AUSTIN, Texas—”Did you like the movie?”

Twelve seconds after I’ve introduced myself to Bill Nye, under the auspices of interviewing him, I find myself receiving the questions. He’s TV’s “The Science Guy,” after all, and he has reason to ask that opening question: his entire life was just put under a documentarian’s microscope. He had not seen Bill Nye: Science Guy until the night before (nor had pretty much anyone else, since it was the film’s world premiere). Already, it’s time for peer review.

I offer my own succinct statement—”I really liked it”—and Nye fills the following brief pause with all of the thoughts he’s come up with in the past 12 hours. He appreciates how the film talked about the congenital condition on his father’s side of the family; wishes the film offered more context for a story about his early career; is happy about new footage of one of his science-debate opponents mulling a change of heart. “That’s surprising and cool!”