“America was established not to create wealth but to realize a vision, to realize an ideal – to discover and maintain liberty among men.”

- Woodrow Wilson

“When a person is lucky enough to live inside a story, to live inside an imaginary world, the pains of this world disappear. For as long as the story goes on, reality no longer exists.”

- Paul Auster The Brooklyn Follies: A Novel

“I descended the steps of this fire escape for a last time and followed, from then on, in my father’s footsteps, attempting to find in motion what was lost in space…”

- Tennessee Williams The Glass Menagerie

]]> http://www.suckatashproductions.com/blog/2009/12/a-green-fire-escape-in-manhattan/feed/ 0 http://www.suckatashproductions.com/blog/2009/10/nyc/ http://www.suckatashproductions.com/blog/2009/10/nyc/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:22:19 +0000 suff http://www.suckatashproductions.com/blog/?p=1253

Here’s a morning shot from another trip to Manhattan, this time while I was working on the film “Munich”.  It was an early call to set that day, and fortunately, I had my little point-and-push Kyocera on hand to capture the sun slowing lighting up the town.

This location served as the backdrop for the last scene in the movie, which poignantly concludes with a view of the twin towers of the World Trade Center rendered into the city’s skyline.  I remember being on set and overhearing the talk of where the towers would be computer generated into the frame, and it was only then that I think I truly realized what a devastating sense of loss all New Yorkers must feel every time they see their own city and those buildings aren’t there…

Ah, autumn.  My favorite time of the year, and man, do I miss it.  While we’ve finally gotten a break from the ridiculous ninety and even hundred degree temperatures here in Southern California, nothing beats the crisp air of October back in the Midwest.  To pull out your sweaters, buried deep in the closet, and to put your shorts and sandals away for months to come.  To tailgate at a football game and throw around the pigskin, or to just take a long walk through the park and appreciate the beauty of the trees changing seasons.  Unfortunately, we don’t get to appreciate such pleasures here in LA, but when it’s 72 and sunny in January, you learn to live with it.

The above pic is from a fall day on the West side of Manhattan.  It was my first time in NYC.  I was there for the filming of “War of the Worlds,” much of which we shot across the river in New Jersey.  I could not have been more fortunate than to be introduced to such an amazing city at such a gorgeous time of year.  I wanted to move there so badly.   A couple of days after taking this photo, however, George W. Bush was re-elected President, and then suddenly, Europe became the “apple” of my eye instead.  I would still love to live in New York though for at least a while.  Perhaps this time next year…