Close Encounters of the Famed Kind

When I was little I used to always hope that one day I would get to meet (enter name here). When I was figure skating I would watch the pros on television and think to myself how could would it be to meet Victor Petrenko, Michael Weiss, or Kurt Browning. Then Harry Potter happened to the world and I wished that one day I would get to meet the actors. Today there are still actors, directors, musicians, athletes that I would love to have the opportunity to meet out of sheer admiration for their careers, but what happens to a girl in her twenties when she does.

My first encounter with a celebrity was when I was 9 and taking figure skating lessons from Rudy Galindo. Of course that was before he won the men's U.S. Figure Skating Championships title. He was a great coach, granted he cursed me by teaching me to skate "goofy". Like him, I skate lefty rather than righty which always made for interesting experiences during the 4am practice sessions. Following those days I was lucky enough to have skated on the ice along with such great skaters as Tanya Harding (pre-Kerrigan scandle), Nancy Kerrigan (post-scandle), and Brian Boitano (pre-South Park song). I looked up to these people for their skating abilities, but when meeting them I was sadly disappointed. Now if Scott Hamilton had been on the ice at any point I don't know if I would have been able to continue skating during that session. Had that happened I would have been SOOO over whelmed that most likely I'd be the idiot kid standing in the middle of the ice, frozen in place with my mouth hanging open quick getting ran over or with several toe-pick scars to remember the moment. But kids can dream right.

Fast-forward ten years and I have moved beyond the fame-whoring of actors. They are people just like you and me, so they should be treated as such. At this point I am a college student spending all of my free time volunteering and applying for various internships in the film industry trying to build a resume and reputation. I was very lucky and was able to work the Boston International Film Festival. The event that killed me that year was getting to meet the man who introduced me to figure skating and made me love the sport. No I'm not talking about an athlete. I'm talking about an actor who happened to have changed my thoughts and opinions of what to expect when meeting a celebrity. Lets be honest, most people don't recall the film The Cutting Edge, even though I ran my VHS copy into the ground I watched it so much. "Toe-Pick". No, most people remember DB Sweeney for his role as "Shoeless Joe" Jackson in Eight Men Out, or Benjy Taylor in No Man's Land. We actually had even joked about the various films while sitting in a bar after the opening night of the festival. I, being the geek that I am, mentioned to him that it was The Cutting Edge that made me want to figure skate, his friend who joined as at the bar quickly joked back with "yes and its what made me want to quit" while giving DB a joking grin. He even pulled a quick one on me just before the Q&A after the screening of his film Dirt Nap. It was one of the most insane evenings I had experienced, and one I will never forget. But not all encounters go that smoothly, and some you even flat out embarrass yourself over.

Shortly after the Boston International Film Festival, I volunteered myself for a week of hard labor for the opportunity to attend the Nantucket Film Festival. There is where I encountered one of my all time favorite actors, Steve Buscemi. I was quite the spaz after watching the screening of his film Lonesome Jim, and when it was time for the Q&A I sat in my chair, trying to be as calm and cool as I possibly could, rehearsing the question I wanted to ask over and over again in my head so I wouldn't say something totally uncool. When I was called on to ask my question I felt myself turn beet red and I could not seem to get my question out without stuttering. I felt so uncool in that moment, but asking my question, and having him actually look at me, and answer my question made me feel like I was on top of the world in that moment. It made me feel special that he actually took the time to walk towards the middle of the room and stand right in front of me and look at me while he spoke. It was much different from the responses that he gave to the genaric "What was it like working with..." and "How was it acting in Sopranos..." or any other question like that. And it was in that moment my favorite movie came to life for me. Not that I needed anything other than just watch Living In Oblivion, but listening to Mr. Steve Buscemi talk about what it was like directing Lonesome Jim and what he went through while filming Living In Oblivion, it just made my day. Yet sadly if I ever see my old college roommate, I'm sure she'll start to laugh again and joke about how red I was and couldn't stop from shaking for the rest of the day. Not exactly my proudest of moments but what can I say, he is just "one of those guys".

I know it's probably a bit out there to hear that Steve Buscemi is someone's favorite actors, as he's not a Johnny Depp or Brendon Frasier or anything of that style. But he's not alone when it comes to obscure actors that make my favorite actors list. Danny Trejo is another one of those guys you may not know by name, but you will definitely know him by appearance. Mr. Danny Trejo is only 5'7", but his presense and engery make him feel so much taller. I was lucky to have met him after the opening night screening of his documentary film Champion, (which of course I recommend for any one to watch -- it will blow your mind to hear about this man's life) and after the event he showed such kindness to the audience it was unbelieve about. I mean when you look at it he just looks like a guy you would never want to bump into on a dark street, but after watching the film and listening to him speak and offer advice to a man in the audience after his story hit close to home for him, he truly did deserve to be honored with the humanitarian award that was presented to him. The funny thing about my encounter with him was that I was a nervous wreck and was too nervous just to go up and meet him. I also wasn't sure if it was proper protocol being an employee of the festival. My good friend Jess, who at the time was my intern supervisor during the festival, was the one who made a comment to Mr. Danny Trejo and it was from there that he walked over and said hi to a teary eyed girl. Yes, now I can laugh about my reaction to him, but in that exact moment I was over whelmed by everything and it was such a shock to the system that he was so nice. I mean, just look at any photograph of him -- he just looks like one tough son of a bitch and its not because of all the knives he's wearing. Today and forever forward, he will that guy that changed what a "bad boy" is for me.

