Robert Altman (1925-2006) was 81.

He was one of my first great inspirations. As a young Asian kid trying to figure out why I wasn’t like the other Asian kids who liked math and the violin while I liked this theatre and movie thing, seeing The Player was a revelation.

I was hooked.

Altman was such an original inspiration that in the director’s notes for Torn, my fully improvised drama, I forgot to mention Altman as an inspiration.

Now that I think about it, with our huge cast, multiple storylines, improvisation, overlapping dialogue, and music playing - sometimes too loudly - underneath all of the action, it was basically a stage translation of an Altman film.

“No other filmmaker has gotten a better shake than I have,” Altman said while accepting [the lifetime achievement Oscar this year]. “I’m very fortunate in my career. I’ve never had to direct a film I didn’t choose or develop. My love for filmmaking has given me an entree to the world and to the human condition.”

And we are thankful for his love of filmmaking which has inspired and informed the work of so many others and the cinematic treasures he is survived by.

RIP

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