hihi anon!! i had a lovely mid-autumn festival, thank you so much for asking 🥺🧡 if you celebrate too, i hope you had a wonderful time and got to eat all the mooncakes!

eeeeee it is my greatest honour to be thought about when it comes to the two xzs quote ;v; it remains one of the most... i don't even know how to condense it into a few words. self-aware? fourth-wall-meta-breaking? deeply introspective, almost surprisingly so? quotes i've ever heard a star say. and the fact that different media in the industry continue to come back to it even after so many years speaks for how profound it still is.

i wrote down some thoughts in this mini thread, but one thing i realise i didn't mention is how much i loved the opening of the feature! i appreciated that it observed how the passage of time took shape on xz, because besides the physical marks it has left on him, we also get a glimpse of how it coils around his demeanour, how it rests easy on his skin.

as he matures into his mid-30s, he radiates this more assured sort of confidence? the kind that feels like it comes from a place of stability, like a tree that knows its roots have extended comfortably deep into the earth. it's fascinating because it's almost contradictory to say this, but this stability has given him the freedom to be more fluid: just like how he did in his portrait interview last year, he isn't afraid to verbalise how time has changed him + his perception of himself and the world around him. he "updates" his answers as he goes along (e.g. his changed response re: the two xzs quote and the separation of the self); his emphasis has shifted from result to process. and i suppose in hindsight that's super on brand for xz, who is always evolving as a tapestry of experiences and characters :')

it probably has a part to play, however small, in why he thinks it's so important to know what a character has lived through → how these experiences shape their thinking → how he expresses their way of thinking. he worldbuilds in his head and it's like. the dreamers from inception, you know? spinning a web so intricate and personal that it's hard to detach himself from it

(related reading: this tweet)

+++ i mentioned this in the thread too but i really, really admire that even though xz will always be a worrywart — not in the panicked concern sense but in the "overprepare for every scenario" sense — he's also come to a point in his life where he feels comfortable letting life take the reins a little, whether it's in a singular scene he's filming with a colleague or in his life in general.

i walk away from every longform xz interview more in awe of him than when i first started reading, and it's crazy that it still happens so many years in!!!!! his answers are thoughtful and eloquent and earnest and i just. really!!! can't wait to see more of his work ;; he's really shaping up to be one of the greats of our generation ♡