DZ: Not knowing what the final outcome would be for the film sometimes made it hard to stay motivated. I was filming without a particular goal for a good few years, until graduation from Brown was within Daniel’s reach and I knew he would go back to teach. It was a strange kind of blind faith in the importance of Daniel’s story that kept me going. It was also sometimes hard to stay in touch with Daniel, being so far away, he often didn’t respond to emails and didn’t really keep me up to date with what was happening. Every time I organized a trip to go and see him, I was never sure that it would actually happen. But when I saw him, he was always like he had been the previous time, and as committed to the filming as ever.
JB: Did Daniel every tire of being your subject?
DZ: He never expressed it if he did! I was lucky that he was as committed as I was, even if some things took persuading. But I think crucially, he was never my “subject,” or at least he wasn’t a passive subject. From the beginning, he had a very specific story he wanted to tell and the last few years felt like it was a real collaboration. Daniel invested as much emotionally in the film as I did.
JB: What’s your next project?
DZ: I have a few things bubbling around in my head; a couple of them are spinoffs from Zoned In, but nothing I can talk about yet!
