Chris Wilson

@chriswilson

roaming yinzer

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Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Jul 13

dr. grant and my dear dr. sattler for life variety.com/2026/film/gl...

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Jul 13

Sam Neill wrote his memoir while battling cancer and you get the sense he mainly wanted to thank people on paper because he didn't think he was going to make it. I'm very glad he did and we got more time with him. An immeasurable loss.

Later we moved to Italy and filmed in the Vatican, and there, more vividness. A very rare privilege, but then the film was about the origins of Pope John Paul II. I was the one cast member to make it to Rome. We met the Pope himself, and I kissed the holy ring. We were given a tour of the Pope’s private treasury. There was one curiosity there, among all the gilded, jewel-encrusted robes and so on, that I’ve never forgotten. It was a solid silver hammer. It seems that, when a pope dies, it is used for confirmation of same. They hit him on the head three times with the hammer, and say his name three times. Bong.

I’m not afraid of dying at all. If they give me four weeks to live, that’s four weeks of living, and thanks for that. The dying part I couldn’t care less about.

So many of the stories in this book are about people who enriched my life immeasurably. Or, occasionally, not. If I’ve made a film that turns out to be good, that’s a good result. If I’ve made a film that’s good and made a couple of friends, that’s a great result. If I’ve made a film that’s no good, but I made a friend, that’s still another great result.

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Jun 6

Spending part of my morning reading through the old /r/nba thread making fun of the Knicks for signing Jalen Brunson. A treasure trove. www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/tGAA...

Some commenters calling Brunson Walmart Fred Van Vleet

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Apr 15

Nothing better than the NBA playoffs holy crap Hornets

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Mar 8

The new Bourdain collection is so good and such a wonderful reminder of this. If you have a great curiosity for the world, a deep love for your fellow man and an unrepentant hatred for those with neither you're living well.

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Feb 20

alysa liu rocks so much, what a legend sports.yahoo.com/olympics/art...

“I don’t need this,” she said, holding up her gold medal. “What I needed was the stage. And I got that. So I was all good, no matter what happened. If I fell on every jump,” she said smiling, “I would still be wearing this dress.”

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Feb 6

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Jan 29

reminds me of the DOJ's Tamir Rice report where Cleveland police thought of themselves as an occupying force www.politico.com/magazine/sto...

The report offered this jarring example: “We observed a large sign hanging in the vehicle bay of a district station identifying it as a ‘forward operating base,’ a military term for a small, secured outpost used to support tactical operations in a war zone. This characterization reinforces the view held by some – both inside and outside the division – that CDP is an occupying force instead of a true partner and resource in the community policing initiative. The Division must undergo a cultural shift at all levels to change an ‘us-against-them’ mentality we too often observed…”

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Jan 22

that's right Delroy Lindo let's gooooo #oscars

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Jan 1

Happy 2026

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Dec 11

Lot of very interesting and despairing stuff in this kyla.substack.com/p/everyone-i...

If you don’t trust any information source, you’re not going to trust economic data either. We ran this big experiment - can people have unlimited and unregulated access to millions of things that can make them lose their mind - and the answer is no, not really, it cooks the population like an egg.

The loss of education and deep reading has all sorts of downstream effects: weak basic skills, weaker media literacy, and, importantly, a collapse in trust. David Bauder’s work on teen news consumption shows that “about half of the teens surveyed believe journalists give advertisers special treatment and make up details such as quotes”.

AI is only going to complicate it more. Greg Ip’s piece The Most Joyless Tech Revolution Ever: AI Is Making Us Rich and Unhappy for the WSJ summarizes it very well. Almost 2 in 3 people are uncomfortable with AI. Only 40% of people trust the AI industry to do the right thing. We have all this technology. But we don’t trust each other and we feel terrible.

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Dec 2

The canceled TV show you’ll never stop thinking about.

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Oct 21

Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Oct 1

great column, great close

I am not in the business of giving politicians advice. But I will say that if the experience of Lincoln suggests anything, it is that there can be no real success without principle — ironclad and unyielding. You can tweak your message and follow the polls as much as you’d like, but unless you stand for something greater than the sum of your platform, your maneuvers and machinations will be for naught.

