What do you suppose your next experiment will be?

None of these e-mails were solicited. I set up the account and left it alone. The e-mails just poured in without me fostering some kind of fake relationship with them. I culled them and reprinted them, thus removing any names or identifying features. The goal was to simply show how unique and creative and open and entertaining people can be when they’re trying to impress or foster a relationship with someone like Wes Anderson. I think that was clear.

This would not, of course, happen on WFME. Meaning, unless you post a comment on your own, I will never reprint your e-mails on the site without prior approval by you.

Ergo, your secrets are safe with me.

However, I do have to stop and wonder- while some of these may be absolute celebrity hangers-on (of which there is no doubt), couldn’t some of them just be people who genuinely felt like they connected with something Anderson said in one of his projects? People connect on different levels with absolute strangers every day because it helps us feel a little less alone in the world, that someone understands us and our inner workings because they’ve gone through/felt the same thing. So why would it be such a bad thing if this particular stranger happened to be a celebrity?

I’m not coming from experience on this, I just think it’s easier to laugh people off as strange or bizarre rather than really think about what these people are reaching out to do. We’re all just trying to get by, and to each his own, I say.

I think that about half of the people who e-mailed were touched by something Wes made (hell, I am a huge fan myself of his writing and he’s influenced me) and were sharing part of themselves with the faux-Wes based on what they got from his stuff.

But, the reality is — these people would not be sending these e-mails to my best friend’s sister’s husband. It’s because he’s Wes that they send these e-mails.

True, unless your best friend’s sister’s husband is Brad Pitt