“The best things that I ever did, or at least that helped me, was doing commercials. They’ve helped me not care because commercial auditions are very random and strange and you do the weirdest things in them. I’ve had to wrestle an alligator....
“I think the people who have done okay in this business are people who are persistent despite the desperate struggles. I mean, I’ve never had a film that didn’t have a very dark moment where I really wanted out. And I hated the subject, I hated the...
“So I was in a bit of a rut, around 40, you know, midlife crisis, been there, done that. And then, I did some MDMA and went to a rave, and everything changed. It was fantastic….It’s great for creativity because it makes your brain work in different...
“Just try new things. I mean, my whole life has been fun because I was willing to try writing screenplays, try writing a novel, try lecturing on the brain. Don’t be timid about it. Go for it. You can do it…also, you will want to give up many times....
“And I said, I don’t know any editor. The only editor I’ve ever heard of is Jacqueline Onassis, and he said, she might be interested in this. And so he submitted the proposal to her…and that was it. The first time I went to her...
