David Lean

Made films the shows talk about.

Wikidata Q55260: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by Wikidata joins them to Brief Encounter, which Decision to Leave with Tatiana Maslany credits them on.

Counted as director, the making department they hold the most credits in. The films the hosts said they directed, which the two lists below run through too: Brief Encounter (1945); The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957); Dr. Zhivago (1965); A Passage to India (1984); Empire of the Sun (1987); Lawrence of Arabia.

Draws on

What the speakers say they, or a film of theirs, drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

David Lean: 1 line, within their own work

  1. lineage (origin of project) · through Empire of the Sun (1987), which they directed: David Lean ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read). Lean asked Spielberg to check on the rights, then lost interest and handed the novel to him.
    “He asks Spielberg to check in on the rights for him.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 0:57:53 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Gone with the Wind (1939): 1 line

  1. unmapped (scene reference) · through Empire of the Sun (1987), which they directed: Gone with the Wind ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read). Jim stands before the Gone with the Wind poster, echoing Spielberg's remark to Alice Walker that it is one of his favorites.
    “I mean, you have that moment where he's standing in front of the giant gone with the wind poster, right?”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 1:31:05 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)

J.G. Ballard: 1 line

  1. lineage (source) · through Empire of the Sun (1987), which they directed: J.G. Ballard ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read). The novel is darker than the film, which sanitized it and condensed characters.
    “There is definitely a lot of sanitizing happening and a lot of kind of condensing of characters and turning them into more of a more of a Hollywoody plot element.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 1:01:53 · Bilge Ebiri (0.75 sure it was them)

Jaws (1975): 1 line

  1. craft (shot design) · through Empire of the Sun (1987), which they directed: Jaws ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read). Spielberg reveals Malkovich in pieces like Jaws and Indiana Jones, withholding the hero shot.
    “he introduces him both like he's Jaws and like he's Indiana Jones”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 1:38:17 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981): 1 line

  1. craft (shot design) · through Empire of the Sun (1987), which they directed: Raiders of the Lost Ark ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read). Same slow reveal as Indiana Jones in pieces before the hero shot.
    “which similarly has the like Spielberg taking 5 minutes to show you Indiana Jones in pieces before you really get the hero shot”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 1:38:17 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Drawn on by

What the speakers say drew on them or a film of theirs, marked the same way.

Schindler's List (1993): 2 lines

  1. contrast (method contrast) · through Empire of the Sun (1987), which they directed: Empire of the Sun ⇒ Schindler's List (the host's read). On Schindler Spielberg refused to storyboard, almost as a reaction to criticism of the puppet-show control in Empire.
    “Schindler, the infamous thing, is that he was like, I won't storyboard this.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 0:31:40 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (dry run) · through Empire of the Sun (1987), which they directed: Empire of the Sun ⇒ Schindler's List (the host's read). Schindler's List is the more successful grown-up film that erased Empire of the Sun from memory; it was seen as the dry run.
    “Look back as this was the dry run before he totally cracked it on Shell.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 0:30:35 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Decision to Leave (2022): 1 line

  1. lineage (influence) · through Brief Encounter (1945), which they directed: Brief Encounter ⇒ Decision to Leave (the maker said so: Park's interview remarks read on the show). Park cites David Lean's Brief Encounter as the romantic vibe he was thinking of instead of Vertigo.
    “He says, brief encounter, the David Lean film. is more what he's thinking of in terms of vibe.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Decision to Leave with Tatiana Maslany · 0:52:37 · Griffin Newman (0.70 sure it was them)

Empire of the Sun (1987): 1 line, within their own work

  1. lineage (origin of project) · them, directly: David Lean ⇒ Empire of the Sun (the host's read). Lean asked Spielberg to check on the rights, then lost interest and handed the novel to him.
    “He asks Spielberg to check in on the rights for him.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 0:57:53 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Steven Spielberg: 1 line

  1. unmapped (mentorship / elder filmmaker) · them, directly: David Lean ⇒ Steven Spielberg (the host's read). Spielberg befriended old masters (Lean, Kubrick, Wilder) who handed him their projects.
    “The sort of string of great older filmmakers who somehow, uh, collaborated with Spielberg, only for Spielberg to wind up directing their movies.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 0:58:01 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

The English Patient (1996): 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · them, directly: David Lean ⇒ The English Patient (the host's read). Amanda dismissed The English Patient as a David Lean rip-off in the 2022 swap.
    “this is David Lean rip off”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:12:56 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)

