Michael Phelps explains what he controlled every day to treat his body like a Ferrari "I mean, it's, it basically really is what can you control? What is in your control every single day? And it's like you're eating, you're sleeping, you're drinking water, you're stretching if you're sore, you're lifting if you're trying to get stronger, you're working on your endurance and staying in your endurance level, working on heart rate if that's what you're trying to improve. There are so many different little small things that you can do depending on what your goals are." "So for me, it's how can I be prepared every single day, right? So like if I go back to that point, you know, after the 2000 Olympic Games, like it wasn't, you know, it was probably 2002, 2003 where I started doing ice tubs, right? So it's recovery. How can I, how can I recover my body and my mind every single day to make sure that my body, if I'm treating it like a Ferrari and I want it to go that fast every single day, I have to recover." "I have to treat my body with love, right? So, if I'm not eating, if I'm not stretching, if I'm not drinking water, if I'm not sleeping, if I'm not staying off my feet, if I'm not all of these small things, then I don't have a chance to be my best during those two to four hours when I'm in the pool every single day."

Billy Crystal reveals that at 8:45 on a Monday morning, about to send the obituary he had written for his manager of 45 years, an unknown number rang and it was his longtime makeup artist Bill Farley calling to say goodbye from hospice "So I wrote as best I could, funny, intimate, good stories, something where I felt really good about it. It's 8:45 Monday morning. I'm doing this. Do I press send? Do I press send?" "I'm just about to do, the phone rings. I don't recognize the area code. About to press, rings again. I go, 'Somebody's trying to reach me.' I say, 'Hello?' And the person tells me who it is. One of my really close friends, great guy named Bill Farley." "Bill was on my makeup and hair team for every movie that I did, and a hilarious, wonderful guy. I mean, a really close friend. 'I'm going into hospice. I have maybe a week. I just wanted to say goodbye. What a great life we've had together. I've enjoyed working with you so much. Is Janice there?' She hears his voice. 'Hey, Janice.' 'Bill.' 'Just want to say goodbye.'" "And then the last thing he said was, 'When I see you again, I'll give you a trim.' And he hung up, and I press send."

Christian Horner, asked whether Red Bull ran Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber as a one-two operation, admits the team never told them clearly who was number one and explains how that lesson shaped the Verstappen years “But there were obviously tensions and flash points and both the drivers were getting the same kit, but naturally, Seb was the driver that was getting the results in. And Mark, he thrived in adversity. And some of his best drives were when he felt that, you know, he was hard done by. And his Silverstone drive after the famous not bad for a number two thing was one of his best drives of his career." "But there was a tension building and, you know, I was conflicted because I’d brought Mark into the team. You know, Mark, he was a Williams driver and [he] was managed by Flavio, and I’d convinced, you know, both Mark and Flavio to join the team. And so I did feel conflicted as there started to become tension between these two drivers." "And I guess looking back, we were never totally clear with them that, look, Sebastian is our prime asset. He’s the number one. You are the number two. You know, and I think that that was something that I learned from that period that then became very clear for Max, for later down the line.”

Ethan Hawke explains that Richard Linklater directs like a great coach, knowing that coaching Dennis Rodman differs from coaching Michael Jordan, which is why he had to be a different kind of coach for Hawke “Well, Linklater is an athlete, you know, he grew up a baseball player and part of what makes him a great director is kind of what makes a great coach, is that certain players need different coaching than other." "There’s not one right way to coach, and the people that are great at it understand, well, this player needs motivation, this player, you know, like if you ever read Phil Jackson’s books of these, like coaching Dennis Rodman is very different than coaching Michael Jordan." "It’s a, and see, one set of rules doesn’t, in, in a slightly different way, directing me, I think, in that movie was requiring a different way of working for me, and he had to be a different kind of coach. Um, things that he’d normally find funny, for me he’s not going to find funny, and so, and so he was really tough on me on that movie.”

Peter Thiel explains why his question of what you believe that most people do not still works even when people know it is coming, and says answering it takes courage, which is in much shorter supply than brilliance "Oh, there's so many things, but maybe I'll do like a very abstract answer to this. I actually think it's an unusual question because it holds up even if you know the question's going to be asked." "So there are, you know, most test questions are less good once you know what the test question is because you prepare for the test." "And the reason it's a hard question to answer, it might be that people just have no ideas that are heterodox or different, or it might be that they're too scared to say them, and it's sort of a social conformism problem." "And so people have answers to the question, but then they have to figure out how to say them. Presumably a good answer is one that maybe even I wouldn't agree with. If I just automatically agree with it, you know, and so I think it's a surprisingly good question." "We always say that we don't have enough smart people, but I think that it's not brilliance you need to answer the question. It's courage. And we're in a world where courage is in much shorter supply than brilliance."

