The Talks
Kwame Onwuachi: “I take it one day at a time”
Mr. Onwuachi, the first thing that struck me when I entered your restaurant, Tatiana, was the music: hip hop and R&B. It made me feel really relaxed, like I was going to a friend’s house for dinner.
You hit the nail right on the head, that’s exactly how it’s supposed to feel. It's supposed to feel like you're home! For me, music is so important in the experience of dining, because even if the food is good, if the music isn't good and the dining room isn't electric, then that means the meal was just okay. I wanted to pair my cuisine with the music of my cuisine, the music of the black experience. I wanted to tap into my childhood, a little bit of that nineties hip hop and R&B. Hip hop was big for me because I grew up in New York, you know, music was my escape as a child. So I wanted to represent that, and I wanted it to be bumping and vibrant in that dining room.
Tatiana is located in Lincoln Center, nestled between the Metropolitan Opera House, and David H. Koch Theater. Did you ever feel the need to conform to a more classic or traditional fine dining ambiance?
Never. I think that's what makes Tatiana special. It’s authentic. Patrons come in and they hear the music, they see chopped cheese and curried goat patties on the menu, they feel like they’re home. They don’t have to feel the hubris of traditional fine dining, the stuffiness of it. It’s not uncommon to see somebody in a du-rag next to someone in a tuxedo. That’s always resonated with me. And Lincoln Center has always been really supportive of that.
- “There is a thing called discipline. If you really want to do it, you’ve got to put in the work. Work, work, work, work. Practice, practice, practice, practice.”
- “You better make every moment count. Live your life now; start in the morning. You mustn’t sit around waiting to die.”
- “I learned by doing. The rest is doing experiments and testing and not giving up. If something is not satisfying start again, turn everything upside down and find a new formula for printing. Everything is learning by doing.”
- “Just about anything is possible if you can find the map or the blueprint to get there. I think you’re only limited by your imagination.”
- “I don’t want to be good. I want to be the best. Even in failing that, you’ll hit a higher mark than if you never tried.”
- “One of the things that I’m striving for is an authenticity, to do things which feel natural and make choices which feel authentic and real. I think in a way you sort of can’t help sounding like yourself. You can’t help but put yourself into your work.”
- “My work and my life are the same thing to me. I don’t have a life on one side and work on the other side. My entire life has been my work. I don’t have a family, I am by myself, I have made very strict choices.”
- “I have the freedom to express myself. And it doesn’t matter if somebody’s going to pay me or pat me on the back for it. I chose to do things that I embrace, that I feel passionate about for whatever reason and I create my freedom around that.”
- “I think as you are growing up, deciding what you want to do is really the process of elimination rather than gravitating towards something until you land on what really makes you happy.”
- “Being creative and keeping your brain occupied is very sensible because if you don’t you die, slowly. Sometimes I feel tired and think I ought to give it up, I don’t want to just retire. I enjoy it all.”
- “When I was younger I had these moments where I was surprising myself with my spontaneity, and I thought, ‘This is what you should be chasing.’ The cerebral part of acting and the perfectionism can be exhausting, but the spontaneity can be very joyful.”
- “You have to open yourself. Just as in life you have to be open to other people, to other perspectives — it’s the same thing when you write. That’s what religion’s about, that’s what literature’s about, it’s what life’s about: the stories that you build.”
- “I’m doing things more personally than ever before because that’s what my project is based on, that’s who I am and I have never been this happy my whole life — but it was a long road to get here.”
- “I used to tease the other kids because I played better than them. Then my father said, ‘Come here. Don’t do this with the kids, because God gave you the gift to play football. You didn’t do anything. You have to respect people, be a good person. From now on, you must be this example.’”
- “It’s a huge peace to allow yourself to be vulnerable. You gain a sense of freedom and understanding and forgiveness for being human. Instead of trying to control things and make it the way you want them, you have to be more open.”
- “I think every person who is curious is more fascinating, and exploration is a big part of that. If you know everything in advance, if you're too self-confident, then everything will stop at some point.”
- “I just keep imagining myself thirty years from now thinking, ‘Why didn’t you take advantage of all the opportunities you had? Look at all the people you could have worked with, the roles you could have done. Go for it.’ And that’s what I am thinking.”
- “One day I realized that it didn’t matter whether people loved me or not. I was released of all that insecurity when I released myself from that fantasy and came to the conclusion that I could be happy making music regardless of whether I was successful or not.”
- “I have an irrational fear of boredom. That’s why I now have this tattoo that says “Carpe Diem.” That’s what we should live by!”
- “I think you know when you’re playing it safe, when you’re stagnating, and when you’re growing. It’s probably an ongoing thing for all of us — and a tricky balance. I try to learn at least one thing on every album, to reach out. I become my own teacher.”