But now, working in the entertainment industry I find my encounters a little more frequent, but an official introduction is quite rare unless the talent is "old school". What I mean by that is that today, thanks to media and the paparazzi, I believe that talent find it difficult to feel like normal people so they must always be on their guard in fear that someone is going to catch them, or get them to do something and then post it online. It's sad in a way, to have to feel like that all the time and live like that, and some I feel bad that they are hounded as much as they are. Yet then again they did "ask for it" by entering the world of the rich and famous. But even keeping that in mind, sometimes you happen to work on a production or a show where the talent is just totally cool.
When I was interning during the days of TRL I can recall a few stars that came in to promote a new show that were just amazing. Kal Penn, prior to his days working for President Obama, came in to promote Harold and Kumar from Guantanamo Bay and some how our conversation ended in laughs and me feeling like such a nerd because I had confessed that I had a hula man that sat on my car's dashboard that I had named, with my friend Sammie, after Kumar. Something I would not normally share. I also recently met Tim Blake Nelson and he was such a cool guy. I mean what New Yorker isn't cool when he gets in a car with a bunch of strangers, introduces himself and then asks to put the game on. Just totally relaxed and chill.
My favorite place to meet people though is at comic cons. I know, I just scream GEEK but what can I say it is my place on comfort and no matter who is there or what character you go dressed as, there is only love for your fellow nerds and all that talent seem to genuinely enjoy being there and meeting fans. Earlier this year I was lucky to have been able to attend the New York Comic Con and sat in on several panels. By far the wild and craziest was the Dollhouse screening and Q&A with Joss Whedon. But meeting him and hearing him speak about what goes through his head and how he works is just amazing. He is a geek at heart and thats what makes the rest of us love him so much. The one person I met that threw me for a loop was Yvonne Strahovski. Beautiful and so friendly, but man that accent. I know there are so many foreign actors and actresses that are playing american characters but wow. This the Big Apple Comic Con brough someone that I love and was more than willing to pay the $40 to get a sign photo with. Linda Hamilton has always been one of my favorite female action stars. I can never get enough of Terminator, and I am saddened that Fox cancelled The Sarah Connor Chronicles. But being able to sit in a chair next to THE Linda Hamilton for just a few minutes, and chat with her about the film and how much I loved it, and all that other "yadda, yadda, yadda". But the funny thing was I felt a little tongue tied sitting next to her. I left with a goofy grin and now that I think about it I can't help but to laugh. I guess that's what happens when a geek meets their favorite character's creator in whatever medium it happens to be in. But yay to the geeks, and yay to those that make of feel like a giddy little kid all over again. Thank you!

But of course in the fashion of saving the best for last there is the always amazing Mr Francis Ford Coppola. It was a film geeks dream come true. I grew up on his films. My aunt introduced me to the mafia genre at a very young age with Godfather and I have never looked back since. With Godfather as one of my favorite films of all time, and having studied Apocalypse Now in school I was in shock. Truth is I was in disbelief when I heard that he was coming into the building for an interview. Not only was I in shock, but I also couldn't believe that some of my coworkers had no idea who he was. I mean how many people honestly don't know who Coppola is? Well I made myself get past the shock and asked if I could be a fly on the wall and sit in during the interview. All I wanted to do was to hear him speak. Be able to have the opportunity to listen to him speak about his filmmaking and his process. I got a lot more than I had bargained for.
It was raining on the day he came in to speak about his upcoming release Tetro. The star of his new film, Alden Ehrenreich, came in for the interview as well, and as he was prepping for the interview Mr Coppola was being microphoned. He asked those of us in the room if there was a comb anywhere that he could use, and as none of us could produce one he turned to me and pointed to the head band I was wearing and asked if he could use it to run through his hair. Until this point I had been the goofball in the far corner of the room that looked like a mental patient because I had one of those "creepy smiles" one my face and didn't know what else to do. I knew before I entered the room that if I had the chance to speak with him I would have said that I was a huge admirer of his work, but once I was in the room I couldn't think of a single thing to say, and the only thought I could produce in my head was "I'm not worthy". But once I was able to get my head on straight, i took my headband off and held it out towards him, a little unsure if he was serious. He took it and quickly ran it over his hair before handing it back and asking how he looked and saying thanks. From that point on during the interview he actually joked about having to borrow the headband to make sure that he looked good sitting next to his young star. I still have yet to have used the headband since it touched his hands and sat in aw of the director listening to him speak about Tetro, his new stars, and various things about The Godfather that I never knew before. It was unbelievable.

Here is a video of the interview I was able to sit in on.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

As a little treat here is the trailer for Tetro. Enjoy!