Toto Wolff reveals Lewis Hamilton once felt understeer in the middle of an F1 car where engineers said it was physically impossible “You can see with the extraordinary drivers, they feel much more. They feel more connected to the car and the road than anybody else. “One example is an old friend and driver of mine, Lewis Hamilton. You have two axles, a front axle and a rear axle, and you have the chassis in between. “When you call a car understeer, it means when you turn the wheel and it goes straight. That happens over the tires and the front axle. It’s pretty normal. “But Lewis once said something when talking about the car: ‘The car understeers from the front axle to where I sit.’ “Well, that’s the middle of the car. How can that understeer? The engineers couldn’t really identify what he meant, but that is what his body told him, or his brain told him, the car was doing. “If a driver is able to have that underlying layer of ability, then that becomes unbeatable. That is genetics. [The great drivers strap the car onto themselves. They don’t sit in the car.]”

Drew Brees admits he was benched three times under Marty Schottenheimer, had a screaming match with him on the sideline, in the hallway and in his office, and still credits him for developing him “Now I was benched three times in those three years with Marty Schottenheimer. The first one, I deserved it. The second one, kind of. The third one, I didn’t think I deserved it." "And I was pissed, and had a knockdown drag out screaming match with Marty Schottenheimer on the sideline in December in Pittsburgh and then in the hallway after and then in his office the next day. At the end of the day, like I knew this, Marty was always making decisions that he thought were in the best interest of the team, even if I didn’t agree with him." "But I love the man and he developed me in so many ways, character, leadership. But I love and respect that man so much, but finally kind of got to the point where through those ups and downs and through that adversity, I’d earned the starting spot, made my first Pro Bowl in 04, team goes to the playoffs. Even though they drafted Philip Rivers, Flutie was still there. I was the guy and I had kind of established myself.”

Steph Curry, asked heading into year 18 whether he sees the end of the road, says he thinks about it every day and explains that without acknowledging the end he would not appreciate the now “No, I think about the end of the road every day. I think that’s okay. I think that’s a, it’s a motivator, right? Like, it’s an idea, I can’t just kind of, not go through the motions, but you can’t, like, just, you know, not get whatever you need to do out of every single day." "Not have the most fun and joy when I’m out there playing, cuz wins and losses, I’m the most competitive guy in the room. I want to win every game, but I also want to enjoy myself in what I’m doing, and I can only enjoy myself if I’m prepared for what I need to do out there on the floor." "So it all kind of goes hand in hand, and if I don’t acknowledge the end, I think I won’t appreciate the now, if that makes sense.”

Gary Vitti reveals Kobe Bryant once let Navy SEALs waterboard him just to test himself, and says his own job with Kobe was usually holding him back to protect him from himself "Yeah, he was hanging around with some Navy SEALs, and this is around the time of, the guys that were in Cuba, Guantanamo, okay? And they're waterboarding guys, and it was inhumane and all that." "And so he starts talking to these SEALs, and the SEALs is saying, It's not like you're going to die, you know what I mean? You know, it's torture, yeah, but, you know, nobody died from it. And he goes, Okay, well, let's give it a shot." "He let them waterboard him." "Yeah, so who, I mean, what the fuck, you know? And so, you know, he challenged himself to the point where my job more often was trying to hold him back, okay, than pushing him out there, and say, Hey, listen, this is not in your best interest, you know?" "Our owner, I have a responsibility to you, you're an investment, you're an asset. I know that sounds like shitty, like you have an owner and you're an asset to the owner, I get it, okay? But let's face it, okay? And it's a part of my responsibility is to protect that asset, okay? And that means protecting you from yourself."

Christian Horner says Red Bull’s car evolved around Max Verstappen’s abnormal ability to handle an unstable rear, leaving other drivers unable to cope “Max is tremendously demanding for what he wants, and he has a skill that is abnormal. He demands more and more front end from the car, and he can just cope with whatever the rear does. “In pursuit of that goal, to give him that tool, inevitably your engineering department, your tools, your development focus goes down the route of creating that characteristic in a car, which others found difficult to handle. “Some of these drivers were arriving too soon, and I didn’t completely agree with the speed at which they were arriving into Red Bull Racing. “I think Alex was too soon. I think Gasly was too soon. I think Lawson was too soon. These guys needed more time to evolve and develop. Look how long George Russell had in a difficult Williams before getting that call-up. They’re more rounded by the time they arrive.”

