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Variance Films releases How to Live Forever at the Quad Cinema on May 13th, 2011. NYC MOVIE GURU: How did you find the right balance between entertaining the audience and provoking them emotionally as well as intellectually? Mark Wexler: Often people think that with documentaries, someone is lecturing to them. I think documentaries need to entertain as well as inform. That’s one of my primary goals in making a film. I’m very much attracted to the, sort of, quirky and funny aspects of life, and I wanted this documentary to have those aspects. The subject of aging, for some, is something that they don’t want to think about, so I wanted to approach the movie in a way that the people would be able to see the good about getting old and see a bit about themselves. NYC MOVIE GURU: What was the editing process like? MW: We had over 150 hours of material shot over a 4-year period, so a lot of the film was put together in the editing room. I must give my editor, Bob DeMaio, a lot of credit for shaping the movie along with me. We interviewed people for the movie that didn’t make the final cut. That’s always a very difficult process. They were quite articulate and saying interesting things, but didn’t quite fit in to the structure of the film. There are a few people that I wanted to interview that I wasn’t able to. I wanted to interview Woody Allen because he talks in a funny way about death, dying, life and bigger issues, but I could never get that interview. We interviewed a wide range of people from a Japanese porn star to a scientist to centenarians, and comedians. NYC MOVIE GURU: How challenging was it to withhold your own judgment about each interview subject? MW: That’s something that’s really important to me in my films. I try not to judge people in a film or in real life, too. I’m glad that that comes across because I think that people are what they are. I just don’t like to pass judgment on them or their lifestyle. NYC MOVIE GURU: How willing were your subjecting to disclose their age immediately? How did you earn their trust? MW: Most people were willing to disclose their age right away, especially the really old people because they’re proud of who they are. There were quite a few people in their 40’s and 50’s who didn’t want to tell us their age. As for earning my subjects’ trust, I’m told that I’m a pretty good listener, and when I’m listening to people, I don’t think they feel judged which I think helps to build that trust. I hang out with them so they get a sense of who I am so that they know that I won’t film them in an unflattering way which is never my approach. NYC MOVIE GURU: Did you feel overwhelmed by the broad, complex subject matter of aging at any point? MW: Yes, many times. When you start a film, you have somewhat of an idea of where it’s going, and as you get into it, the film’s trajectory changes. There was so much that I wanted to include. It became a first person movie because I wanted it to be a throughline throughout the movie, and then be able to touch upon all these different topics. There were some challenges when it came to including a lot of subjects in a coherent way, but I think that it works. NYC MOVIE GURU: How would you answer the question posed in the film about whether or not you’d like to live 500 more years? MW: I think it depends on what day you ask me that question. After making the movie, I came to believe that it’s less about the length of one’s life than about quality of one’s life and being able to live your life in the moment, in a productive way, and being able to choose your own path in life. NYC MOVIE GURU: What have you learned from your prior experiences as a documentarian that helped you with this particular experience? MW: I really enjoy interviewing people and finding out their stories. I think that I probably got better at interviewing people and, kind of, leading conversations certain ways, and listening to them. I showed the movie to several hundred people in Richard Brown’s class. The whole audience was laughing many times throughout, and very loudly, and I thought to myself, “This is exactly what I wanted to happen.” I’m really happy to make people laugh at themselves and at the world. Main Page Interviews Menu Alphabetical Menu Chronological Menu ______________________________________________________ |
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