Wallace Shawn Says 'Time Telescopes Backwards' When Discussing Revisiting His Work at a Screening of “Vanya on 42nd Street”

Shawn's recently decided to dive into his own work over decades in film and theater

NEED TO KNOW

• Wallace Shawn has recently been revisiting projects from throughout his storied career
• The talented character actor and writer, 82, recently sat down with Interview Magazine to discuss his mindset in looking back
• Shawn explains why he feels he’s had “uncannily good luck” in life

Wallace Shawn is looking back at his career.

At a recent screening of Vanya on 42nd Street, the actor, 82, sat down with Interview Magazine, where he was asked if Vanya's line "I wish I could start anew and forget the past" resonated with him.

"That wouldn’t be true of me," the actor replied, adding, "If I had a wish, it would be that I wouldn’t be taken off the earth by death so soon."

Asked to elaborate, Shawn continued, "It’s just that I’m not ready to go. I’ve had very, very, very good luck. I mean, my wish would be that I could live longer and continue having good luck. If you believe that people ultimately get what they deserve, a lot of bad things would happen to me very soon, because I really had uncannily good luck."

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On the matter of looking back at his previous performances, Shawn shared, "A lot of actors don’t like to watch themselves. For me, it’s my new hobby or something."

He continued, "I don’t expect you to understand, but time telescopes backwards. The last 49 years that I’ve been acting feel like a very short part of my life, and something I took up quite recently and never expected to do. I don’t feel some of the things that people who always dreamed of being actors feel. Obviously, I have little moments of being upset, where I think, 'I didn’t do that moment very well.' "

Asked if he had memories of the 1994 romantic comedy, based on Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, Shawn explained, "Most of the things I’ve done, I don’t remember."

"Watching Vanya today, I sort of remember the experience of doing it all the time, but I didn’t remember any of the moments as they were. I remember them sort of from the inside—I remember the way I felt, but there wasn’t anything that I saw this afternoon that looked familiar."

Shawn was also asked about previous comments that he wished he'd been taken more seriously, something he joked that many "short people" feel.

"In the last few years, and particularly in the last few months, people have treated me with so much respect. Enough people have treated me with so much respect that I can’t…well, it would be disgraceful to complain anymore about anything," he shared.

"I didn’t need a trillion people to take me seriously. My appetite was modest. It’s been satisfied… There are certain people whose opinion matters a lot to me. Although I’ve had some disapproval from some of those people, I have been able to survive that. You know, I think a lot of short people probably dream of being taken more seriously."

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