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Whereas at Narita Airport, there wasnt anybody without a mask; they took the precautions seriously.
Japan on March 19 looked like Los Angeles does today.
Its myself and, initially, an editor in Tokyo, and then myself and an editor here.
Working with Ansel Elgort has been fantastic, and I think everybodys excited about the show.
I know what Daniel Day Lewis is doing in Connecticut.
I go out early in the morning, and we make runs to the grocery store.
The mood seems wary.
Theres slightly more traffic than there was a week ago.
I havent been home this much during the day and night for a long time.
Its pretty great that my wife and I get to spend a lot of time together.
She spends her time in the studio painting, or sewing masks and baby clothes.
Our family gets together on Zoom.
Weve got three grandchildren.
My daughter Ami was shooting a two-hour pilot in Spain.
She got out on the last plane, and she self-quarantined.
Her husband, whos a political scientist, and my granddaughter were with us in Japan in February.
Another daughter and another granddaughter are home.
Another daughter and grandson, whose name is Jack Mann McKinley Jack Mann is my fathers name are home.
So, a lot of kid pictures get circulated on Zoom.
Theres been a lot of consuming of media, and staying up very late.
I sense that the inventory of current programming is going to get depleted.
Ive been reading a lot of books, particularly [John] le Carre.
I readAfter Darkby [Haruki] Murakami.The Ballad of a Small Playerby Larry Osborne.In a Lonely Placeby Dorothy Hughes.
A bio on Miles Davis.
AndAsphalt Jungleby John Huston andOut of the Pastby Jacques Tourneur.
When was the last time you sawAsphalt Jungle?
I have seen it about three times.
It doesnt [get the respect today that it should].
It did at the time.
But its a brilliant, brilliant film.
Those performances are staggering: Sam Jaffe, Sterling Hayden, theyre all great.
I also binged Jason Bateman and Andrew BernsteinsOzark.
The news is unwatchable.
But youre sucked into it anyway.
The self-serving sociopathy of Trump is in such stunning display.
Whats stunning is the transparency of that, the lack of any pretense.
That there is an underestimation of the amount of anger out there.
We saw a hint of it in Wisconsin.
So Im cautiously optimistic.
Trump was never very effective as an executive of any endeavor.
But hes clever and smart at how he manipulates the instruments right at his fingertips.
Now, were seeing the consequences of that, with the sheer failure of organizational competence because of understaffing.
So, its a real bizarre time.
I think that there is no playbook for whats coming next.
No matter how things go back together, life is not going to be the same.
When was the last time the entire globe was living spontaneously?
There was a sense of unified awareness.
The difference right now is that its all happening in real time.
Its like a science-fiction movie, you know, where theres a threat to the Planet Vega!
You get to Planet Vega, and everybody there is all tuned in to the same channel simultaneously.
Well, thats us now; were all on the same channel simultaneously.
Thats never happened before.
