Quotes

[on the origin of The Zero Theorem (2013)] It was originally inspired by the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible. "Emptiness, emptiness, emptiness, all is empty." The speaker of that, Koheleth - which is where I got the name Cohen [The Zero Theorem's main character] - is basically bemoaning the fact that if there is no afterlife, what does it profit a man to live a good life, or any kind of life? It's the first Old Testament complaint, I believe - some kind of life after death. [2013]

One of the exercises I have students do is write a three- to five-page theme on any topic, and then the following week, I ask them to cut it by 25 percent. It's part of the craft. [2013]

[on being an extra in The Zero Theorem (2013)] My wife Mary and I flew to Romania for a week of shooting, and the first thing Terry Gilliam did was send us to wardrobe so we could serve as extras. It was the best way for me to feel truly involved. [2013]

[on writing The Zero Theorem (2013)] I wrote the first draft in 10 days. It was 145 pages long, and I had no idea what I was doing. I simply checked out some screenwriting books from the UCF library, along with several screenplays. Coincidentally enough, one of those screenplays was Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985). And after that came draft after draft. With each new player who came on board, there was another rewrite. Every time I thought the project was dead in the water, I'd get a call from Dean Zanuck revving me back up. With endless faith, he told me repeatedly, "We're going to make this movie, Pat." [2013]

[his experiences on the set of The Zero Theorem (2013)] When I showed up Monday morning for the park scene, Terry [director Terry Gilliam] took one look at me and said, "Get this man to wardrobe!" He did the same with my wife, and we ended up working two days as extras, walking around in the background, sitting on a park bench in the background. Terry said that as long as I was sitting, I might as well do some writing. He needed some messages that Mancom would scroll across the screens at the work stations - Mancom Motivationals we called them. Things like "Pedal harder! Unemployment's catching up with you!" So in the only scene where my wife and I survived the cutting room floor, you can see us sitting in the background, Mary reading London's Future News and me, briefcase propped on my lap, writing Mancom Motivationals. I think Terry liked the postmodern irony of the writer actually writing on film. [2013]

I teach creative writing in the English Department at University of Central Florida (UCF) - have done so for the past 30 years - and for the past 15 years or so, I've taught a lot of online classes. So, like Qohen Leth [in The Zero Theorem (2013)], I sit in front of a computer screen much of the day "crunching entities". The benefits? I'm my own boss. I say when and how I work. Although I have a bunch of bosses a.k.a. students who don't let me rest long between classes. The enjoyments? I get to read and write all the livelong day. Pure bliss for me. [2013]