This wall is a work in progress. Anything that goes up there has to inspire me and make me happy just to look at. It’s the room I spend the most time in. The sunset light coming in is always so intense I have to make sure I close the curtains – I don’t want these pieces to fade! But it looked so pretty with the light on it, I thought I’d snap a picture. (I took one thing down over on the left hand side and have yet to find a replacement.) The Hamilton poster, bought for me by my mother when we went to go see the show on Broadway (to date one of my favorite theatre experiences, as well as one of my favorite experiences with me and my mom). The Alfred Wertheimer Elvis shot which has been my banner for years now, and cousin Mike gave me this as a gift after the workshop of my script in Los Angeles: it’s an original and it’s SIGNED by Alfred Wertheimer. A collage my beloved aunt Regina made. The Sam Shaw photograph of John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands, which has been on my walls – in probably 10 different apartments – since I was 25 years old. I tore the photo out of an Interview magazine years ago (you can still see the tear down the middle). And then, crazy, the Elvis Presley Boulevard street sign – an actual street sign – which my brother found in a second-hand store in Los Angeles and bought it for me. Plus, I framed my first cover story for Film Comment, on Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread. If I lose heart, if I feel like I’m not getting anywhere fast enough, a quick glance at that makes me remember how far I’ve come. Oh and over to the left: my dad’s really old wooden filing cabinet. I treasure it. On top of it: the “golden thumb” statue/plaque I got when my short film, July and Half of August played at Ebertfest. I placed the statue on one of the embroidered handkerchiefs my O’Malley grandmother made. She’s been dead for years now, and this is one of her possessions and I love having it. That weird cool light I inherited from my old roommate, Jen (I interviewed her recently about being an acting teacher). She was getting rid of it and I thought it was so whimsical and odd she gave it to me. It sheds no real light, it’s more of a delicate dim glow, but it makes me feel peaceful when I turn it on, particularly in the early morning when I’m up before the dawn. Powerful talismans, all.