Robert Downey Jr. reveals he often speaks to a past version of himself who was lost, stuck, broken or hurt and tells him "dude, I got you, it’s going to be okay" “If the present is the point of power, then I find myself speaking often in dialogue with some version of myself in the past that was at a lost place or a stuck place or a broken or hurt place, and say, dude, I got you, it’s going to be okay." "It stands to reason then I shouldn’t be fearful to also listen to that future, and it should all just be not foreboding stuff, not spooky superstitious stuff, which we’re, I’ll speak for myself, we’re all imbued with these odd, just kind of genetic predispositions to having, afraid there’s, you know, things we’re not going to get or things they’re going to be taken away, lose what we have or not get what we want." "And I think just giving myself the freedom to be in dialogue with aspects of myself and then hook it up to the universal in some way.”

Drew Brees admits a chance to play this year had him switching from tequila to water and thinking about bed early, then throwing to his 13-year-old son the next day and realizing it's not there "I would say I've had some conversations. And I've had some moments. I've had some moments. I would say this, like my body feels great. My mind sharp as ever." "Shoulder, wrist, not having it. And like to the point where there was a moment this year where literally I was drinking a tequila and something happened where I thought there might be a chance I would play that week. And I literally switched to water." "And I started thinking about going to bed early and getting up the next day and like getting my body nice and loose and going out and throwing to see if I could even pull it off. And boy, I was like so mentally right and got up, got the body loose, went out there, grabbed a ball, threw a couple. My 13-year-old son was catching for me." "And it was just like, it's not there. I wouldn't have been able to like break that glass 10 feet away."

Tom Cruise explains that he never makes a movie for opening day, and says that when he made Collateral he aimed for a quality people would still watch 25 years on, for everyone involved “It’s beautiful and I’m very grateful, because when I’m making movies, and I do it, I’m doing it for you. Like when I’m making American Made, I want you to understand, I definitely want to do it. I want to create it. I want to fly like these characters. I like shooting these countries. But I am creating it for an audience." "I’m thinking of how to do it, how to improve my ability and skills to apply to it. But when I’m doing it, I’m thinking of you, and I’m thinking of different countries and how to do this, and I know movies." "Like you look at Digger, this character, I’ve never seen it in movies before. The level of skill and ability it takes to make this film. You know, I think of movies not to make them for opening day, but what’s it going to be like 5, 10?" "Like you’re seeing American Made and these movies, Collateral. I’m so happy, like, I made that movie 25 years ago. But when I’m making that movie, I’m thinking I wanted to make it at the highest quality so that people will look at it 25 years from now. I’m thinking down the line of what this means in terms of cinema and art, not just for myself, but for everyone involved.”

Ethan Hawke admits that after Training Day he thought he would make a lot of action movies and it never happened, so he and his wife built one themselves before he got too old to be the hero "Oh yeah. I mean, when I did Training Day I really thought I'd be in a lot of action movies. Like, I just thought that was going to happen for me." "But I have so, you know, when I was younger, I thought I'd be in a lot of comedies. I thought all these things, I thought everything would be different somehow. And how it is is fine, of course." "But, like, I wanted, you know, my wife is my producing partner, and I was saying, I was like, I want to be in an action movie. I want to find a great action movie. And she worked really hard. We got with Padraic." "We got the script together and started working on it and working on it and trying to get it made because, you know, in five minutes, you know, we'll be too old to be the hero in an action movie. I probably already am, you know. But I wanted to try to do it, and I feel really proud of the movie and I'm glad we did it."

Christian Horner says Red Bull’s car evolved around Max Verstappen’s abnormal ability to handle an unstable rear, leaving other drivers unable to cope “Max is tremendously demanding for what he wants, and he has a skill that is abnormal. He demands more and more front end from the car, and he can just cope with whatever the rear does. “In pursuit of that goal, to give him that tool, inevitably your engineering department, your tools, your development focus goes down the route of creating that characteristic in a car, which others found difficult to handle. “Some of these drivers were arriving too soon, and I didn’t completely agree with the speed at which they were arriving into Red Bull Racing. “I think Alex was too soon. I think Gasly was too soon. I think Lawson was too soon. These guys needed more time to evolve and develop. Look how long George Russell had in a difficult Williams before getting that call-up. They’re more rounded by the time they arrive.”

Christian Horner reveals Helmut Marko stayed at his house two days before sitting in the room where he was fired, without warning him what was coming “Helmut had been there at the beginning. He was the reason that I had the opportunity at Red Bull. For so many years, we’d worked together. We’d had our differences of opinion, but he played a very important role within the success that we had. “I was just disappointed that, two days earlier, he’d been staying at my house. These discussions don’t just happen on the day. There’s obviously a precursor to that. At the end of the day, he didn’t owe me anything, but if it had been the other way around, I think I would have been saying, ‘Look, things are getting difficult. There’s a headwind coming here,’ not from that to that.”