“It is interesting the slice of life you see working at the front desk of a hotel, from those on a joyful holiday to coming to see sick relatives. I was in the production side of the film business and worked for MTV during the 80’s. A friend introduced me to Brendan O’Conner, a wealthy man who built his fortune in shipping, but had cancer and a prognosis to live two years. He got into the film industry to do something good for Louisiana and I moved to Baton Rouge to help him start a movie studio. The first step was getting the 35 percent tax credit passed for making films there. Brandon committed $300 million of his own money to create Celtic Media Center and we started making movies. It was quite something. It is one of the best movie studios in the world. Brandon did pass away after two years. We hired hundreds of people and got to pay them well. I spent a lot of time working in the South. When you talk to people in the South, they are looking for the answer yes and are willing to help. In the North they are looking for the answer no. I retired from movies after we made ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ and moved to Maine because I have family here and we own an old camp in northern Maine. I need to be by the ocean. I was born in Manhattan and grew up in Long Island. In the winter I go to Florence, Italy. I have gone from 3 weeks to 3 months. I need to take that break in the winter. It is lovely in Maine now, but winters are tough. Two winters ago it snowed every day. It snowed down, it snowed up, left, right, wet, dry. I never warmed up. Windshield wipers were frozen to the windshield. If I can get away to Italy, it resets me. It is a civilized pace and I live humbly when I am there. I go to the opera and the market and purchase produce with old ladies. It is an easy world to fit into.”