Most Q&As bore us—stiff, formal things full of pleasantries and PR. Pablum! So this year, we launched the Big Interview: conversations done our way. They’re drinks with the one person you wish you could get drinks with. (Metaphorically speaking, of course—though, well, alcohol may have been involved in one or two.) Some are tech CEOs; others are scientists, actors, athletes, writers. Ultimately, though, we’re not just interested in who these people are. We care, more importantly, about how they think. How their minds work, and how their mind have changed. How, even, our readers’ minds might be rewired too. And while these conversations aren’t always about predicting the future, they do seek to illuminate paths forward—modes of thinking or being you maybe haven’t fully considered. Below are the Big Interviews we published in 2023, with teases of some of our favorite moments.
Zack Snyder
WIRED: I see a lot of katanas and axes on the wall. There’s also, like, a bearskin over there.
Snyder: That’s a lion.
Read more here.
Satya Nadella
WIRED: So you knew Sydney was going to fall in love with journalist Kevin Roose?
Nadella: We never expected that somebody would do Jungian analysis within 100 hours of release.
Read more here.
Christopher Nolan
WIRED: You must’ve grown up in the shadow of the bomb.
Nolan: When I was 13, me and my friends, we were convinced we would die in a nuclear holocaust.
Read more here.
Pedro Pascal
WIRED: Would you say you tend to be a hopeful, forward-looking guy?
Pascal: We have to hope. But I’m too privileged. Like, I’m too lucky. The reason my older sister and I grew up in the States is because my parents fled a military dictatorship. So, you know, only 10 years after my parents were in hiding, I was crying because The Breakfast Club was checked out at the video store.
Read more here.
Jennifer Doudna
WIRED: What’s your take on kombucha?
Doudna: I don’t have an official position on kombucha.
Read more here.
Keanu Reeves
WIRED: Should I be worried about AIs coming for my job?
Reeves: The people who are paying you for your art would rather not pay you. They’re actively seeking a way around you.
