August: The real surprise for me has been that it’s held up so well. The fact that there weren’t cell phones in the movie, or there’s like two cell phones, but they’re not really used that much, is just one of those lucky moments in time. A few years later, a lot of little plot points would have happened differently.
Askew: It was a very different world back then.
Liman: I wanted to cast [Olyphant] as Jason Bourne.
Olyphhant: He’s mentioned that to me before. I don’t know if he told you, but I’m just assuming there was a moment where some studio executive laughed out loud to him.
Liman: [Universal] did say, “We’ll let you cast Timothy Olyphant, but let us tell you why we think it should be Brad Pitt.” Brad was attached for a moment. They obviously convinced me. I was right about Tim. Because look at the career he’s had.
Askew: I’ll bump into someone [from the Go cast and crew], or once in a while Jimmy and I will connect, but I think we’ve all kind of moved on to our different lives. But it’s always a nice thing to see someone and talk about the old times.
Meyer: John August, I was texting with yesterday. We both have kids and every now and then see each other at the park. Melissa and I, our kids are at the same school, so we still run into each other.
August: [Go] is older than the characters portrayed in it, which is sort of a weird thing. I wonder if every generation feels this, where it seems like time has accelerated in ways that are impossible. I think back, 2000 doesn’t feel very long ago. Even the wardrobe doesn’t feel all that dated or strange. I don’t know if I believe it’s 25 years. I don’t believe it.
Liman: Go is the favorite of all my movies I’ve ever made. It’s awesome. It was probably the one fewest people have seen, but I’m sort of a one-man sales team for the movie.
Meyer: It is the one where when people come up and mention Go, it stops me. I’ve always described it as my favorite movie I’ve done. Not as an actor. I had a great time. But it’s my favorite movie I’ve done to watch.
Fichtner: It happened about a year ago, where somebody came up to me and put their wrist up to my nose. “CK One. But it’s not.”
August: I love it to death. And obviously you love all your children. But Go is special. Big Fish is special for very different reasons.
Liman: I’m proud that when everybody was saying, “Don’t make that movie,” somehow I had inside me the wherewithal to resist. To take this giant gamble. I look back at that person, and I’m like, What the fuck was I thinking? But I’m proud of that younger Doug Liman that made that decision.
August: Christmas always felt crucial to me. Christmas in LA is strange. Not just because it’s warmer. There’s something about LA in December that is sort of special and dark. I always had the vision of Claire’s car and the lights around the windshield. I love that it wasn’t about family at all. It was some of the iconography of Christmas, but completely taken away from its normal context.
Liman: Yeah, it is [a Christmas movie]. Swingers is set at Christmas. Bourne Identity is set at Christmas. I don’t know because I’m Jewish, but maybe I just love Christmas.
Askew: Obviously, it’s not a traditional Christmas movie by any stretch of the imagination, but even how the whole thing wraps up: “What are we doing for New Year’s?” It is one of those sort of irreverent—let’s call it an alternative Christmas movie.
Liman: The happenstance. What if the elevator had come a second earlier? I’ve never been able to come to terms with that. That my whole career trajectory has come down to a split-second decision by the elevator. How can life be so random?
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