably answer Jaws. So we went to Martha’s Vineyard to do the Jaws tour and see Amity. We jumped off the Jaws Bridge, hoping to do a meet and greet with the shark, and as Matt Hooper states about the tiger shark, it’s a million to one… but as we jumped off, a great white shark is actually in Martha’s Vineyard and, like that Kintner boy, we became a shark’s lunch.
What’s the first film you remember seeing?
My memory is terrible. I know I saw a few Disney films, and Star Wars, but the first time I actually remember going to the cinema was seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark. My brother and I were both Star Wars fans; he liked Luke and I liked Han. My mum told us the film had Luke in it, but imagine my delight when the film started and it was Harrison Ford, aka Han, in it!
Oddly, I don’t really remember watching Disney’s The Black Hole, even though I know we went to see it. What I do remember is leaving the house with my brother and mum to go and see it, and as we left, the postman delivered a free poster of the film that we had claimed from Wagon Wheels. I must have enjoyed it, as I got the figures and even The Black Hole annual, but getting that poster is a much bigger memory than seeing the film!
🎬 Rent or buy Raiders of the Lost Ark on Amazon
What’s the film that scared you the most?
I remember the first time I saw Jaws. It was on ITV after we had been to swimming club, and the date was 8th October, my brother’s birthday, so perhaps it should have been his favourite film! I do remember hiding behind my mum when (spoiler from a 50-year-old film 😆) Quint gets killed. So you do raise a good point that I could probably answer Jaws to every question.
But like a lot of films, the original Elm Street and Evil Dead, the effects date them. I think the last time I was genuinely scared at the cinema was the first time I saw A Quiet Place. I think the film’s silence just amplified everything, plus I know I was lucky to see it with a well-behaved audience, who all being tense as well added to it.
You can’t beat the cinema for a scary movie: the dark, and the fact that, if you’re like me, your phone is not near you like it maybe is at home. Although my wife would tell you I do think of the cinema as my second home. Radio DJ Jordan North was on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and referred to Burnley’s Turf Moor as being his happy place. The cinema is definitely mine.
🎬 Rent or buy A Quiet Place on Amazon
Which film made you cry?
Animals being hurt always makes me sadder than humans, and it can also make me angry when it seems unnecessary. There is a scene in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey with John Leguizamo with puppies which was sickening rather than sad, and I won’t be watching it again.
The thing with dog films is they make you sad and then the ending will be happier. But I saw Rex, aka Megan Leavey, a true story about a soldier who is hurt in action with her dog. She wants to retire him but is told he has PTSD and she can’t have him, and she literally does everything to get him back. I didn’t know the outcome, but Megan, hurt by war, wanting peace, but instead having to ‘go to war’ again to give her dog a peaceful life, broke me. I think I cried for nearly all of the second half of the film. Thankfully it didn’t get a cinema release in the UK, so I saw it at home, so only Teddy saw me, haha.
Also, the first time I saw it, Megan’s friend was played by Ramón Rodriguez, who would go on to play Will Trent, easily our current favourite TV show, based on our much-loved Karin Slaughter book series. A detective with a chihuahua, it was made for us, surely!
🎬 Rent or buy Megan Leavey (Rex) on Amazon
Which film has made you laugh the most?
This can be difficult, as so many films I loved when I was younger can feel problematic now I’m older and wiser, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective especially. I think I’m going to go with Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. It’s daft, it introduced us to Keanu, and it seems to still work now. Sure, some of the stuff about Bill’s stepmom can feel creepy, but it’s never too offensive. It’s not like, say, American Pie, where they act on their fantasies, making it so problematic now. Plus it has the message “Be excellent to each other”. We could all learn from that.
🎬 Rent or buy Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure on Amazon
What’s the film you’ve watched the most?
Jaws is obviously the film I’ve watched the most. Other than that, I think Christmas films are where this answer comes into its own, as I watch The Muppet Christmas Carol and The Grinch (the Jim Carrey one) every year.
🎬 Buy The Muppet Christmas Carol on Amazon | Rent or buy How the Grinch Stole Christmas on Amazon
What’s your guilty pleasure film?
Jaws: The Revenge. Its story is daft as a brush, but that opening of returning to Amity, seeing familiar faces… it’s still Jaws, and I love all four movies. This one always ends up on worst lists and in articles along the lines of “the film that killed the franchise”, but I love it.
However, I do admit, I think the one I’m embarrassed about is probably Coyote Ugly. I don’t think I’m supposed to be its target audience, but it’s a really likeable music-based romantic drama, and when Piper Perabo’s Violet, who has never been able to sing in front of an audience, eventually does, with help from Adam Garcia’s Kevin, it gets me every time.
🎬 Rent or buy Jaws: The Revenge on Amazon | Rent or buy Coyote Ugly on Amazon
Which film does everyone love that you just don’t get?
I imagine I will lose people here, but I just don’t get the love for The Godfather. Sure, it’s a good film, but it’s not really my preferred genre, so I’m always confused when it’s referenced as the greatest film of all time. It’s not, it’s Jaws!
What’s the underrated gem you wish more people would watch?
Stephen Sommers, before he made The Mummy, made an amazing creature feature called Deep Rising. It’s just brilliant, and it was left open for a sequel, but no one saw it, so it didn’t happen. I love The Mummy, but I would have loved just as much an alternate universe where we got Deep Rising sequels. Sadly, with Treat Williams passing away, I can’t see it ever happening now.
🎬 Rent or buy Deep Rising on Amazon
Is there a film that changed your life, or changed how you see things?
I’m going to use this to sneakily get a mention for John Wick. The death of a puppy scene should really be something I despise, but as the owner of a chihuahua, no bigger than a defenceless puppy, I’d like to say my perception of how I would react if anyone hurt them would change into me wanting to go full John Wick on them.
🎬 Rent or buy John Wick on Amazon
If you could come back as any film character, who would you be? (Teddy, you get to pick too)
I would have to come back as John Wick, I guess, just so everyone would know to leave Teddy alone… or else, haha! Teddy would probably be Stitch, as mischievous but loves being part of a family.
🎬 Rent or buy Lilo & Stitch on Amazon
And finally, what’s the one film you’ll be buried with?
It will be no surprise that I’m taking Jaws. It’s the greatest movie of all time. I’ve seen it probably every year since the 80s and I can’t see that ever changing. If anything, knowing Hollywood, they will remake it, I’ll hate it and love the original even more. Be warned though, Teddy is sneaking in the Beverly Hills Chihuahua trilogy as well!
🐶 Teddy’s trilogy: Beverly Hills Chihuahua | Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 | Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva La Fiesta!
So there you have it, our Films To Be Buried With. One film for eternity, plus a sneaky chihuahua trilogy for Teddy. Cinema has been with us through every scare, laugh and cry, and the cinema is our happy place, so it only seems right to take a bit of it with us.
Now over to you: what film would you be buried with? Let us know!
If you haven’t heard it, do give Brett Goldstein’s brilliant Films To Be Buried With podcast a listen, it’s where all these questions come from! It’s available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Links in this post may earn us a small commission at no extra cost to you.