Mark Duplass takes the Marketplace Quiz
Mark Duplass takes the Marketplace Quiz
Fill in the blank: Money can’t buy you happiness but it can buy you _____
Shoes.
What kind of shoes?
Comfortable shoes.
Do you own a lot of comfortable shoes?
No.
So you should take your own advice maybe?
Yes.
All right, fair enough. What is the hardest part about your job that no one knows?
You can never finish a piece of work.
What do you mean by that?
There’s always something you can do to improve something. You have to make an arbitrary decision about when it is done, and it is an excruciating process.
I made a small movie called “Creep” that took a year and a half of re-shoots to get right.
Do you feel happy with it now?
I love it very, very much but it almost killed me.
Did you learn any lessons from making that movie?
Surround yourself with people you love, that you think are smart, but most importantly, that are fun, kind and generous.
When did you realize that being a filmmaker could be an actual career?
When I was 25 years old, I improvised a short film with my brother in our kitchen in Austin, Texas. It costs us $3 to make and it was our first movie that went to Sundance. I sold it for $500, and I realized if I keep my costs low, I can do this and not starve, and I follow that same model today.
What is your most prized possession?
I’m closing my eyes and I’m trying to not think about this and see what the first thing that comes into my brain is, and it was my children. I don’t know if that’s appropriate or not. I don’t possess them, I just heard them. But they are in my home, and I created them. It is the most dear thing to me on the planet for sure.
What is something everyone should own no matter the cost?
A good blender. It is a way to chop up all the foods that you don’t want to eat but are good for your body along with other foods that are tasty, so that the tastes of the non-delicious foods can be hidden, and this is how you get healthy.
What advice do you wish someone had given you before you started your career?
You don’t have to destroy yourself to climb the mountain. You’re going to land some place, and you could find a way to be happy there, so you can rest easy and everything will be OK.
When did you realize that?
About five minutes ago.
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