(Photo: Patrick McMullan)

Those protesters against Bruce Ratner’s massive Atlantic Yards project at the Brooklyn Ball honoring the developer on April 3? The megaproject’s architect, Frank Gehry, knew they couldn’t possibly be mad at him. “Have they got things against me?” he asked. “No, it’s against Bruce. You know, when Bilbao was in the model stage, when I was presenting it, I went to Bilbao and there were 300, 400 people with little candles stretched out in three rows, and I had to walk through them to get into the building, and they were protesting me. They published a fatwa in the paper saying ‘Kill the American architect.’ So I’m sort of used to it.” He also suspects his critics will become converts. “Now I go to Bilbao and they kiss me,” he said. “I think the same thing will happen here.”

Have good intel? Send tips to intel@nymag.com.

Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Articles by Jada Yuan
• Table of Contents: Apr 21, 2008 issue of New York | Subscribe!