Raúl Castillo's Closet Picks

The actor, known for his performances in LOOKING, WE THE ANIMALS, and THE INSPECTION, talks about two classics that inspired him to make movies and his love of Orson Welles’s gift for self-reinvention.

Raúl will next be seen in Roger Ross Williams's CASSANDRO, which will be in theaters this fall.

[bobathey]

So awesome to see someone use their opportunity to be in the Criterion closet for donating to their public library!

[iamangieh]

so much love and respect to him from me in our little town 🙋🏻‍♀

[OldBluesChapterandVerse]

How beautiful that he’s going to donate the bulk of that overstuffed bag to the collection of his hometown library. ❤

[walteranders]

Huge respect to his craft and humble donations to the public libraries. I go to a library in my city and they have a great collection of criterion dvds. Cheers and humble thank you for your Love of art on film.

[throwbow]

He made me ball my eyes out with one of his scenes in Cha Cha Real Smooth, dude is an underrated talent I’m so happy he’s getting more work.

[azohundred]

Le Samouraï (1967), directed by Jean-Pierre Melville and starring Alain Delon, is a French Film Noir masterpiece. Glad to see it get a mention.

[postmodernrecycler]

That is so sweet he did that at the end. Also, totally just got transported to my childhood library where I discovered there were whole other worlds out there.

[film_magician]

That bag was filled TO THE BRIM when he picked the first movie lol. What else did he grab?

[JLSTibu]

The vast majority of guests have the disposable income to buy whichever criterion release they want if not the entire collection multiple times, so I really believe giving their picks away is the best approach.

[nickoffury]

I had a weird interaction with this man. Met him at the bar of a Beyonce concert in the uk last May, I complimented his jacket and he was very generous, let me and my friends go in front of him and thought nothing of it. Until my friend told me who he was and I watched him on Looking right after. Such a lovely, lovely man.

[michaelfairbairn]

Just when I thought I couldn't admire Raul Castillo more! I love that, like me, he was a library kid.

[SpoookyBooogie]

Fucking grade A human being. Even if I was rich, I’d have a hard time donating the movies I got from the closet! Very sweet of him to do that. Shoutout to public libraries all around, they’re incredible

[Theomite]

He might not be wrong. A new generation of movie collectors are coming up and learning about boutique labels so going to the local library and finding a large assortment of Blu-rays and DVDs from the OG boutique might actually be what they need.

[bencaplan]

I met him like three weeks ago working on a movie! I was a production assistant! He’s so cool, but if I’d known he’d done this I would have talked to him more. Instead I awkwardly made it on his Instagram story… he’s still really cool

[Nicole-]

RAUL!!!! This was the greatest surprise to stumble on this morning:) A sparkle on camera, killer style, big beautiful heart! Will follow his performances wherever he goes. I'm just going to throw a plug out there for anyone who hasn't seen it--Most recently caught his performance in The Same Storm directed by Peter Hedges. Although a small part in an ensemble-style film, he brings such tenderness and humanity❤❤❤

[titansaint]

i love the donating to his public library. i live in texas and have been to mcallen before and it is a place very deserving of these films!

[realjohnhammond]

I miss Looking - they should never have cancelled that show!

[TheJohnDoeLibraryRoom.]

He clearly picked more than six titles!

[orionfoote]

Very cool gesture there at the end - especially as many smaller libraries just wouldn’t have the budget to splash out on nice editions like this stuff.

[TTM]

Best jacket ever in the closet, and what a great thing to do for your childhood library!