The Bit Player: My Father with Steve Zissou

In the mideighties, my father commenced psychotherapy with Dr. Stein, located on East Ninety-Sixth Street. At the tender age of nine or ten, I watched him ride the elevator with Bill Murray, whom I later learned hailed from the same building. Both men bore striking resemblance, featuring tall statures, medium builds, soft features, blue eyes, wavy brown hair, and a penchant for wry smiles.

This resemblance held a certain charm for me, a child enamored by space exploration, a fascination instilled in me by my father's love for Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon. His career as a writer at The New Yorker was his lifelong aspiration, a dream that eventually materialized. As I grew older and pursued my own career in Los Angeles, my father's professional trajectory took a turn for the worse.

The aftermath of the Challenger disaster saw a decline in public interest in space travel, leading to his dismissal from The New Yorker. He eventually retired early, and following a divorce in the early 2000s, he moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles. Despite the changes, he continued to visit me, taking trips along the coast and to Palm Springs.

My first foray into the film industry came when I joined Barry Mendel's production team on The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. The script revolved around an aging oceanographer's final expedition, a quest for revenge against a mythical shark. I spent my days in Rome, working on production and immersing myself in the world of cinema.