Tom Hanks | Steve Martin | Mathematical Sciences Research Institute | cloning

What do you look for in screenplays and other works? We want the most talented screenwriters,­ authors, and playwrights to use science as the raw material, the clay from which they fashion whatever they're going to do. There are box office opportunities here, sexy and tantalizing. And there are infinite ways to approach the subject matter. Any genre will do: comedy, satire, thriller, drama. They don't have to put scientists on a pedestal. Irreverence is fine, as long as it's smart irreverence. Tell the South Park guys to give me a call.

Obviously, you're not seeking those old "eat your spinach" documentaries about mitochondria. No. That's a message I still have trouble getting across. We're not talking about educational, didactic treatments. That's death for any work of art. And some people think you just add the trendy issues of the day, like cloning or stem cell research. That doesn't work, either.

You'd like to wipe out the stereotype of the mad scientist, that obsessed, egotistical character. Yes. We want people to see that scientists are human beings, full of the flaws and virtues of everyone else. Some are altruistic, generous, and kind, and others are selfish and motivated by their own glory. You get the same variations you get in any human activity. In some ways, I'm looking for the same thing they look for at Fox or Disney: a good script. And a good script isn't going to deal with someone as a stereotype.

In bridging the two cultures, you've rubbed shoulders with an illustrious group ranging from Robert De Niro and Tom Hanks to Nobel prize scientists like James D. Watson, codiscoverer of the DNA double helix. What happens when you get these folks together? We had a great event with Hanks and a number of scientists for the 30th anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey. He came with the original cast. And we did an evening with Steve Martin and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute called "Funny Numbers." He has a very curious mind, and he's keenly interested in science and math. Robin Williams showed up, and he and Martin did a scene from Martin's play, Picasso at the Lapin ­Agile, where Picasso and Einstein meet in the bar.