Ladies and Gentlemen, the Great Joan Didion

ANDY WARHOL: Do you dream?

JOAN DIDION: Yes, I do, but I don’t remember my dreams.

WARHOL:  Is there anything you regret not doing?

DIDION: No. I used to regret not knowing a second language, but I’ve had to let that go.

WARHOL: What was your first job?

DIDION: My first job was at a newspaper in Sacramento—I wrote for the society desk at The Sacramento Union.

WARHOL: When do you get nervous?

DIDION: I get nervous answering questions.

WARHOL: Why can’t it just be magic all the time?

DIDION: What.

WARHOL:  What did you have for breakfast?

DIDION: Fruit and coffee.

WARHOL: Who’s your dream date?

DIDION: I don’t know that I have one.

WARHOL:  What do you think about love?

DIDION: I don’t know.

WARHOL:  What are you reading right now?

DIDION: I’m rereading Appointment in Samarra [1934] and BUtterfield 8 [1935].

WARHOL: How were you discovered?

DIDION: I won an essay contest in high school.

WARHOL: What’s the craziest thing a fan has sent you?

DIDION: A photograph of herself in my building’s lobby.

WARHOL: What are your beauty secrets?

DIDION: I don’t have any.

WARHOL: What’s your favorite movie?

DIDION: Chinatown [1974].

WARHOL: Are you interested in furniture?

DIDION: Yes. My furniture in New York is from my Franklin Avenue house in Los Angeles, and I’ve kept it since the early ’70s.

WARHOL: What kind of clothes do you like?

DIDION: I like big sweaters, pants, long skirts—loose, casual, comfortable clothes.

WARHOL: Do you have a TV?

DIDION: In fact, I have two TVs.

WARHOL; What do you love about New York City?

DIDION: Many things: my neighborhood, especially; the babies and dogs in Central Park; the places John and I used to go— Three Guys, the Carlyle, Elio’s.

WARHOL: Do you think Americans have good taste?

DIDION: Some of them do.

WARHOL: Do you keep a diary?

DIDION: No.

WARHOL:  What’s your favorite color?

DIDION: I don’t have one.

WARHOL:  How many hotels have you been kicked out of ?

DIDION: I’ve never been thrown out of a hotel.

WARHOL: What are you most proud of?

DIDION: In my writing, [the novel] Democracy [1984].