Art Inspires Art: 5 Iconic Films That Inspired Directors to Make These Films

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The Seventh Seal

Delving into the clash between darkness and light, Ingmar Bergman's film inspired Peter Hewitt. The scene from The Seventh Seal in which Antonius Block plays chess with Death was imitated in Hewitt's Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.

 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly 

Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Western inspired Quentin Tarantino’s films. Tarantino calls the film “the greatest achievement in the history of cinema” and paid tribute to it in his film, Reservoir Dogs’ standoff scene.

Pather Panchali

Satyajit Ray's film roused Wes Anderson's curiosity towards India. “[Ray’s] work has been an enormous influence on [“The Darjeeling Limited”]… He was my inspiration for coming to India in the first place,” Anderson said in a 2007 interview with The Statesman.

Battleship Potemkin

Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin inspired countless filmmakers, particularly the Odessa Steps sequence, which was recreated by Terry Gilliam in Brazil, and in Brian De Palma's The Untouchables.

Federico Fellini's film is said to have inspired films like Woody Allen's Stardust Memories, Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York and Todd Haynes' I’m Not There.

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