Ep. 158 - Terry George: Hotel Rwanda and the Art of Suffering

If I didn't listen to my pain, I'd be dead.  I've interviewed hundreds of "successful" people. When they look back, they see two things: struggle and a story. These are hero stories -- choose yourself stories. Directed by pain, they found passion. Because they listened. I was alone, on the floor, broke, desperate, hopeless.  I ignored the pain. I wanted to die. And then something shifted. But you don't need to hit rock bottom to be successful. You just need something that ignites you.  “There’s a moment, a chemistry, where people find a spark... something inside you triggers greatness,” said Terry George. He wrote and directed the award winning film, Hotel Rwanda, and the upcoming film, The Promise, about a love story during WWII’s genocide. "I'm not interested in suffering,” he says. But he is. "I'm interesting in alleviating it.” He grew up Catholic during Ireland's struggle for civil rights across a divided nation. “I got beaten up in playgrounds and shit like that. There was definitely a sense that you were not welcome to put it mildly." "That was was my education," he says.  He never thought about turning something horrific into a movie.  But that's exactly what he did. Through film, he connects us to human frailty, vulnerability and fear. He calls it “a universal language." That’s the art of suffering. ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to “The James Altucher Show” wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn