There is a certain appeal of mind bending stories set in dystopian cities and environments full of futuristic tech that even the most influential people of world can’t deny. From business magnates to scientist to pop culture icons the biggest celebrities of the world have often publicly talked about their favorite sci-fi movies and how it impacted them. For some their favorite sci-fi movie motivated their career choices while for others it inspired their creative choices like David Bowie’s Space Oddity is influenced by Stanley Kubrick’s Space Odyssey. But for the vast majority of these sci-fi superfans, the genre is so attractive because its thought provoking nature forces them to look at society and humanity and technology from a new perspective - which is often a good trait to have (in order to be successful in life)/(to have the level of success that they have had).
As we go through the list you’ll notice that more than any other directors Kubrick and Nolan have a huge fanbase even among the celebrities. Additionally celebs pick their favorite movies from all eras. In fact one of the picks is black and white movie from the 1961 so clearly there is no recency bias at play here.
def greet(name):
"""Function to greet a person"""
message = f"Hello, {name}!"
return message
# Test the function
if __name__ == "__main__":
print(greet("World"))
1. Elon Musk - Star wars
In a one on one interview at the MIT AeroAstro Centennial Symposium , SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared his favorite movies. Among his top picks was the original star wars, a choice that is not surprising given how the movie was a cultural phenomenon when the tech billionarie was just a impressionable young boy. he said it was the first film he ever saw and it was “fairly influential”. He loved the movie so much that he just “played it on loop” over and over again.
Well now we know what inspires Musk’s proclivity for space travel and for establishing some of the most innovative tech businesses.
2. Brian Cox - The Day the earth caught fire
In an episode of BFI’s miniseries The Cut, physicist, musician and author Brian Cox mentioned The Day The Earth Caught Fire as one of his favorite movies. Directed by Val Guest, the 1961 disaster film tells a story where nuclear explosions by USA and RUssia throw the earth off its axis leading to severe rise in Earth’s temperature. He thought the movie had all the elements of a “classic disaster film” which he unabashedly admitted to be “perversely attractive”. Much like other sci-fi fans Cox too finds “end of the world” scenarios in movies extremely “compelling” - which justifies his choice for his favorite sci-fi movie pick.
3. Israel Adesanya - Spriggan
GQ asked former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya to rank his top 5 animes. The unmatchedly bold mixed martial artist, whom fight fans will know as an avid anime lover, chose Spriggan the 2022 Netflix anime series. The mini series has 6 episodes with each focusing on a different arc from the original manga . With its authentic portrayal of action and futuristic tech, it’s no wonder Spriggan captured Adesanya’s imagination. Due to the Spriggan’s success there is huge aniticpiation among anime and sci-fi fans for the second season of the show. Especialy because there are 11/12 volumes of the managea so there is definitely no shortage of source material.
4. Joe Rogan - Alien
While discussing how unscientific some sci-fi films could get with physicist Brian Cox on his podcast, Joe Rogan mentioned that Ridley Scotts’s original Alien is one of his favorite sci-fi films. The world’s biggest podcaster called the movie “one of the greatest horror science fiction movies of all time” Rogan goes on to say that even liked the sequels but the 1979 classic was an “all time favorite movie” of his. It is definitely a respectable choice since the movie’s influence is unparalleled. There was no movie quite like the Alien before 1979 and so in many ways it set the template for the sci-fi alien/horror genre that would be followed by numerous movie in the coming years.
5. Neil deGrasse Tyson - THe Martian
Neil deGrasse Tyson has been known to ridicule the inacccurate science in some of the sci-fi movies like Gravity and Armageddon. So when he was [asked](link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRudxtB8CM0) to name a sci fi film that is accurate but also great to watch he answered The Martian. He said the science is accurate because the author of the book that ispired the movie is an engineer turned novelist and so he did all the calculations. and it has marquee director ridley scott and it has major actors in it. so its a first run movie where science itself was a character in it. THe movie follows mark whatney who was left for dead on the surface of mars and then they find out he is not dead and we’ll come back to you but in 400 days he’s got to stay for 400 days on mars and he figures out how to do it using science.
6. Christopher Nolan - 2001: A Space Odyssey
However, when it comes to sci-fi movies Nolan’s brilliancy is only matched and perhaps surpassed by Stanley Kubrick. While talking with Entertainment Weekly, the Interstellar director talked about how 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of his most important sources of inspiration and thought the movie was “unavoidable” if you are science fiction fan. The director recalls that the first time he saw the movie even though he didn’t uderstand it he felt he was being “transported to another world. That experience had a deep impact on his worldview of science fiction movies as it did to so many other science fiction creators and fans. Decades later Nolan took over the responsibility of overseeing a 70mm unrestored print of 2001: A Space Odyssey which got a limited released in Imax theaters for the first time.
7. Taylor Swift - Hunger Games
If you are swiftie you have probably heard the song “Safe & Sound” which is soundtrack for Hunger Games. It truly stands out from the rest of Swift’s discography and she’s even won a Grammy for it. During the premiere of the song, Swift told MTV that she decided to do the song because she was a big “fangirl” of the movie and books from which the franchise is adapted. After reading the books she “fell in love” with the Hunger Games world that the author Suzanne Collins had created. The song and even won a Grammy for the best song written for visual media category in 2013.
8. James Cameron - Inception
James Cameron is known for creating several successful movies and franchises with his innovation direction and inimitable vision - most notably Terminator and Avatar movies. In a 2011 interview with The Holloywood Reporter, Cameron said what every movie fan was thinking - christopher Nolan deserved a nomination for the best director at Academy Awards for Inception. The legendary director loved Inception and thought it was “the most astounding piece of film creation and direction”. The dream traversing sci-fi classic follows the story of Cobb played by Leonardo diCaprio who steals information from people by entering their dreams and manipulating it.
9. Pewdiepie - A Clockwork Orange
The now semi retired youtuber Pewdiepie was at one point the most subscribed youtber in the world. SO naturally his large army of fans wanted to know his opinion(the controversial youtuber’s opinion) on just about everything under the sun. In one of this QnA videos from 2013 when a fan asked his favorite movie from childhood Pewdiepie picked “A Clockwork Orange”. The controversial youtuber goes on to sarcastically say about the film that “It’s great for kids” probably because he watched it as a child. Althought the movie is definitely not for kids it definitely is a great choice. The 1971 classic is set in a dystopian city governed by a totalitarian super state. It follows the journey of degenerate young guy who falls victim to government’s shady practices. You are probably surprised to see another Kubrick movie in the list but nothing surprising here the man was a inimitable visionary.
Here’s a simple Python function that greets a person:
def greet(name):
"""Function to greet a person"""
message = f"Hello, {name}!"
return message
# Test the function
if __name__ == "__main__":
print(greet("World"))
10. Zendaya - Interstellar
" “Interstellar might be the best movie I’ve ever seen” is what Dune star Zendaya tweeted in 2015 after watching the sci-fi classic. She found the movie particularly impactful because as great sci-fi movies do Intrestellar compelled her to “contemplate life”. The movie is often revered by sci-fi fans and movie fans in general as Christopher Nolan’s finest works. Nolan’s directororial genius compounded With stellar performances from Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway,Jessica Chastain and the rest of the crew and exceptional music from Hans Zimmer the movie is in a league of its own. The movie explores the some of the most important cornerstones of sci-fi genere like space, distant planets, effect of time, dystopian future, human relationships ,bravery and cowardice. Interstellar is definitely one of those life alterting movies that transcends entertainment and you should definitely give it a watch like Zendaya did.
Example Python Code
Here’s a simple Python function that greets a person:
def greet(name):
"""Function to greet a person"""
message = f"Hello, {name}!"
return message
# Test the function
if __name__ == "__main__":
print(greet("World"))