WHERE DO YOU WRITE FROM?
The Bay Area oil town of Richmond, California, from a home office facing a blank wall, with the college radio playing.
WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO WRITE ABOUT MOVIES?
Love and obsession. Old 1920s theaters, bigger than churches, were still around when I started out. I was drawn to them out of sheer anthropology. And when I was growing up in LA, cinema was the only game in town except for aviation. Planes still make me uneasy.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE GENRE?
While I hate to limit it, ultimately I think I enjoy larger than life film more than anything else: grand theatrical performances, Warner Brothers cartoons, German Expressionism, noir.
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE MOVIES?
L'Atalante by Jean Vigo, Mars Attacks! by Tim Burton, Goldfinger by Guy Hamilton, Weekend by Jean-Luc Godard, High Hopes by Mike Leigh, Touch of Evil by Orson Welles, The Gleaners and I by Agnes Varda, Singin' in the Rain by Kelley and Donen, Sherlock Jr. by Buster Keaton, The Lady Eve by Preston Sturges and Feed the Kitty by Chuck Jones.
WHO ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE DIRECTORS?
Fritz Lang, Orson Welles, Tim Burton, Frank Tashlin, Godard, Preston Sturges, Buster Keaton, F.W. Murnau....
WHAT'S THE CRAZIEST COMMENT YOU'VE EVER GOTTEN?
I got some dung in a plastic bag in the mail once: "Here's some dialectical materialism for you! The
Kremlin dishes it out every day!" If you're going to be Commie-bated, you definitely want someone to take a
new angle on an old libel.
WHAT ARE THE BEST PERKS OF THIS GIG?
It's not fair, really: you get respect from strangers sometimes just for doing something you always wanted to do. Also you get to meet your heroes and pay back a little of what they gave out.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT WRITING FOR CINEMATICAL?
The instant response to something you write and the community of writers here.
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_thumbnail.jpg "Watchmen Storyboards")
