Errol Morris and Stephen Hawking

In this chapter, American independent documentarian Errol Morris is interviewed about the unique difficulties he had making A Brief History of Time. The subject of his film, physicist Stephen Hawking, famous for discovering Black Holes, is afflicted with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In a wheelchair, he is unable to speak except by using a synthetic voice via a computer. Morris explains how, once he situated himself in Hawking’s universe, he learned that the physicist “has a strange and ironic presence... an extraordinary sense of humor.” Morris attempts in his movie to demystify Hawking, showing him “not as a saint but as a hardworking scientist.”