Wolfgang Hammer

And no one cares what I think was good or bad on a personal moral level.

But on a narrative level, I think it's absolutely fascinating that you have someone willing to step out on such limbs all the time.

And yes, everything is in some ways a death project.

Absolutely.

Who feels that creativity, the art of creating negates death and therefore is the purest expression of a battle against the inevitable?

And Tolkien has this famous clip on YouTube.

I think all stories are about death and I think he's absolutely right because it's the ultimate stakes.

And it's the stakes everyone lives with every day and we get up and do things anyways.

I think it has to do with a perceived power differential, that we're completely powerless in the face of death, at least for now.

And that is a fantasy to acquire more power.

And then because we have this capacity to imagine the future, and we can imagine really much anything, we have an ability to create our own cherished outcome.

They're overcoming this weakness with the power fantasy.

Robert Towne, who was a great screenwriter and wrote Chinatown, and he recently died.

Wonderful life and a wonderful career.

He said this to me at lunch years ago when I was a young executive.

He said, stories are either desires fulfilled or anxieties purged.

And I think he's right.

These are great minds who've made great films.

And it's never left me.

I think it has to do with overcoming basic human condition.