![]() ![]() I guess because I’d seen the urban side of him, and I’ve seen the really funny and fluid side of him. Out of desperation, as his hand hit the door to exit, I said, “Oh, come on, you can animate.” I don’t even know why I said that word. ![]() ![]() But he had this impenetrable icy glare.Įventually, he decided he was going to leave, after about 20 of the longest minutes of my life. But when Eminem came in, he stared straight out a window. So I had an office that was very comfortable, and I had a lot of success getting people to communicate in this office. Q: What was a pivotal moment in your career where this skill helped you? I’m thinking of an awkward meeting you had with Eminem before making “8 Mile.” So Ron says gently to me, “You know, when you don’t look at them, it makes them feel bad it hurts their feelings.” In meetings, I’m often not looking at them because I feel like I’m getting away with multitasking. Ron Howard and I were working on our first movie together, “Night Shift” (1982) with two writers, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. I’m a very successful communicator, when I’m concentrating and focusing. … But then I found that in college, I was one of the smart kids, and it felt really good to be one of the smart kids. So I developed all these different methods of diverting my eyes so I wouldn’t get picked. I was crippled by dyslexia, and I had a hard time reading, and therefore I never wanted to be asked a question in class because I knew I couldn’t answer it. Q: Face-to-face communication is not something that always came naturally to you. By looking someone in the eyes, it enables great things to happen. If you’re immediately taking this simple step of looking at somebody in the eye, that makes a statement to them: “I see you.” We’re reading people’s energy more than what they say. … Whether it’s with Princess Diana or John Nash, I always knew you had to make a point of being completely present with them, but not until two years ago did I realize that is created through eye contact. My curiosity conversations have defined my life. Q: Why did you focus this new book on human connection? In an interview at his Santa Monica home, the 68-year-old Grazer spoke about why he wrote “Face to Face,” the future of his company, and how actor Tom Hanks kept him from bailing on the Eminem movie “8 Mile.” His new book, “Face to Face: The Art of Human Connection,” explores the virtues of getting people to open up in an era defined by social media and multitasking. In his 2015 book, “A Curious Mind,” Grazer drew on his habit of engaging in “curiosity conversations” with the likes of scientist Jonas Salk and writer Isaac Asimov. ![]()
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