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The documentary, which premiered at the Tribeca
Festival this month, sees the 71-year-old recount his journey
from cooking as a teenager in Austria as a form of escapism from
his difficult relationship with his stepfather to moving to the
United States aged 24 and building a restaurant empire with
locations around the world.
In an interview with Reuters, Puck and director David Gelb spoke
about making the film, released on Disney+ on Friday.
Below are excerpts.
Q: Why did you want to make the film?
Puck: "I want young people to know that adversity sometimes
makes you stronger. You just have to fight through it...and
don't give up. I think a lot of young people give up too fast
and too easily. Success doesn't come overnight."
Q: What was the film's premiere like?
Puck: "I was holding the hand of my wife and sometimes I started
to shake because I felt still my old life in the inside, it
didn't escape me. It's still in there. And it almost like came
to the surface. But then afterwards, we went to...our restaurant
in New York and had a dinner and we drank enough ... But I think
it was an interesting experience to see it so big in front of
you."
Q: Was there much weight gain during production?
Gelb: "Oh, my God, I mean, first there is the weight gain of the
shooting and eating everywhere with Wolfgang ... then there is
the stress eating when you're doing the post-production and
trying to make the movie work. And then there's the going to
release the movie and having big dinners for that. So, I think
I'd say a good 20 percent gain."
Q: Do you plan to retire?
Puck: "If you take away what I do, I think part of me will die
and I think I could not sit at home, watch TV, that's not who I
am. I cannot play tennis six hours a day because I think my
muscles are too old for that, or my bones. So, to me, doing what
I love is the best thing. Why should I change?"
(Reporting by Alicia Powell; Writing by Marie-Louise
Gumuchian;Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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