Five. Regent Canal When we were in lockdown I could walk in either direction along the canal and see London. I feel like it saved my sanity and gave me peace It’s behind Regent’s Park. Behind the zoo. We could see the animals feeding and running around. They also have these Magnet Fishermen. But you’ll also find old-fashioned safes, guns, bullets, and perhaps knives and objects that Victorians threw over bridges to escape crime.
6. Origami When I was a kid, my mother taught me and my brother how to fold very basic things. It can be meditative, it can be familiar. If we’re at a restaurant and there’s a piece of paper around your napkin, we start folding it. There is no honor in origami because it is disposable.
7. “This is Spinal Tap” I was at the Ed Sullivan Theater doing a comedy sketch for “The Late Show,” and this production assistant showed me around. We were going into this maze of theaters, and I said to him, “This is like Spinal Tap.” he is so young! I gave him his homework because I was very disappointed that he hadn’t seen the movie. I was like, ‘I’m in a comedy, I need to see this right now. It’s the beginning of a mockumentary.
8. Morgan When British Library I like the place where you can see the manuscripts and scraps of paper. You can see Jane Austen’s writing desk in the British Library. In Morgan, we get to see the tiny, tiny, tiny characters of the Brontë sisters. It connects me to writers and humanizes them. Charles Dickens is kind of a god, but it’s so thrilling to me to see something that makes him accessible.
9. Mother’s Diary This is a five-year diary, with the first entry in 1941. she is 12 years old. She spent four years in an internment camp in Idaho. she says: “Now we have to leave. We all said goodbye at school.” “It’s my first time on a train.” She must have, but she was very young. People ask you, what would you grab if there was a fire? I would grab a diary. Everything else is replaceable.
Ten. Sister Wendy She produced a series for PBS many years ago and toured there. 6 museums in americaShe is a contemplative nun who lives in isolation but leaves the convent to talk about art. And she’s the perfect person to translate it to me. She’s passionate and has a sense of humor about it. She bought her book “1000 Masterpieces”. This is my favorite art encyclopedia. She’s a contemplative nun and I’m a Buddhist character actor, but I feel like we have a lot in common.