Filmmaker Errol Morris has a fantastic website full of all kinds of good stuff. While roaming around, I found this short. Morris was asked to create an opening film for the 2002 Academy Awards to replace the host-driven dance number that normally kicks off the show. Morris talked with close to 100 politicians, writers, artists and celebrities about movies -- their favorites and why, what they get from movies, etc. He used his now famous interviewing method, which has him sitting out of sight in a curtained booth while his subject sits directly in front of the camera. Morris calls this camera the "interrotron." It has a screen displaying Morris and that's how he asks his follow-up questions and directs his subjects. You can hear Morris asking questions in a lot of his films, and you can in this short as well. He kind of barks his questions, and it's great to hear this passionate voice coming out of nowhere. I wonder if the yelling, barking voice is just Morris' personality or an effect of being seperated from his subjects (you know, the same effect that causes some people to talk really loudly on a cell phone). Anyway, this short features the late Susan Sontag , Laura Bush, Iggy Pop and Laurie Anderson , among others (when do you ever expect to see Laura Bush in a string of names with Susan Sontag, Iggy Pop, and Laurie Anderson. Weird).
