Claudia Koerner of The Orange County Register has a nice little Q&A with Greg MacGillivray, the 65-year-old Laguna Beach resident who recently became the first documentary filmmaker to cross the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office.

MacGillivray Freeman Films have made 35 large-format films for IMAX, led by the 1998 multi-protagonist docudrama Everest, which has grossed $145 million. MacGillivray (pictured, with wife Barbara) says he has never felt the urge to move the 25-person company he founded in the 1960′s with the late Jim Freeman away from the OC.

Explains MacGillivray:

I’m a family person. My family lived in Laguna Beach, my mom and dad and my sisters.  The second thing is physical. I love surfing, I love the water, I love the beauty of the coves of Laguna. I love the artistic aspects of the town, the architecture, the old world European charm. It’s been a great place to be a family person and raise a family, and also just a super enjoyable place to live. It’s just home.

The sport of surfing is what first brought MacGillivray and Freeman together, leading them to make the 1972 surf classic Five Summer Stories.