How Kevin Spacey Became ‘the King of Davos’?
Do you think that Starbucks sells the best coffee? Maybe not. But they also sell a good story.
King of Davos on a Good Story.
“I want to read a story. And if I am moved by the story, feel the story is worth telling — I agree to take part in it.” — said Kevin Spacey leaning forward to his interviewer at World Economic Forum in Davos.
“I don’t like [questions] ‘who is directing?’ or ‘ how much money?’— all the stuff that gets in the way of being able to judge something honestly on the page.”
Kevin Spacey triumphed among businessmen and economists.
The New York Post called Kevin Spacey — the King of Davos. “We’re in the presence of royalty,” the BBC’s James Harding said as he introduced the Oscar-winning actor at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting.
“Your majesty” —said Harding jokingly — “You have had some experience in political drama, what would Frank Underwood’s advice be to the Republican and Democratic candidates in upcoming elections?”
“Frank Underwood would look at this particular year, and find as amusing do. But the good thing at the end of the day, the United States has time and time again despite of the crazy shit that’s going down, we generally going right eventually. And I think we will get right in the end.”
The interview covered several topics, from politics to a story of how Kevin Spacey became who he is. However, the most touching story from Spacey was his story about a girl from Abu Dhabi.
“And she said something that showed about everything that’s wrong in this region.”
Arab Girl and What’s Wrong in the Middle East.
“You were talking before about touching someone’s life. I do a lot of workshops. I did a workshop in Abu Dhabi. As I got closer and closer to the workshop I was told by organizers — don’t expect any women”
“I said: Why? They said it’s really not what is expected from women.They kept saying, so I got to Doha, walked into this classroom and out of 28–13 were women. Next time I asked them for the entire workshop to be women.”
“So, there were women from different universities. One slightly more religious from another. Some were wearing burqas. And like me being that ‘shy kid’ back at the university — I always look at the shy one at the corner. And there was this girl with her friend.”
“They were doing scenes of Shakespeare in Arabic. It was so interesting. So we took a break. When we came back, I asked who’s going to be next? What about you?”
“And she went [shaking her head].”
“I asked her to get up. She got up and did this monologue. She was very awkward and shy. But I was listening to the content and the content was quiet powerful.”
“I asked her to do it again. But to relax. Don’t think about performing, do the way it matters to you.”
“So she did it again.”
“Something started to change. She began to perform with more attachment to the characters. And I saw tears coming from her eyes. It was an extraordinary moment. At the end I asked her — we can all tell why it was different for us? But Why was it different for you?”
“And she said something that showed about everything that’s wrong in this region. She said ‘When you asked what are my feelings… This is something I’m never asked.”
This story touched me right in the heart. We are all told what to do, but never asked what we want to do. Look around. The majority of us are sitting in the places because we were never asked what we want to do by our parents and most importantly we don’t ask ourselves — what we want to do?
Kevin Spacey received a letter from that girl nine months later. Letter said that she was preparing to get to London, to study acting.
One person, one monologue, one question — changed the life of a young girl from Abu Dhabi. Sometimes it’s necessary to give freedom of thought and eliminate barriers to make person chase his or her dreams again.
“What really matters is the content of the story, do you think that Starbucks sells the best coffee? Maybe not. But they sell a good story that their coffee is good.”
Kevin Spacey on Starbucks.
Twitter, Facebook or a six-second Vine — they are all designed to tell stories says Spacey. They are created to tell different types of stories. For example, I type here in the Medium, because it’s the most suitable platform I’ve found to express myself.
“What really matters is the content of the story, do you think that Starbucks sells the best coffee? Maybe not. But they also sell a good story.”
There are hundreds of posts here on Medium about how to be a successful blogger. But you will never be successful if you will rely on their tips.
“Audience is intelligent and it requires a good story. Good content.” Kevin Spacey gives you the best advice that you can adopt to become a successful blogger, filmmaker or a journalist — produce good and interesting content. That’s it.
“We have 24 hour news channels. They repeat the same news over and over and over again. The same story. Why won’t we shut them down and show something educational? A two hour documentary on cancer or nature?”
If only Kevin Spacey’s words would flow into the broadcaster’s ears! Just take a TV remote right now and turn any news channel now. FOX, CNN, Al Jazeera — doesn’t matter. They all show the same content, the same stories, on repeat. They are just filling up the air. It’s useless.
We live in the age of internet. I don’t need a channel that repeats news over and over again. I need a good content.
Here is the full interview:
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