Dana Spiotta is the guest on the latest episode of Otherppl with Brad Listi. Her new novel, Innocents and Others, is available now from Scribner. It is the official May selection of The Nervous Breakdown Book Club. (Photo credit: Erik Madigan Heck, NY Times)
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Please explain what just happened.
Just got back from San Diego Comicon. It’s like Woodstock for nerds. Which is why I love it! I did a panel for my new film about artist Drew Struzan titled Drew: The Man Behind the Poster. I was lucky enough to share the stage with my favorite artist Drew Struzan, actor Thomas Jane, producer Charles Ricciardi, cinematographer Greg Boas, editor Jeff Yorkes, Steve Saffel (Titan Books), composer Ryan Shore, and Zach Martin from Skywalker Sound. We had a great time doing it, and it really helped bring attention to the film.
What is your earliest memory?
Okay, this is super nerdy, but my earliest memory is seeing the original Star Wars in the theatre when I was a little kid. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Darth Vader totally scared me. And Han Solo became my hero. I know it’s geeky, but true.
Yesterday Harvey Weinstein announced that he’s rejecting the “R” rating the MPAA assigned to The Weinstein Company’s unflinching look at peer abuse in the documentary film Bully despite the fact that the film is intended for the under-17-year-old demographic it documents. Here’s a quick clip:
Stomach growled, reached for coffee, repeat.
Having removed all my clothes to scratch at rapidly emerging chicken pox. I remember being naked and wandering the house in search of a parent to inform. I was, like, 3 years old. Where the hell were my parents, anyway?
I just got back to Manhattan after a bumpy month in Havana. I was chased by Cuban police while trying to illegally interview Cuban boxers and their families for my film Hero Traitor Madness: The Guillermo Rigondeaux Story. The basic deal over there that I have a little trouble cottoning to is agreeing to pay people under the table to tell me how they turned down millions. But there it is.
A neighbor girl’s pretty face smiling at me from her window. She was six and I was pushing three.
My dream has always been to be mistaken for a jinetero (Cuban male prostitute) and questioned by police while in the company of a Cubana who in turn would be mistaken for a tourist. No dice as yet.
I just finished the film and moved to Berlin. I have citizenship because my grandparents were German Jews that fled during WWII.
Being in the womb. What are all those bubbles mommy?
Zoologist. Animals are a lot nicer to deal with than humans. When I was a kid I wanted to be a garbage man or junk man.
Please explain what just happened.
I was born. I am living. What else could have happened that mattered?
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