In a Seattle screening Q&A, director Chris Paine discusses the final edit of Revenge of the Electric Car (completed March 31, 2011, just weeks before its Earth Day Tribeca premiere) and outlines potential future documentary ideas—bicycle culture, green‑energy systems, and a Kurt Vonnegut‑inspired film tentatively titled Nice Try. Audience members praise the film as a sharper, punchier follow‑up to Who Killed the Electric Car and share personal excitement about reserving a Nissan Leaf. Paine explains why the documentary avoided overt “revenge” scenes (e.g., a crushed Hummer) despite pressure from the environmental press, opting for a more mature tone highlighted by Tim Robbins’ closing line, “Success is the best revenge.” He also notes his own solar‑panel installation and uses it to illustrate the affordability of solar‑powered EV charging. A detailed account is given of how the crew gained access to a secretive automotive executive referred to as “Carlos,” involving negotiations with Nissan and GM, a Tokyo DP shoot, and the delicate balance between documentary independence and corporate cooperation. Paine reveals that extensive footage of Shai Agassi and an interview with Shimon Peres was cut for pacing, though it remains a potential DVD or series extra. The session ends with logistical announcements about future screenings, thanks to his assistant Michael, and plans to upload the Q&A to YouTube.
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And what's your next project?
So when was the last edit, and then what's your next project?
The last edit was about 3 weeks before our premiere on Earth Day in Tribeca.
Wow.
So that was probably— our last edit was probably March 31st of 2011. And the next project, I don't know. It all depends on financing. So I'm really interested in doing a project about bicycles, and I'd like to do a project on green energy, so we'll see if those things come together. Oh, and then I have a Kurt Vonnegut project. The Kurt Vonnegut project is probably my personal favorite because it's about why is it that the human race is having so much trouble right now. And the working title of the film is Nice Try.
Go ahead.
Um, yeah, I just want to say, um, I watched, uh, Who Killed the Electric Car right after we reserved our Nissan Leaf, and, um, it's awesome to be able to watch this a week before we get our Nissan Leaf. Um, I also want to say how amazing this movie was. I mean, I liked the first one. I love this one.
I just—
it's sharp, it's quick, it's awesome. It just is punchy. In an amazing way that is a distinct improvement and even better than the first one.
So, thank you.
We got some pushback from the environmental press, like, how come you didn't give it to the man in a bigger way? Like, where was the scene with the crushed Hummer, and why didn't you really stick it to him when Rick Wagner got fired by Obama? And we thought, Well, we as an audience sort of know that stuff happened, and you can kind of figure out that that's what the real revenge for all this was. Like, GM went fucking down! But we don't need to shove them in the grave to have it be so empowering. So we thought, let's be mature, you know, and the audience can pick up that there really was a revenge, and that the line we had Tim Robbins read at the end, he said, Success is the best revenge because we're all in it together with the homeowners and everybody else. Unfortunately, as a social creature, which we are as humans, we're all in it together. So that was the idea.
And I think that the gadget connection, for example, is a much better way for the audience to really connect with the story than sticking it to man and stuff like that. I really think that was an amazing piece. And also, I want to get involved with the Seattle Now that I'm Next Week and be an EV owner.
Woo-hoo!
Yeah!
Second Tuesday. Second Tuesday of every month. Second Tuesday of every month.
Next Tuesday. Next Tuesday.
Behind the Dick's Drive-In. I want to thank my assistant who's here. Michael, are you here? I can't see with these bright lights.
Michael's right here.
Michael, my assistant who has supported me in the last 3 years.
You've been waiting patiently. Go ahead.
Just to make sure this gentleman's question about clean energy, Chris has solar panels on his house. So there was a fabulous picture, one of the homeowners with a car had solar panels on their house. And when you do the math in terms of the cost of a solar system, if you include that instead of spending $4 a gallon for gas, you're actually going to be able to fuel your electric car. It brings the cost of solar systems down, and that's one of the reasons why as we change our ways of thinking, we realize that it's totally affordable to have solar panels on your house charging your electric car. My question, Chris, is how did you get in the room with Carlos when he was such a secret kind of guy?
Is that Pamela Burton?
Yes, it is.
Oh my God.
So how did you get in the room with Carlos?
Her brother is one of my best friends, and this is an amazing woman in solar energy and her husband. Anyway. Thank you for your work. KPC over the years, and like, spread the word. You've done incredible work. I mean, the answer to your question on the Carlos, you know, we went to Nissan and we, by that time we went, hey, we got GM to agree to let us in there with people. They hate us in theory. And the agreement we made with GM was no footage released until 2011. So you have nothing to fear if you actually bring a Volt to market. And you want to do this. So a lot of companies turned us down, but Carlos's team said, okay, we'll let them in. And we had an incredible DP in Tokyo. We went to Japan. And all that stuff he shot of going into the conference room and all that stuff, he shot just handheld without Steadicam. Shot that stuff all up the escalator with the welcome, with that really like hallway stuff, just handheld. A great DP, and, you know, obviously all these car companies were seeing our movie as a potential marketing vehicle for them. So it was like this dance between not wanting to be like a patsy for the car companies, but on the other hand being able to tell their interesting story. And I think Carlos was the biggest surprise, because this guy is not someone you want to have a beer with. He is fucking hardcore. And he sat in a car with us at like 3 in the morning, came in the morning and told us that, hey, the public is expecting this from us. It made me really thankful for our work as activists to push the car companies to make them think that electric cars are what's expected. And so that was kind of maybe the price of admission for us.
I think that's a really great point too, is like the fight continues pushing for electric cars and pushing for greening the grid. You know, there's always something for us to do, it seems. One more, right here.
Yeah, obviously with any movie there's a lot of stuff that gets cut out. Are there any scenes that you personally were kind of wishing, "Oh man, too bad we just couldn't fit that in"? Such a sweet question. Give that guy a free DVD. He's got them in his backpack, right? Okay, well, of course we shot 400 hours for this film. And I mean, that's the way it is for films. And with documentaries especially, we spent a lot of time with Shai Agassi, and we went to Israel, and we interviewed Shimon Peres, who talked about telling Shai that he should not go to SAP to be one of the CEOs where he would get like a million-dollar salary or more, $4 million a year, to go to the service of Israel to make electric cars so Israel could be off Middle Eastern oil forever. That was a really beautiful interview, and Shimon, in his point, he's like the Thomas Jefferson of Israel, you know. And his interview was so slow, it just brought the movie, just slowed it down too much. So we had to let it go, and we kind of let go of the Shai Gassi story, who has like sort of the replaceable battery pack. So losing Shai's story was probably the hardest thing for us as filmmakers. But, you know, maybe it'll be on DVD or whatever. To do a TV series or something.
Website.
Website, right.
Okay, all right.
Well, thank you very much for coming.
Thank you so much for coming out. Tell all your friends, it will show. 10 PM, New York time, Brooklyn Public Library.
And we'll be there all night, Saturday and Sunday.
So come on down, tell all your friends. Thank you.
You got it all. Now you're gonna put it up on YouTube? That's the idea. Okay, you betcha. You know how to send it to us so we can get a— uh, you have a card?
