Somewhat, but I've been to the Mitchell Brothers before. I took Paul Theroux there for some research for "Chinese Box" in about 1996 or '97. His travel stuff sometimes deals with prostitution. Something about his personality made all the women be drawn to him. He just has a way.

Maybe because he's a journalist, and he's really interested in them?

Maybe that's it. But his son Louis is the same. Have you seen his show on MTV? All the girls were just drawn to him.

What do these young men in the Internet world think about sex and love?

I don't know if they know what love is. They have a lot of fantasies, about playmates and pets. They think of themselves as Masters of the Universe. They won't tell you directly but there's a quote that a lot of them have on their computers -- it's translated from Kafka and says something like "The world is at my fingertips and I can call it up any time I want."

The playmate fantasy is that they can control everything. It's very immature and very much on a fantasy level. There is a level at which everything is superficial. But hey, they're young. I am the first to say I'd probably be the same if I were their age now. I get into my remote control and my TV and I escape the world when I make my films.

Do they know that they are like this? Is there any self-awareness?

Some do. Some are trying. Peter's character is trying to find something he knows he lacks. It's heartbreaking for me when Molly's character says to him in the film, "Did you think I was in love with you?" and he says, "Yes."

Does he know that she is acting, that it isn't real?

He thinks he knows. We added a line to the film where his friend says, "When was the last time you went out on a date?" Some of these guys had a college relationship. They may go have a beer or date a bit, but it's on the back burner. Meanwhile, they're masturbating while looking at magazines or going online. But I don't want to stereotype this. Peter's character is representative, but he's also particular.

Do you see this film as optimistic, in that the guys learn something?

The end of the film is pretty dark. And in a way it has become a period piece in just the year it took to get it out. Look at even Yahoo -- it's not what it was. The dot-com thing was like this really big wet dream. Everyone is hoping it will come again. On a sexual level, it's about fantasizing about a woman and what can happen when things don't turn out.

Is this dot-com alienation really different from the kind that young men have felt throughout history as they grew up?

It has happened throughout history, but it's easier today to slip into fantasy. We even saw some guys at an Internet cafe [in New York] and they were openly looking at porn sites!

But it's not active sex -- they aren't jerking off in public, are they?

No, it's not active sex. It's a tease. It's going to be difficult for these guys to have a real relationship. It's easy to fall in love with a stripper; they are all very good. It's like a video game you can touch.

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