Audio interview: Filmmaker Roger Nygard talks about The Nature of Existence

by John P. Meyer

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Epiphany! That's the word I was searching for.

Filmmaker Roger Nygard took the time to speak with me about his pantheistic, globe-trotting, world-view smorgasbord of a documentary, The Nature of Existence, between screenings of the film at the Dallas Angelika Friday evening. He was there both to introduce the film to audience members and to answer their questions after the show.

Having already seen the film, I had questions: about 10 of them, which was nothing compared to the 85 really BIG ones he asked of the people from all walks of life that he surveyed for the documentary.

Considering the subject matter of Nygard's questions (e.g., "What is truth?"), it might come as no surprise to learn that many of his interviews took several hours to complete. With that sort of marathon session in mind, perhaps you'll cut me some slack when I tell you that the audio of our own talk runs to about 19 minutes.

In case you don't have time in your busy schedule to spend 19 minutes learning about the bloody nature of the bleeding universe, I'm offering up the following outtakes in speed-readable text format. Shouldn't take you more than two minutes to scan through them, even if you read REALLY slowly.

Mr./Ms. "I've Got Better Things To Do."

• "I should probably warn you not to see this film, because it'll mess with your mind."

• "I learned a lot about people and belief systems."

• "I've been accused of being a closet anthropologist."

• "The Nature of Existence is an almost exact remake of Trekkies 2."

• "Get funny people around you and weed out the emotional vampires."

• "My interviews generally took two to five hours. The atheists were like 60 to 90 minutes, 'cause their answers were like, 'no, don't believe it.' "

• "I never knew how, or when, or if I would finish this project."

• "I love asking physicists why we masturbate."

• "The harder the question, the more difficult the question (for interviewees), the more likely it was to make my list."

• "One thing I cut out was my brush with Stephen Hawking ... He's tired of the God question."

• "I didn't start that way (putting myself on camera) ... I'm very much the reluctant protagonist in this film."

• "Talk about Spinoza's definition: God = the laws of the universe. That's a pretty easy one to believe in."

• "My epiphanies were of two kinds: informational ... and then there's the spiritual side of it. I felt a chill go up my spine when I saw Stonehenge for the first time."

• "We became friends on a level that doesn't normally happen." (re. himself and his interviewees)

The Nature of Existence is now playing at the Dallas Angelika. But only for a limited time.

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