Brett Ratner’s got five stories that give you insight into what makes him tick and all of them precede his success. If you aren’t aware of how successful Ratner is, here are a few eye-opening stats: his eight movies have grossed over a billion and a half dollars. That’s billion with a B. His Rush […]
Author Archive | Lawrence Grobel
Lake Powell (Diversion)
When I heard that the water level was rising in Lake Powell, located in northern Arizona, and that passages that previously had to be circumvented could now be traversed, I thought with rising gas prices and low motorboat gas mileage, now was as good a time as any to explore the second largest made-made lake […]
When the Heart Hurts
For the last two months I’ve gone to bed believing that I might not wake up the next morning. It wasn’t something I wanted to discuss with my wife, who slept so peacefully next to me each night that I just didn’t want to disturb her. But what was going on inside me was real. […]
Was Shakespeare Smarter than a Monkey?
The monkeys—a Pan Troglodyte Chimpanzee, a pig-tailed Macaque, a Vervet, a Colobus, and an Orangutan—were brought into the windowless room at 10 a.m. on a Monday. There were five computers, all turned on, on top of five desks. Each desk had a different office chair—three had cushions, two were mesh, and it would be up […]
Hello Canada (World)
Can dropping everything on the spur of the moment be the best solution to life’s dirty problems? When, fueled by anger, frustration, and depression, one realizes it’s either that or explode? I wasn’t sure, but I was counting on it. Let me back up. I’ve been putting the finishing touches on a book I’ve been […]
Robin Williams answers 83 Questions (Autograph)
Here’s what first comes to mind when I think about Robin Williams. No, not any of his crazy antics. Not the riff he did with that pink pashmina scarf on Inside the Actor’s Studio. Not his unbelievably hysterical take on the invention of golf on one of his HBO specials. Not his television alien Mork. […]
Is Elmore Leonard our Charles Dickens? (Autograph)
About fifteen years ago I flew to Michigan to do a story on Elmore Leonard, the crime writer Time magazine had called the “Dickens of Detroit” and Newsweek labeled “the best American writer of crime fiction alive, possibly the best we’ve ever had.” Leonard lived in an exclusive suburb called Bloomfield Village and some of […]
Robert Evans Pulls His Own Strings (Autograph)
Robert Evans is wearing a white bathrobe over his clothes as he walks me into his dining room. The table is filled with oversized photos by Helmut Newton. Some are of naked women, others are of Evans with Jack Nicholson, Evans with his son Joshua, and one is of a particularly attractive woman sitting in […]
Thinking About Love on Vancouver Island (World)
“What do you think about when you think about love?” my bachelor friend Mark asked me, paraphrasing the title of a book of stories by Raymond Carver, though I don’t think he knew that. “For me, that’s easy: Hiromi.” I’ve been married to my wife for 28 years, and we’ve been together for 36. She’s […]
The Price of Crowns & the Freelance Life
Six months ago my dentist took some x-rays of my mouth and told me that I had some decay behind one of my crowns. “You should make an appointment to take care of that,” he said. I said I would, but I didn’t. I figured “some” decay wasn’t “a lot of” decay, so I stalled. […]
