(cheerful music)
[Martin] I would say this is somebody
whom I think you're going to appreciate
very unique and strong points of view of life.
And when I say hate football
that doesn't mean football should be against the law.
It simply means I'm not watching football.
They could be playing the Super Bowl in my living room,
I wouldn't walk down the hall.
You will find her thoughts to be really entertaining
and provocative, aside from being funny
and truthful.
When people see this,
they'll see this was shot before COVID existed.
And so, this comes from me
being in the streets of New York,
being incredibly angry at all the tourists
who would like stand in the middle of the sidewalk
like chatting or looking at their phones,
and I would yell at them.
I would say, "Move!"
"Pretend it's a city."
And now, Fran, people are saying,
"Oh, it's a love letter to New York."
Yeah, now people have said to me,
"This is a love letter to New York."
I said, "Really?"
"When we made it, it was me complaining about New York."
Yeah, but that's like... that's a love letter too.
Yes, it's a kind of love.
You know, that's the love there is.
First of all, 10 years is a long time,
even to someone my age it's a pretty long time.
Yeah, Fran, but it hasn't felt like 10... I mean,
I can't believe it's been 10 years.
It's just that it's been a long process and
it hasn't been like we haven't been talking about this or
trying to create something
that began with "Public Speaking,"
but this is where it ended up.
New York has changed, even without the virus,
probably more than I have changed
because I have very rarely changed my mind,
not just from 10 years ago
but even from when I was a little kid.
When I went with Marty,
Marty wanted to scout the library,
the New York Public Library.
When we came into the library that day I said,
"You know, Marty, I don't understand
your idea about the library."
And he said, "I don't have an idea about the library.
I just thought it'd be a good place to shoot."
But because I had made
a documentary with Marty before,
I knew that no matter what Marty said
he did have an idea of what he was doing.
And then when I saw it, I saw that he had an idea.
But I think what happened there, Fran,
is that I didn't really have an idea.
It's just that we knew we had to shoot in the library.
Language, books, the written word, thought.
I mean, we just had to.
I wasn't quite sure as to what we were gonna talk about
except what we wound up talking about,
which is the reverence a book should be treated with,
the whole idea of can you give away books?
Can you send them?
Can you give up books?
Can you throw away a book is interesting.
And that all came out of being in that environment,
you know, and being in that atmosphere.
And so, we just took it from there.
And that's part of the process of making a movie, you know.
You shoot more than you need.
I don't even know if need is the right word.
You shoot it and you have a form when you shoot it,
as best as possible.
And somehow, particularly this kind of film,
it becomes...
its narrative takes form in the editing.
And so, inevitably you're gonna find things
that do not necessarily fit.
And then that changes.
That changes.
If you take what you think may not be effective
and place it in another episode
against or before or after another story,
and it works there.
I noticed at a fairly young age
I'm not in charge of other people's reactions.
You know, I hope they like it,
but if they don't, don't call me.
You don't have to agree with everything.
I don't.
But like what I love is the expression of it,
and I think you pointed out, Fran,
at one point, you said,
"You know, you could have opinions
and people don't agree with you.
You could have opinions and it doesn't really matter
because you have no power."
People my whole life have reacted very strongly
to things that I thought, my opinions or ideas,
that they disagree with,
with a tremendous amount of anger,
and this has always surprised me
because what difference does it make what I think?
You know, it's not like I'm the president or the mayor.
You know, it's not like the things I think,
it's not like I can make them happen.
So if I say, "I think New York should be like this."
It doesn't become like that.
So, I would urge people to reserve their ire
for people who actually have some impact on their lives,
and that person,
unfortunately, in my opinion, is not me.
Fran, I'll see you somehow, right?
Soon, I hope so.
Bye, Marty.