When I was 7, I saw The Making of ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’. Hearing George Roy Hill talk about all the choices he made, I knew that directing movies was what I wanted to do. I remember seeing Death in Venice 40 times one year, and then switching my allegiance to Godard after seeing Masculine/Feminine! I knew early on that I was a nerd and that films were my refuge. Those first few minutes before the lights went off, and you’re alone in the theater waiting, were really pleasurable. Whether it was Steve McQueen, the coolest guy in cinema, to Robert Altman’s strange and wonderful 3 Women, I saw hundreds of films before I ever picked up a camera. I believe I took something away from each one.

—Alfonso Cuarón