“If you’ve done well in the business that you wanted to do well in, then it is your obligation to spend a good portion of your time sending the elevator back down.”
– Kevin Spacey
Q: What keeps you going? What get’s you up in the morning?
KS: We had dinner one night on the beach. We decided to play a game and the game was you had to describe the most important thing in life using one word. So we went around table. You got health, wealth, family, money. It came to John Huston and he said “Interest.” “Interest.” “Interest” that’s the most important thing in life. And I feel that is something that I have adopted. The idea of being interested in things that I don’t know rather than things that I do know. Peeling back the layer again and again of putting yourself in situations that are challenging and new, that are compelling, and ask of yourself something different than you’ve ever done before. And sometimes this means doing things that scare you and things that you’re not sure you can succeed at.
I suppose that is why I have always loved the theatre and why I love doing plays over anything else. There’s a ritual to it. There’s also this incredible thing about it where it’s like you are walking on a tight rope. Feeling like you have nothing below you but your faith in what you are doing, your appreciation of the words and the story the author has written and your trust in your fellow company members.
Q: Do you feel that taking risks gets easier and easier over time?