I have interviewed a lot of actors and directors. When I tell people I interviewed someone famous, their first question is always the same: “Were they nice?” It’s usually hard to say; you don’t get much time with these filmmakers and they’re typically on their best behavior because they want you to write nice things about them. Interviewing a director is like being on a reality show: I’m not there to make friends.

What is usually a lot easier to discern is how passionate a filmmaker is, both about the project they’re shilling and the medium in general. For some people I talk to it’s clear: This is just a job. And they don’t much care about other movies or film history. That is totally their right. Others, though, are just as big film dorks as I am, and one reason they got into this business is because they love it just as much as I do.

Very high on the list of people I’ve spoken with that I would put in that latter category is Adam Scott. Adam Scott loves movies and he loves talking about movies. I once interviewed Adam Scott about a movie he had nothing to do with other than being a fan of it: The classic buddy action comedy Midnight Run. And his insights into it were as sharp and perceptive as a critic.

The video above displays Scott’s cinephilia, though not perhaps as much of his critical side. That is what makes it great. Because you see, when Adam Scott was a boy, he loved Star Wars. So much so, in fact, that he invited Mark Hamill to attend his birthday party one year. Sadly, Hamill didn’t show. But he did show up to Jimmy Kimmel Live! to surprise Scott, and man was he ever shocked. This is about as sincere and as heartwarming a moment as you’ll see on late night television. I mean just look at him! He’s cursing, he’s shaking. He doesn’t know what to do! It’s absolutely great. In a dark world, this is a ray of sunlight.

 

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