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Sep 23

when I'm friends with Henry Kissinger, capable of ignoring large swaths of American history and also love Star Wars www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

In terms of human rights, I’ve always found it a little bit puzzling, given what you write, and given who your wife is, that you two were so close to Henry Kissinger. Of all the pre-Trump political figures in America, he is the one I think of as in some ways the opposite of liberal, given his behavior toward the rest of the world.
I’ll tell you a story. I wrote a book a few years ago on Star Wars. We invited Dr. Kissinger to my Star Wars book party, and he said, “You wrote a book about Star Wars? Why’d you write a book about Star Wars?” He was puzzled and courteous, but really confused. And then he came to the book party, which was quite generous. He was a busy person.
But, despite his busyness, he came to the book party.
Yeah, and then I gave a talk on Star Wars, and he came up to me afterward and he said, “Oh, I see why you wrote a book on Star Wars. There’s a lot there. It’s, like, about families and it’s about governments and freedom.” The amount of curiosity and generosity that he showed was incomparable. I don’t know anyone who showed that level of curiosity and generosity. And we really got into Star Wars. He just wanted to think about it. I know there are strong views about his career, and I’m hardly an expert on his career.
But your wife is one of the great human-rights experts in the world. I asked you about him being anti-liberal, and your response was that he was very nice to you about your book.
About Star Wars.

It is certainly a touching story. But that’s not totally an answer to the question.
Yeah. Well, I don’t know. What he would think of this book I’d love to know.
But no second thoughts about being friends with him or anything?
I feel generally very grateful for friendship, and he was, when I knew him, a person of immense kindness. Those who think of him as someone who was something horrible or worse, I don’t know what to say about that.
But you could have an opinion on it. You have an opinion on all kinds of things, right?
Well, on him and his role in government, that’s not something I’ve particularly studied, so I don’t know. I know some people who think he was a horrible historic figure. They would say, “Would you be friends with Genghis Khan? Would you be friends with Stalin?” And I wouldn’t be friends with Stalin, so I concede that.
Well, the next time someone brings up a terrible anecdote about Cambodia or Vietnam, I will definitely drop the Star Wars story to show that people have two sides.
Yeah. And I get those who think you shouldn’t be friends with someone who did terrible things. I hear that. I can just say that he was, as a very large number of people would say, though many fewer would say it publicly, an extraordinarily generous friend.
Professor, thank you so much for doing this.
Great, thanks. If we go light on the Kissinger part, I wouldn’t complain, because it could dwarf everything else. ♦

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Sep 16

RIP Robert Redford, handsome and charming king of kings. The Old Man & the Gun was such a lovely send-off and worth your time (among many others obvi).

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Apr 10

What a great piece on how this country swapped freedom and social programs for the maximum quantity and variety of treats.

In return for consumer abundance, many middle-class Americans would take business and political leaders’ word for it when they said that the government was expensive and wasteful and that the social safety net needed to be kept lean to discourage laziness and freeloading. In return, their taxes would be low and, if they worked hard, the power of consumerism would provide the opportunity to buy whatever they wanted or needed—no bureaucrat would choose how to spend their money for them.

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Apr 1

A continuing series thehill.com/changing-ame...

Conservative “The View” host Meghan McCain has returned to the show after an extended parental leave.
McCain experienced health complications during and after the birth of her child, causing her physical pain that she called “deeply humbling.”
The experience led to a sort of epiphany for McCain, who is now a staunch advocate for mandating parental care for mothers in the United States.
Said co-host Whoopi Goldberg, “That’s funny, we have been fighting for this for years: begging, screaming.”

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Mar 16

Share some of the best eyes in movies

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Feb 17

In honor of the White Lotus premiere remember Mike White had a previous show on HBO and it is great.

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Dec 24

The Row House Cinema in Pittsburgh doing Christmas right

A theater marquee with Muppet Christmas Carol and Die Hard

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Dec 1

Post an Onion headline that lives in your head rent-free

Attempt To Meet Different Types Of People Thwarted By Partygoer Who Also Watches 'Friday Night Lights'

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Nov 15

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Nov 8

If I may humbly submit - for I believe the first time on this platform - my suggestion for the next Bond.

Vanessa Kirby pulling out the garter belt knife in Mission Impossible Fallout

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Nov 6

October 2nd, 2024.

Washington Post headline reading As Harris shifts to the center, progressives hold their fire — for now

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Nov 5

It's a shame the Harris campaign nixed the "weird" messaging because it really is a perfect way to describe these guys.

Stephen Miller tweet saying If you know any men who haven’t voted, get them to the polls.

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Oct 28

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Oct 25

Spent a couple days in New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia and it was very nice.

New River Gorge Bridge from the Longview Trail lookout

The sun rising over fog from the Endless Wall Trail

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Oct 10

hahahaha okay sure

Substack election dialogues schedule/rogues gallery

Chris Wilson @chriswilson· Sep 6

Pretty much every line in this remains funny and every song remains great and every little side character is wonderful and it still looks awesome. Otherwise not much to recommend.