Downton Abbey's Matthew Goode Picks 5 Cult Classics—and Yes, He Included Jaws

So naturally, the first film on his list is Jaws — the movie that invented the blockbuster and made Steven Spielberg a household name overnight.

Goode calls it "an absolute classic which struck the fear of God into me as a child," which is fine and true — but also wildly off-topic. Jaws had lines around the block, grossed over $470 million worldwide, and still gets re-released with merch. It's not cult. It's culture. Including it in a list of cult favorites is like putting The Beatles on a list of obscure garage bands.

Fortunately, Goode mostly redeems himself with the rest of his picks. While not all of them are deep cuts, they at least come with the kind of underdog backstory or offbeat legacy that earns the label.

Here's the full list of Goode's five "cult" favorites:

• Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975) — Not cult. Just massive.
• The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994) — Flopped in theaters, conquered on VHS. TNT aired it into immortality.
• The Big Lebowski (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1998) — Nobody cared on release; now it has its own fan festival.
• Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993) — Commercial success, but weird and smart enough to earn long-term devotion.
• A Matter of Life and Death (Powell and Pressburger, 1946) — The only true cult film here by strict definition, and easily the most overlooked.

Goode's list appeared in a piece he wrote for Metro as part of his role as ambassador for the Jameson Cult Film Club — a group that hosts screenings of offbeat classics in eccentric venues. Goode, who's popped up in everything from The Imitation Game to Cemetery Junction, clearly has a soft spot for movies that sit just outside the mainstream.

But even with the misstep of including a megahit like Jaws, he makes a decent case for each selection — especially Shawshank, which famously underperformed in 1994 but found second life through word of mouth and endless cable reruns. It's now so beloved it regularly tops "best movies ever made" lists, despite nobody actually seeing it in theaters at the time.

So is Goode's taste suspect? Only mildly. But it does raise the question of how far the term "cult classic" can stretch before it just means "movie I like." If Jaws qualifies, then what doesn't? Titanic? Avengers: Endgame?

Still, for a mainstream actor with a side gig as a cult movie spokesperson, Goode gets close enough. He's got four out of five. We'll just pretend the shark never happened.