HJ: Do you mind me asking what sort of faith background you brought to the movie?

JH: In terms of my own personal faith, I think I brought to it the heart of a seeker. Like I said, I don't have any answers. I like reading works of Thich Nhat Hanh. I love Tony Robbins. There does seem to be for me a force upon which I can rely if I am right-minded, but I couldn't tell you anything about it though I count on it on a daily basis.

HJ: Going back to the movie, like you said it's very much about the interconnection of these people's lives and how their interaction affects each other. At one point one character basically says to another, "You are the answer to every question I've ever had." Can you talk a bit more about that line and what it means in the context of all these big questions that are asked?

JH: Well, that's the theme of the movie&ellips; that God works though other people (it seems to me). Or that your life works better, regardless of what you believe in or don't believe in&ellips; wherever it is that you got to, you didn't get there on your own&ellips; I'm no good on my own. I need all the help that I can get. I'm better because of my wife. I'm better because of my kids. I'm better because of their flaws. I'm better because of my flaws.

There's a great essay by Schopenhauer in which he talks about a man jumping off a bridge and what makes another man, who doesn't know the first man, jump after him and save him. Why is it when you hear somebody hit their brakes a couple blocks away, and there's that squeal of tires, why do you cringe? Without thinking about it? You can't see who's in danger, or if anybody is. It's just the sound of brakes. But for a second your personality is gone and your humanity and that connection that you feel with everybody else surprises you and you don't have the time to put your personality in place, and in that moment you realize that you are connected to that stranger who you can't see. So, that was kind of the idea behind that. And so Arlen Faber, who's written a book that's answered everyone's questions except his own, needs to find, as we all do I think, that perhaps the answers to life's biggest questions aren't found in the clouds or in books but in each other.

HJ: Another theme in the movie is fear. Can you talk about the role that fear plays in the movie?

JH: Well, I think we all have things that we're afraid of. I wanted to show three people who were all trying to keep something out, and the lengths that you go to to do that, no matter how unreasonable they are. Like Arlen, Arlen's dad has died many years ago. Five years ago his dad died, and there's a little mystery behind that. You know, he hasn't dealt with that, so in a way, he's keeping the death of his father out. Lauren Graham's character, her little boy's father isn't around anymore, and that's not something that she and the boy are going to talk about. So she's keeping the reality of that out, trying to keep it at bay by, like, dancing over here. And with Lou Taylor Pucci's character, he just got out of rehab and is living with his dad who's a practicing alcoholic, and he's going to need to go to AA or do something, and he's sort of trying to keep that out, keep that at bay, find substitutes for that, like asking Arlen questions&ellips; It's interesting to me how the things that we think are important, even though they're the things that may be upsetting us or not working for us or might be our flaws, often can no longer stand in the face of the people who come into our lives, can no longer stand with the new information we receive from people that we love or meet in passing.

There's the last line of this poem by Rocca, it's called Archaic Torso of Apollo. It's a great poem. At the end he says: "For here there is no place that does not see you; you must change your life." And I love that line, like when who you are just can no longer exist in the face of what has happened. And that was absolutely one of the elements that I was trying to bring to this story.

HJ: That reminds me of what you said in your director's statement: "I want to be there when they've tried every trick in the book and the only thing left is the truth."

JH: What I like is when all the facades fall away and you're reduced to your essential self. What will you say? And who will you ask for help when you reach out from the deepest part of the night? Or even can you? Did I mention it was funny? 'Cause it all sounds so important.

HJ: I was actually just thinking about that.

JH: I got a bunch of jokes in there, you know?

HJ: Definitely. Even though it does deal with some very serious issues and themes, it's also a really funny movie. Can you talk about what you feel you were able to bring to this movie from your comic background, and maybe how you feel you were better able to tell its story and explore its themes with comedy?

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