Craig Brewer

You know, I really love my father.

He was in shipping, but he loved movies and going to plays and movies.

We – that was probably the way that we threw the ball around in our own way was going to see movies together.

And when I wrote my first movie, I sent it off to my dad and he read it and he gave me like such a great final – like final thing to say to me where he was like, don't be afraid.

Like film this movie with no money and like a digital video camera and don't apologize for it.

It was the last thing he said to me because later on he died of a sudden heart attack and he was a healthy guy.

My mother gave me like 20 grand of inheritance that I got from his passing and I made my first film with it.

I sometimes think about how –

My father has never met my children.

My father has never seen any of my films.

But he's completely responsible for it all.

His driving force and the final things that he said to me and just everything kind of like filled me with this desire to do the best.

And so I just remember when I saw the documentary and I was like, this guy –

poured everything he could into the love of Neil Diamond and claimed that the music of Neil Diamond saved him and kept him sober and helped him deal with the visions of Vietnam that he had experienced as a tunnel rat and yet did not get to meet him.

Even when Neil Diamond was coming into town, he passed before that could happen.

Later, of course, Claire got to meet him.

There's a wonderful picture of the two of them in the documentary where Neil Diamond's

holding on to claire sardina and you know he always had a standing ticket at all the shows for her and so it's bittersweet because it's the thing that's sad but it but i remember seeing it and and this weird part of me inside was going like that's kind of perfect for story you know it's a people are gonna they're gonna be mad that he never got to me um

Yeah.

It was late.