Errol Morris: What's in my bag


Click thumbnails to view images

Errol Morris is an academy award-winning documentary filmmaker. His films include Gates of Heaven, The Thin Blue Line, A Brief History of Time, Fast, Cheap, & Out of Control, and Standard Operating Procedure. Roger Ebert said, "After twenty years of reviewing films, I haven't found another filmmaker who intrigues me more…Errol Morris is like a magician, and as great a filmmaker as Hitchcock or Fellini." Recently, The Guardian listed him as one of the ten most important film directors in the world.

Our two French bulldogs, Boris and Ivan. I think they look like the Olsen twins, no? When I am packing to go away, they try to get in my bag either because they don't want me to go away or because they want me to take them. No checked luggage. If it can't go in overhead, it's not worth taking. Sorry bulldogs, next time.

Click the thumbnails above to see images and captions.

Reading glasses. Many, many pairs. I don't like hanging them around my neck, so I'm constantly losing them. Ten pairs should be enough. 1.5 for reading music. 3.5 for reading books. (I buy 100 pairs for $69.00.)

Three pairs of Brooks Bros. khakis…

Five white shirts, button-down collars… The only way I am able to get up in the morning is to have a uniform. (How else would I be able to make a decision on what to wear?)

Extra pair of blue Sperry Topsiders. These are absolutely essential. I wear them everywhere. I got my Oscar in them. Tuxedo and Sperry Topsiders. An unbeatable combination.

Tape recorders. Two. An Olympus WS-210S and an Edirol R-09HR. You never know when you are going to have to tape someone. Be prepared. Also extra batteries. AA and AAA. Better safe than sorry. (Truman Capote said that he had a "photographic" recall of interviews. I think he was lying.)

iPad">iPad. I have two hundred electronic books. It 's nice to know that I can take the complete works of Alexander Pope everywhere.

Gillette disposable razor.

A couple of books. Even though I carry electronic books, I also take real books. This is what I plan to read on the plane tonight, Allen Shawn's Twin.

And Susan Jones' Death in a Small Package: A Short History of Anthrax. This promises to be a a conversation-starter, I also take material related to one of the New York Times essays I'm working on. (Esoteric literature keeps people from talking to you, not that people are inclined to talk to me, anyway.)

Cello music. Now, you can download music from the internet. But I still like having my teacher's bowing and fingering. It reminds me I should practice.

The National Enquirer. An invaluable resource. But why isn't the entire archive of the Weekly World News available on your iPad?

A copy of We Froze the First Man, the basis for a screenplay of a movie that I plan to direct.

And another related book, Man into Superman, Robert Ettinger. (Freezing people for future resuscitation. Is this the ultimate tabloid story?)

What's In My Bag: James GurneyJoi ItoMore features