The Lost City of Z: 1 line

  1. lineage (lineage) · them, directly: David Lean ⇒ The Lost City of Z (the maker said so: Gray, the director, speaking on the show). Gray wanted an old-fashioned English-language epic in the style of David Lean or Coppola.
    “a movie in the style almost of like David Lean or Francis Ford Coppola or something like that”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:24:31 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)

Tropic Thunder (2008): 1 line

  1. lineage (inspiration) · through Empire of the Sun (1987), which they directed: Empire of the Sun ⇒ Tropic Thunder (the host's read). Ben Stiller, on the Empire set as a young actor, was inspired by actors playing at suffering to make Tropic Thunder two decades later.
    “Which, of course, this is one of this movie's greatest, like, lasting legacies is that this, this is what inspires Tropic Thunder.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 1:49:05 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)

What the speakers said they did

Directing (6) everyone in directing

Other (5) everyone in other

What was said about them, by kind

career (1)

  1. career (career): David Lean → Powell and Pressburger. A Lean vs Archers matchup would have been interesting because Lean used to work with the Archers.
    “Really, a lean archer's matchup would have been so interesting because David Lean used to work with the archers.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2022 MARCH MADNESS UPDATE 2 PRESENTED BY THE CHIP REPORT · 0:12:30 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)

lineage (3)

  1. lineage (origin of project): David Lean → Empire of the Sun. Lean asked Spielberg to check on the rights, then lost interest and handed the novel to him.
    “He asks Spielberg to check in on the rights for him.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 0:57:53 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (lineage): The English Patient → David Lean. Amanda dismissed The English Patient as a David Lean rip-off in the 2022 swap.
    “this is David Lean rip off”
    The Big Picture · ‘Mamma Mia!’ Meets ‘The Strangers'! It’s a Movie Swap! · 0:12:56 · Sean Fennessey (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. lineage (lineage): The Lost City of Z → David Lean. Gray wanted an old-fashioned English-language epic in the style of David Lean or Coppola.
    “a movie in the style almost of like David Lean or Francis Ford Coppola or something like that”
    The Big Picture · ‘The Lost City of Z’ Director James Gray | The Big Picture (Ep. 9) · 0:24:31 · James Gray (0.90 sure it was them)

people (1)

  1. people (people): Dr. Zhivago → David Lean. Number two was David Lean's Dr. Zhivago, a huge hit from Christmas 1965.
    “David Leans, Dr. Javago, which was released Christmas of 1965.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Batman (1966) · 2:00:08 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

unmapped (3)

  1. unmapped (grandiosity): A Passage to India → David Lean. Bilge's father disliked Passage to India because of its grand shot of the doctor on the train, which he found too much.
    “I dislike it because there's a shot like this.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 0:54:49 · Bilge Ebiri (0.90 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (mentorship / elder filmmaker): David Lean → Steven Spielberg. Spielberg befriended old masters (Lean, Kubrick, Wilder) who handed him their projects.
    “The sort of string of great older filmmakers who somehow, uh, collaborated with Spielberg, only for Spielberg to wind up directing their movies.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Empire of the Sun with Bilge Ebiri · 0:58:01 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (Fincher's pitch): David Lean → Alien 3. Fincher says his original pitch was like a David Lean movie, much bigger and more political than what Fox allowed.
    “He says, okay, my pitch was like a David Lean movie.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · Alien³ with Matt Singer (Ad-Free) · 1:05:22 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

verdict (3)

  1. verdict (verdict): Paul Thomas Anderson → David Lean. PTA beat David Lean in round one, 65-35, the closest of the 18 seeds.
    “Yes, but I think... 65, 35.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2025 March Madness Update 1 · 0:24:29 · unknown (0.30 sure it was them)
  2. verdict (verdict): David Lean → Alfred Hitchcock. Lean beating Hitchcock in the Sweet 16 was the first big surprise of the round.
    “I mean, I think the 1st huge surprise was David Lean beating Alfred Hitchcock.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2022 MARCH MADNESS UPDATE 2 PRESENTED BY THE CHIP REPORT · 0:10:51 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. verdict (verdict): Orson Welles → David Lean. The speaker knew Welles would likely beat either Lean or Hitchcock, but wanted Lean to advance.
    “I knew Wells would probably beat either of those guys, but I was kind of like, would be pretty cool.”
    Blank Check — Patreon · 2022 MARCH MADNESS UPDATE 2 PRESENTED BY THE CHIP REPORT · 0:11:14 · David Sims (0.60 sure it was them)

what-if (1)

  1. what-if (what-if): David Lean → Dune. David Lean was approached by the original rights holder and passed.
    “Martha P. Jacobs at one point wanted David Lean to make Dune.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Dune with John Hodgman · 1:29:46 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Fun items about them

None.