Film Interview: HOW TO LIVE FOREVER director Mark Wexler

Documentarian Mark Wexler discusses his latest feature, an investigation into the world of life extension, How To Live Forever, now in theatrical release

Vegas Outsider: To provide some initial context, where did the idea to tackle aging, and perhaps more specifically the desire to end it, as a worthy enough film subject come from?

Mark Wexler: I have always been interested in health, besides my own health, and when I turned 50 my mom passed and shortly after that my AARP card arrived. Both those things together got me thinking about if there was any way to extend my life, a way to pack many more things into it since there is a lot more I want to do. So that was the jolt or the idea basically that prompted me to do the movie. Making documentaries is often an exploration, so I decided to take advantage of that by taking a trip around the world. I spoke with scientists, doctors, centenarians, comedians, porn stars and all sorts of other people about the idea of living a long time and whether that was a good thing or not and exploring the whole notion of growing old. I also wanted to do it in sort of a fun and interesting way because the subject of getting old is often sensitive to a lot of people. So I wanted people to feel good about getting older.

VO: What changes did you experience, either emotionally or perhaps intellectually, did you experience while shooting this film since you spent three years of your life working on it?

MW: At first, the film started off more as a scientific investigation of aging and I was able to speak scientists who were telling me things like to eat more blueberries and take these supplements. I evolved into realizing that it’s a lot more than simply extending the length of your life but also the quality of life. The idea of immortality is a very appealing notion to people like myself, but I think one can get caught up in the numbers rather than the quality, as well as living and being present in the moment. Another thing to consider is the mind, i.e., in how you think about aging, can affect your health as much as the air you breathe and the food you eat. All of those things are important but so is the mind as well, considering if the glass is half empty or half full. The centenarians I spoke to all seem to have a sense of humor, comfortable in their own skin, don’t care what other people think of them; these are all traits that are very beneficial and were inspiring to be around.

VO: One of my favorite sequences in the film involves the funeral director convention in Las Vegas; I’m curious to know what your thoughts were concerning it because I found this strange disconnect between the blatant, commercial atmosphere juxtaposed against what is arguably the most painful and emotional period in a person or family’s life. There seemed to be this strange emotional disconnect between the sales people and what exactly their products were designed to do.

MW: It was fascinating being in this space with all these people who were talking about death, since our society in general really avoids the subject; so it was a little shocking in the beginning to be around all that, of course in terms of commerce, but also as to how people deal with death and how families deal with it. The part that felt the most odd was being lowered into a coffin with a special crane, that was very eerie to me and I still think about it occasionally. Death is something that we often avoid talking about so while part of it is longevity the other half knows that eventually we’re going to die. Well, some people think eventually going to die others think that we will soon be able to live forever or at least for a thousand years. The scientist Aubrey de Grey, the guy with the long beard in the film, thinks that the first person to live to a thousand years old has already been born, so he thinks the technology will be available very shortly will extend one’s life dramatically. VO: That makes me question though whether these scientists like Aubrey de Grey or Ray Kurzweil really consider the possible ramifications of such research, both positive and negative, or if they are more interested in whether or not we can extend life indefinitely versus should we even do so.

MW: I think they do consider it and have answers for it, although I don’t think those answers are entirely adequate. I mean in regards to Aubrey de Grey, and I don’t want to speak for him, but he has answers for related issues such as population control and whatnot, that’s not really an issue he believes. And also there’s this whole idea that we need to replenish by bringing in youth in order to create new ideas rather than be stuck with old ideas from people who have been around for a long time and therefore people need to die, which is often referred to as the natural time. The problem is the natural time has already changed over the past couple hundred years; our life spans have increased dramatically. With new technologies coming in, how can you argue what’s natural and what’s not? Now the oldest person in the world is at age 122, but I think very soon that will go much higher.

VO: To wrap things up and again provide context, where do you feel How to Live Forever stands thus far in your filmography up to this point?

MW: Well most of my films have been first person documentaries; I first made a film about a matchmaker called Me and My Matchmaker, where I investigated the life of this matchmaker by interviewing her on camera and then she tried to get me involved directly by trying to match me up with someone. Thus, it became a film about this matchmaker’s relationship with me as her client suddenly. So that movie was about my dating life and relationships. Then there was Tell Them Who You Are which is about my dad, (Haskell Wexler), a well-known cinematographer and that evolved into a father-son story basically. This movie is really more about larger questions like “well what is the meaning of life?” but also becomes about my mother too so altogether they form this sort of trilogy (laughs).

To learn more about How To Live Forever, check out www.liveforevermovie.com