4
Road Trips
As soon as I had children, I suddenly became a terrible flyer. So when Covid happened, we started driving everywhere. We call it the Thieriot Family Adventures. Frankly, when you’ve got a 6- and an 8-year-old who can be best friends one moment and then going at it the next, when we’re contained in our car, our wild, crazy family stuff is just our stuff. We don’t have to share it with everybody in the airport.
5
The 49ers
My family’s been in San Francisco for something like six generations now. I have a Joe Montana jersey, signed, that my dad got me when I was a kid. My boys have grown to love the sport as well. They both play flag football. I’m not quite ready for them to start tackling.
6
Storytelling
I never felt that confident in my writing because English was not my strongest class. I didn’t have the same vocabulary as a lot of writers. But I eventually realized that I didn’t need to as long as I could make someone feel something.
7
Working Out
I was always a skinny kid, and I wanted to gain muscle. As soon as I became dedicated enough to it, and just through perseverance, I started to see this change. I realized, OK, if you really commit yourself to something, you can achieve pretty amazing things.
8
Farm to Table
We had a guy named Ulises Valdez who was one of our vineyard managers, and he said to me, “Max, when you work hard, the food tastes a lot better.” And that stuck with me. I feel like when I’m raising a beef cow, I’m watching the animal grow. I know what I’m feeding it. I have an appreciation for its life, where this meat has come from.
9
Mood Music
I think about music as I’m directing. What’s the tempo of the scene? And if I can imagine a song right now, what is the song that’s playing here and how is it motivating whatever the audience is supposed to be feeling at this point?
10
Lifelong Friends
I grew up in a small town where a lot of my friends I’ve known since childhood. I think it has kept me grounded in a way. It’s brought me back to my roots, brought me back to the people that know me for me and who I really am at my core and not the actor that they see on TV.