- “I am less anxious to have a successful career. There were times when I was anxious — even in the past, people said, ‘You make successful films.’ But my films were never successful. Even The Godfather got a terrible review. My films did better over time.”
- “I don’t think I’m ever going to stop wanting to see and experience things. I think the day that you don’t long for that anymore is the day you have kind of given up.”
- “It's just so boring listening to false modesty. I've worked for many, many years so I'm really enjoying that my hard work has paid off… I think you should know your worth!”
- “I think that when you’re a creator, you set out to create the perfect thing, but the idea of reaching that kind of creative nirvana — that’s something that you should never quite reach.”
- “I follow the beat of my own drum. I think I’ve gotten more confident and self-trustful in my ability and my natural appetite for play, and not over-adorning it with anything. I’ve always been disciplined and I’m still nothing if not conscientious.”
- “I think an ambition as a performer, and maybe even in life, is to become less afraid. Some boundaries are necessary of course and some are accepted, but the ones that I don’t want, I want to remove.”
- “I wouldn’t ever compromise on the essential, on the essence of a project, the ideas or the themes.”
- “I’ve been through some incredibly tough times in my career but I persevered and came out the other side. And that teaches you strength, how to handle being put under pressure. Experience is a big thing — just knowing that you can pull yourself back up again.”
- “It’s easy to have inspiration and have a vision and an aesthetic, but if you don’t have the execution and you don’t get it out there properly and on time, it doesn’t matter. It’ll sink.”
- “I think the best you can do for yourself is let your subconscious drive you, instead of doing things because you want to achieve some sort of glory.”
- “I always try to concentrate on the process and where the real goal is, which is trying to get up every day and be the best possible version of myself and do the best work I can do.”
- “Art is something about everyday life. Art is about finding creativity in the normal gutter next to you. To see the potential in something where there is no potential is often where art or creativity is a great tool. It’s about making the impossible possible.”
- “Wherever any of us have been wounded, if we dive into what those wounds are, if we go down into and do the hard work within those wounds, we’ll actually find ourselves, we’ll find our real giftedness, a sincere, true giftedness.”
- “I like the accidents, the things that happen by chance. I let the life come to the picture and the creativity flow.”
- “The truth. The whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God. And that’s it! May it be ugly, may it be beautiful, may it be perverse, may it be all of those things. That’s it, I can’t lie; it is what it is, unabashed, naked. I expect that of myself, that’s for sure.”
- “I think you have to slow down a little bit. But I am just trying to make work; I am just out there making work. I take care of myself so that I can survive. I used to not take care of myself so well, but now I do.”
- “It all comes down to realizing how good you are and really consciously working with that. I think as an artist we always try to hide the imperfections. But the imperfections are there because we’re all humans, and this is what makes us interesting.”
- “I have a moral standard of my own. I know the difference between right and wrong, I know what I feel comfortable with. And if you live up to your own moral standard, you’re going to have a more comfortable life.”
- “It’s important to say no – especially earlier in your career – because life is short and you want to be proud of things that you have done, not ashamed of them.”
- “I think the final circle in being an artist is connecting, making some conversation to the world you’re in. I think if you have that feeling of why you need to do something, you’ll find a way. And I think that really takes you forward! If you’re feeling that, maybe other people need that to.”
Tilda Swinton: “We need cinema now more than ever”
Ms. Swinton, are you happy with how the world of film has evolved since you started out in the 1980s?
This is such a funny time to ask me that question, because I was recently on stage at the Berlinale, in the same venue where Derek Jarman and I were showing Friendship's Death, which we made in 1986. I'm in a kind of reverie and a visitation of the past. And so it is a good day to ask me that, because I’ve been thinking: What was it like then? What do I miss? What do I not miss? I will confess that there's a lot that I do miss in terms of the ways in which we were able to make films in London in the eighties and ninetines with the British Film Institute…
You sound quite nostalgic for that time.
You know, I'm not really a believer in nostalgia — I am being nostalgic about this because I'm looking back and realizing how lucky we were. But at the time, we felt very beset. Everything was very hard. We made our films for so little. But we didn't really care about money, none of us had it, nobody really ever thought of earning any money. But that was a freedom. There is a sort of freedom when no one's looking over your shoulder because you're never going to make them any money. You are left to your own devices. And we were very free in that sense.
Walter Salles: “Create in the moment”
Lol Crawley: “You’re attuned in that moment”
Sean Baker: “Mix it up and break the rules”
Demi Moore: “I see it only as a gain”
Rachel Morrison: “Raise your own stakes”
Charlie Mitchell: “It’s a labor of love”
Trevor Matthews and Nick Gordon: “Why is this story important?”
Kenny Gravillis: “It becomes a dance”
