Tony was never extremely proactive when it came to PR. His strategy tended to be 'do things' and let someone else figure out if there needed to be a call made to the Times or if his legal team needed to farm out an NDA. It is not, exactly, a luxury he has now, no easy exchange of money, no literally bullet-proof reputation, but the old instinct to squirm around at this topic is powerful.

But he sits still and listens, considers John Silver as a factor in all of this when he had previously not. "We're in the world-saving business," he offers. "That's usually a good sell. What did you have in mind?

"—and just to circle back, do we not like scholars and theologians?"

Ha ha.