Days before his inauguration as Duke’s ninth president, Richard Brodhead sat down with RECESS Senior Editor Hilary Lewis to talk about what he enjoys doing in the free time that he is now so often without.
Q. What was the last movie you saw?
A. The last new movie I saw was [the remake of] The Manchurian Candidate. But then I watched again the original, which is so excellent.
Q. Did you think that the remake of The Manchurian Candidate was as good as the original?
A. The remake had some very fun things in it. I loved Meryl Streep’s performance. I loved it. And there were interesting performances. I thought that Denzel Washington was interesting in it. The older movie is more intelligent and wittier at the same time, it seemed to me. I thought that the Iraq business in this one didn’t work at all...The funny thing about the new one is, considering that it’s a movie of crackling suspense, it actually has a pretty long boring stretch in the middle. Which, if you look at the old one, the old one is just—every inch of it—the interest is just stretched out and buried in it in remarkable ways.
Q. Do you have a favorite movie?
A. Oh, probably not. On any given day...I mean, there’s a day when Meet the Parents is the greatest movie you’ve ever seen. That doesn’t mean that there’s [not] another day when a very different movie might be at the top of your list. I say this because, of course, I’m dying to see Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman as the parents [in Meet the Fockers].
Q. Do you remember the first album you ever bought?
A. Well, of course, you know I lived in a great age of music. I can tell you the first record I was ever given. It was early Elvis. It was like my eighth birthday. “Hound Dog” and “Blue Suede Shoes...”
Q. You mentioned that you grew up in a great musical time. Do you remember what your favorite bands and musicians were when you were growing up?
A. Well, there were so many! At that time, every week, every month...I used to listen to the radio in just huge amounts starting when I was about, oh, twelve, and through all the years when I was in college. That’s because it was just a great, great period in popular music, and so every week, there’d be some new thing. And so, of course, now one remembers all the famous ones. But there were so many great songs by people who had only one or two songs. And all of it, together, it made that such a great time.
Q. Were you involved in the arts at all in high school or college?
A. I would have enjoyed to be. You know, I am a person who has discovered in later life many tastes that did not appear earlier....I didn’t act when I was in high school or college, but I probably would have enjoyed it. I didn’t play an instrument, which has always been a great, great regret of mine. But I know those are all things that I would have liked to have done.
Q. What did you enjoy the most about the arts when you were at Yale?
A. [pause] Well, I liked the notion that somebody who was just fun to sit with and talk to on one occasion would turn out to have a talent. I liked the continuity between the person you knew in daily life, and seeing somebody perform.
Q. What’s something that you think people would be surprised to know about you?
A. I’ll be damned if I’m gonna tell them.
Q. What do you think was the most important piece of advice you’ve ever received?
A. [Pause] You know, you’re given a lot of advice in your life. And at least if you’re like me, before you even hear it, you’re pushing it away....You know, I’ll tell you a story, and it’s true. The first day I taught...I was going to teach my first class, and a very, very famous old teacher taught, who I knew, taught in the same room the hour before me. And as he was coming out the door—he knew it was going to be my first class—so he pulled me aside, and he said something to me, and it’s the greatest piece of advice I ever got, and that doesn’t mean it’s not comical. He said, ‘Don’t be afraid to say something profound.’ And I thought that was great advice. Of course, the question is, ‘What might that be?’
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.