Cocktails in film and TV, from Sex and the City’s Cosmopolitan to The Big Lebowski’s White Russian to James Bond’s martini, and how they shape our tastes
- Movies and TV shows have influenced cocktail culture almost since the dawn of Hollywood, from Mary Pickfords to Pina Coladas to Carrie Bradshaw’s Cosmopolitan
- Elvis Presley popularised Mai Tais in Blue Hawaii, as did Tom Cruise Kamikazes in Cocktail. But the most famous of all is the one 007 had ‘shaken, not stirred’
I love films. My first cinema experience was in 1995, when my grandfather took me to watch Waterworld, a post-apocalyptic action flick in which the world is submerged in water and the star, Kevin Costner, lives on a trimaran with his half-mutated gills in search of the mythological Dryland.
The heady smell of popcorn is still in my head. Not that Waterworld became my favourite film. Not at all. The experience, however, instilled in me a lifelong love of movies.
Fast forward a few decades, and having worked in hospitality and, more specifically, as a bartender, I realised that movies and cocktails have always been closely intertwined in popular culture.
My love affair with cinema began during my time at the American Bar at the Savoy Hotel in London. There, while trying to keep my cool, I was lucky enough to serve cocktails to some of the biggest stars.
