Kiwi filmmaker Fraser Grut is chasing a question as old as time: what do people dream about?
Back in December 2016, just 22 years old, he launched the ambitious 10,000 Dreams project. A mission to ask 10,000 people one simple question: “What’s your dream?”
At the current pace of about four dreams a week, Fraser figures he’ll wrap up sometime around 2069, his 75th birthday. That’s a long haul, but for him, it’s a calling.
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“It started as a bet with my mate, Logan, at Deco Eatery in Titirangi,” Grut recalls. “The bet was to film one dream every day for 365 days — called it ‘365 Dreams.’ Honestly, I was trying to encourage Logan to do it. The very next day, I filmed Art Green from The Bachelor, because I was meeting him about something else. Then I spent the next month begging my family and friends to share their dreams. It was a total burden. I hated it. There was no purpose to it.”
But halfway through the year, something shifted.
“Around 200 days in, my heart started to change. I got this strong gut feeling that this was the thing I was born to do. So I changed the project to 10,000 Dreams on Instagram, didn’t tell anyone, legit because it sounded cool. I didn’t do the math at all. Accidentally locked myself into a 50-plus-year mission.”
So far, he’s logged over 2,000 dream interviews, ranging from everyday people to household names — Steve Irwin’s family, Ashton Kutcher, T-Pain, Tony Hawk, Israel Adesanya, Scooter Braun, Teddy Swims, Bear Grylls, Piers Morgan, Olivia Dean, and many more.
The project has taken him all over the world and into the lives of an astonishing array of people.
“It’s a global mission that’s taken me everywhere,” says Grut. “All walks of life. It’s put me in front of world leaders, refugees, Oscar winners, houseless people, a real-life astronaut, movie stars, toddlers, billionaires, a Satanic priest, Grand Slam champions, monks, Muppets…”
“This is my Everest. My dream is to help the planet dream.”
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His favourite guest? No contest.
“My favourite dream of all time is the Irwin family, Robert and Terri. It was frickin’ magic. Took years, and a few no’s, to tee it up. I spent the morning with them at Australia Zoo. I literally flew over from NZ for it. It felt like I entered into Jurassic Park.”
He ticks off other highlights: filming Mila Kunis’ dream at her and Ashton Kutcher’s LA home on Valentine’s Day; Teddy Swims’ dream in a toilet; T-Pain’s dream in his Las Vegas hotel room on Super Bowl Sunday; and tennis star Jannik Sinner’s dream as a teenager ranked outside the top 100, now world number one.
“Honestly, filming my mates and family are my absolute favs!”
Grut’s already crossed off one dream guest: Elmo from Sesame Street, filmed in Melbourne two years ago. But his dream guest list is long and ambitious: Steven Spielberg, Justin Bieber, Roger Federer, Tom Cruise.
He even has some “fun extras” lined up: “I will film Banksy’s dream. An astronaut in space. King Charles at Buckingham Palace. The Pope. Tom Cruise mid-skydive. The Simpsons (as a cartoon). Kim Jong Un. A dream on stage at the Oscars. Wes Anderson, but shot like a Wes Anderson film…”
With roughly 8,000 dreams still to go, Fraser Grut shows no sign of slowing down.
