If you love movies and want to know the inner workings of some of today’s best and brightest actors and directors, then you gotta turn to Turner Classic Movies (TCM) every Monday during the month of July.

Elvis Mitchell, one of Hollywood’s top film critics/interviewers, will bring his in-depth and deeply personal interview style to Turner Classic Movies (TCM) with the new, half-hour original series, TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell: Under The Influence. In each episode, Mitchell invites celebrity guests to sit down and talk about how classic film has influenced their lives.

In the premiere episode on July 7th, Mitchell interviews the late Sydney Pollack in what turned out to be the last interview with the famed actor/director.

“Sydney doesn’t just lecture about what movies are supposed to be. You can feel his abiding passion and affection for film,” Mitchell said of the late Pollack.

On July 14th, Mitchell interviews Bill Murray, who, among other things, discusses the influence the Marx Brothers had on his career. “With the Marx Brothers, you’re surrounded by murderer’s row–Harpo, Chico, Zeppo–all these brothers are comedy assassins. They’re just killer.”

On July 21st, Laurence Fishburne gets into the hot seat and talks about the actor that most influenced his career: Dennis Hopper. “When I met Dennis Hopper, I was 15. I had no idea who this cat was. He was like no other person I had ever experienced. He was completely free and in the moment, and he was bound by no rules at all. So I thought, ‘I want to know how you do that. How do you do that?’”

On July 28th, the series ends with a knock-out interview with the ever-cool, ever-talented Quentin Tarantino. As Mitchell says of Tarantino: “There is no living person who knows movies better than he does.”

(TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell: Under The Influence premieres on Monday, July 7th at 8:00 p.m. on the Turner Classic Movies Channel.)

To help whet your appetite for these interviews, here’s a little primer on some of the works you should get your hands on from each of these talented individuals:

Sydney Pollack - As famed for his acting as he is for his directing, Pollack had a long and illustrious career. To get a sense of how he grew as a director, start with They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? which takes place in the 1930s and stars Jane Fonda as a woman who sees a dance marathon as her last shot at redemption. Next, check out The Way We Were, the love story of all love stories starring Barbra Streisand and a beautiful Robert Redford. Next, check out Tootsie starring Dustin Hoffman as the actor who finds more success as an actress. Finally, there’s The Interpreter, Pollack’s last movie, which stars Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn in a tale of intrigue and deception, and takes place at the United Nations.

Bill Murray - The actor who got his start on Saturday Night Live sure has come a long way since his starring roles in some of the 1980’s silliest movies: Meatballs, Caddyshack, and Stripes. He’s the same actor who’s done some of his finest work in more understated fare, such as The Razors Edge (in his first dramatic performance), Rushmore, The Royal Tennenbaums, and the performance that earned him his first Best Actor Oscar nomination, the beautiful Lost In Translation.

Laurence Fishburne - Fishburne got his start in films early (and sort of illegally). For his film debut in Apocalypse Now, the then 14-year-old actually forged his birth certificate just to get a part in the film! Now that’s determination! Fast forward several years later and Fishburne had supporting roles in two high- profile movies–The Cotton Club and The Color Purple. The movie that brought Fishburne to star status was 1991’s Boyz in the Hood. From there, he starred as Ike Turner in What’s Love Got to Do With It, the starring role in Othello, and the role that made him a superstar, Morpheus in The Matrix trilogy.

Quentin Tarantino - His love for movies started when he was a clerk in a video store, but his talent for directing just came naturally. And boy did he start off with a bang! With 1992’s Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino told the story of a jewelry heist gone terribly wrong–a seemingly simple tale, yes, but in Tarantino’s hands, it was pure gold. With his use of flashbacks, forwarding and fast forwarding, Tarantino took an otherwise mundane story and turned it upside down and inside out, and thus became the darling of critics and audiences. And with Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, and Kill Bill as follow-ups, Tarantino is a director that will be studied in film schools for years to come.

(For a quick peek at these interviews, click here.)

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