1: How do we know you?
I had a short stint working at Interview Magazine for the late Tibor Kalman. I had just graduated from college and my last job was working as a White House Advance Man. You can imagine the culture shock of entering ground zero of New York’s Downtown scene after working at the White House.
Ironically, there was more dysfunction at the magazine than the halls of power, but one figure who always remained unruffled and gracious was Patrick McMullan. We quickly became friends and I was essentially ushered into the downtown scene. There is no place like New York City.
2: What is your latest project?
I just completed two projects. A sci-fi movie we shot in Dublin and a new pilot that recently aired on Fox. We are waiting to hear if it goes to series.
3: Where are you living?
Malibu California with my lovely wife of 14 years Katherine Kousi and my three rambunctious but charming boys: Aidan (10), Truman (8), and Fergus (4). Also, 4 dogs.
4: What don’t we know about you?
I have bees and a large organic vegetable garden.
5: What is your favorite travel destination?
Should be a plural.
Destinations: Paris, Kauai, Aspen.
6: What inspires you?
I majored in History, primarily Intellectual History. I have always been inspired by ideas and how they evolve, gestate, and manifest themselves in civilization. We are living in an incredibly interesting time and the velocity of change is so great ideas are having a hard time reaching the public in any profound way. America has ADD while China is thinking 30 years down the road.
7: If not yourself, who would you be?
Teddy Roosevelt.
8: What book is your bible?
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essays on Self Reliance were probably the most influential in my life. God/Nature or Nature/God. It’s hard to separate the two, but I believe there is a supreme intelligence in the universe. Some organized religions really take issue with this because they believe we are more evolved than much of the natural world around us. While there is truth to some of that, I believe mankind’s separation from nature is at the heart of our problems.
9: What is your favorite word?
YES!
10: Who is your biggest hero?
My mother and my late father. They loved each other like teenagers to the end. And more importantly, they knew how to have fun.
11: How would you define success?
He who dies with the most friends wins.
12: What would the last question of this questionnaire be if you were the one asking?
Why is everyone so damned scared?
Our lives are longer and healthier than ever before. We are more knowledgeable than ever. Our capacity for self-education and self-correction is historically unparalleled. And yet, we are scared. Kids aren’t allowed to go ride bikes around the neighborhood anymore because parents think it’s too dangerous. America is consumed with anxiety. The boldness and courage required by our ancestors that built this nation is in short supply. I think it may have a profoundly disturbing impact on our future. I really want America to crawl out from under the table and get back in the game. Now where’s that beer?