Extreme Proof That Spike Jonze's Reddit AMA Is Internet Gold

Spike Jonze should do an AMA every month. Every. Single. Month.

Though many on the east coast may have missed the glory--it's a Friday afternoon, and we're all ready to go home and crack a beer--the Her director opened up for one of the best AMAs we've seen in a long time. Sure, The Creators Project is a devoted Jonze fan and friend, but some of his comments are so charming that we dare you not to swoon in the wake of his web wizardry.

Not only did Jonze answer whose head he would want a portal inside of a la Being John Malkovich (the answer is surprising, but on point), but he candidly chatted about his favorite obscure movies, what he thinks will happen after death, and why watching Joaquin Phoenix on Letterman proved that he would be the perfect lead in his recent feature. Embrace his spell and read a few of our favorite tidbits from the AMA. Whoever books the AMAs at the Reddit HQ needs a raise.

On Having A Portal Into Anyone's Head: 

"Someone asked and deleted their comment 'If you had a portal into someone else's head a la Being John Malkovich, whose head would you choose and why? Also, what was it like directing Nicholas Cage in Adaptation?'

I am curious what it would be like inside George W. Bush's head. I find him kind of sweet and sad. Have you seen his paintings? 15 minutes would probably be enough though."

What Sparked The Idea For Her:

"The idea I guess I originally had almost 10 years ago, from when I had an IM chat with an artificial program online, and it was really limited obviously, it was Alicebot or one of those things (I can't remember what the name was exactly). And from that I had the initial idea of a man having a relationship with an artificial intelligence program. But then it was probably wasn't until 5 years later that I started thinking about it more as a way to write about relationships, and trying to understand them."

On What Happens After Death:

"WOW! That's a big one. And sadly I have no idea. But I do like the song "Quicksand" by David Bowie. I wish I had something more to offer. But I'm with you, I guess we'll find out one day."

Here's the chorus:

[CHORUS]

Don't believe in yourself

Don't deceive with belief

Knowledge comes

With death's release

The Inspiration Behind The Futuristic Stylizations In Her:

"I can't think of any off the top of my head that inspired us, as far as design goes, although I'm sure there were some. But you know, the ideas behind the design were that we were trying to create a world where everything felt warm, and comfortable, easy, accessible, but even in a world where you seemingly have everything you'd want, there's still loneliness and longing and the need to connect. That seems like a particularly contemporary form of melancholy.

So early on in design, KK Barrett (our production designer) and I decided that we weren't going to worry about being futurists in any way in terms of technology and design, and let ourselves create a future design aesthetic that excited us and pleased us."

His Favorite Font:

"Helvetica's the best! What other typeface can compete?"

Some Obscure Film Recommendations (and a shoutout to Arcade Fire "After Life" live music video):

"Oh you know what? There's this one movie that I have to find the name of that I'm going to assume that you haven't seen. It's Japanese and it's from the 60s and it's incredibly surreal but very moving and gripping about this man who gets stuck out in the desert overnight and has to go to down into this hole to stay with this woman whose house is down in this hole. And he ends up not being able to get out of the hole. I don't even want to tell you anymore because you gotta see it. But the characters are very real, and the relationship between them is very real, and it's a very surreal sort of anxiety-dream premise.

It's called The Woman in the Dunes. This is it for sure.

That also reminds me of another Japanese movie, called Afterlife. And in a way, it relates to what the earlier question from dubswaddy about what happens after we die. The premise of this movie is when you die, you go to this place for 7 days where you have to pick the one memory you're going to bring with you to your afterlife, and you can only bring 1, and they have counselors that work there that help you figure out which one you are going to bring. But you don't actually get to bring the memory, you have to recreate it with actors and film it, and you bring the film of the memory.

Here's the trailer which doesn't quite capture the tone, it makes it seem goofier than the movie really is. Also when I was finding this After Life trailer, I saw a video that we made for Arcade Fire's song "Afterlife". I know that wasn't the question, but I thought I'd put that in there in case anyone was interested. We did this a couple of months ago and it was a live music video we made for the YouTube Music Awards. It stars Greta Gerwig. It starts with her in a kitchen. Did anyone see Frances Ha, by the way? Greta wrote it with Noah Baumbach, who directed it also, and it was one of my favorite movies of the year."

Why Letterman Convinced Him That Joaquin Was The Perfect Cast:

"Joaquin was my first choice, and at first I wasn't sure if he was right for this character but I knew he'd be amazingly compelling to watch onscreen. I love him as an actor, he's so alive, and I knew that in a movie where you're watching one person onscreen essentially he would be really compelling. But I wasn't sure if he'd be right for this character. But I saw this interview of him on Letterman where he went on to apologize for being such a lunatic the year before when he 'quit acting to be a rapper,' and in the interview Letterman was giving him a real hard time, and he was embarrassed and laughing and apologizing and Letterman kept saying "So you used this footage from my show and you said it was a documentary, so you didn't have to pay for it, but it wasn't a documentary, turns out it was a scripted movie, so I guess you guys owe me a million dollars?" And Joaquin was laughing, and they kept pushing him, and eventually Joaquin said "Can't we just talk about this after the show?"

And it was from this clip that I saw this other side of Joaquin that was so endearing and playful, and I thought he might be great for the role. So I went back to LA after I'd finished the script and met with him, and within the first 5 minutes I fell in love with the idea of him being in the movie."

In Reply To A Kid Writing That He Had His First Kiss During Her:

"Well, Major, I am very very honored to be part of your first date and first kiss. Your comment literally makes me well up. Thank you for sharing it."

He even thanked the commenters for being so thoughtful and personal. Is anyone more likeable than Spike Jonze? Please tell us in the comments--it will only benefit us all. 

Watch our documentary about artists' personal reactions to Spike's recent work below! 

@zachsokol