Before 'Life of Pi,' I wanted to do economics. And now, I realize how bad a mistake that would have been. I just can't see it as my cup of tea anymore.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I got into economics because I wanted to make things better for the average person.
I was about to get a degree in economics when I accepted that I'd be a lousy businessman, and if I didn't give acting a try I'd regret it for the rest of my life.
I was an economics major, which I enjoyed because I had a good business sense.
I wasn't actually very naturally good at economics. My brain doesn't work very well, in terms of mathematics.
I began my career as an economics professor but became frustrated because the economic theories I taught in the classroom didn't have any meaning in the lives of poor people I saw all around me. I decided to turn away from the textbooks and discover the real-life economics of a poor person's existence.
But while I loved all of these courses, there was an irresistible attraction of economics.
There's always been a lot of pressure and tension on the line. If 'Pi' didn't work out, I have no idea what my career would be. I don't think I would have gotten another shot at it. If 'Requiem for a Dream' didn't work out, they would have called me a 'one-hit wonder with a sophomore slump'.
I got politics and economics moving and then others took over.
I made a big mistake of my life.
I went back to graduate school with the clear intention that what I wanted to do with my life was to improve societies, and the way to do that was to find out what made economies work the way they did or fail to work.