John the Intern with moustache speaks his mind

Here you get to read the thoughts of Clark’s intern, who worked with us in San Francisco and down in San Diego. Both those handsome men have the name of John, or Jon, and both have mustaches. John the Intern with moustache refers to the John on the far right. Enjoy!

Last night at Brad’s house, after hauling some equipment in, Lisa (the intern), Jon and I had really no other responsibility than to keep out of Clark’s shot. So we stole ourselves away to the attic-cum-loft, visited by a black cat and, occasionally, by Brad’s very kind wife bearing snacks and wine. When she was up there, the four of us talked about all sorts of things – Things that she may never have said in front of a camera (one of the stickiest points of documentary).

As an intern, I’ve spent four or five hours some evenings hoisting a boom, a day organizing and securing gear. Mostly, though, I think my usefulness comes from being an extra set of hands and pockets at those rare moments when Clark would be well served by having been born part octopus.

Not everything gets on film. People say things, in a corner, upstairs, somewhere off camera, that are pretty damn interesting but decidedly private. So, one is left with scraps of conversation dying to be related but un-relatable. It’s a dangerous temptation sometimes.

Having dinner with the world, in front of the world, but intimately – it doesn’t seem possible unless one breaks bonds of trust. Often, people just don’t understand what’s going on with this tour, that there must be some ulterior motive. My most asked question has been ‘How do complete strangers determine that we’re legitimate?’ Why do people trust us to come into their homes? And moreover, why are they so incredibly generous? It’s not because they want to be movie stars, right?

So the big secret (or rather, The big thing-that-people-think-is-supposed-to-be-secret-but-everyone-almost-knows-to-be-true) is that when Marc answers the phone, it’s not always Marc who’s playing Marc. Sometimes Lisa answers. She can’t even pretend to be Marc – most people recognize her voice as feminine instantly. Sometimes I’m Marc, and sometimes Jon is. Could this cause controversy? Is this like the president pretending to care via form-letter plus stamped-signature? Is it a lie told to gain undue popularity?

This thing seems to be primarily about having authentic conversation with strangers, and people calling very often get that from Lisa, Marc, Jon, or me. If people feel screwed by not getting to talk to Marc, I would tell them that they’re missing the point. Why talk to Marc? Why not finally get to know your neighbor or satisfy your curiosity about that striking fellow you seem to be following? The other answer to this question is provided by Marc’s reference to Jeff Koons (For his recent paintings, he creates images using magazine cut-outs and then hires others to turn those images into a painting).

-John