Hey, People!
My heart goes out to everyone feeling the heartbreaking weight of what is becoming of our culture and country. Our president is leader of several American terrorist organizations whether he claims to be or not. Some only have one member.
Shitty week last week for decent, caring humans. For horrible, shitty people I guess it was an exciting week. How many of those horrible, shitty people are there, really? More than we thought. I guess it’s good that we can see them all now. Encouraged shamelessness brings them out of their holes. The problem is, they may never go back in.
Vote. Maybe that will work. It won’t solve it but it will at the very least make us feel like there may be hope for the system.
I’ve been on the set of the Joker movie all week. The first day I was to work on my scene with Robert De Niro was the day they found a bomb at his restaurant. I was driving into Brooklyn and the Teamster driving me was the one who gave me the news. We didn’t know whether or not he was going to come in but we hadn’t heard anything else so we drove to the studio. De Niro was there already. He was dealing with it in his trailer, on the phone. When he came out to set he wasn’t flustered or distracted. He had resolve. We talked about it a bit as we got comfortable with each other in between takes. I don’t want to say what we talked about because he doesn’t talk much publicly, or with me, really. So, I don’t want to give anyone anything that he wouldn’t want to give them himself. Respect.
It was a horrible day and a great day. We talked about Johnny Carson, Ray Liotta, and Scorsese a bit. Not a lot. A little. Just making small talk between takes. I think I did ok. It all happened so fast. I didn’t really say much to Joaquin. I did not feel like it was my place. He was in it. There was a bug light intensity around him and I didn’t want to be a bug.
I’m here for another week. I’m not doing much on set now other than standing there in character and watching Phoenix and De Niro do take after take but it’s a learning experience. It’s also exciting to see them as just people doing their job. One thing show business is doing to me, at least my small part in it, is ruining my ability to keep anyone up on a pedestal. I guess that’s good. Humans.
Today I talk to human being Zoe Kazan about the film she and Paul Dano wrote and produced called Wildlife. I talk to her about growing up in the biz a bit and her evolution as an artist. On Thursday I talk to The Who frontman Roger Daltrey about being Roger Daltrey, one of Rock’s archetypal performers. Great talks.
Enjoy!
Boomer lives!
Love,
Maron