Hollywood Be Thy Name
Oy.
And again, oy.
You will recall that the Astonishing Actress who took the role of the older woman in the movie had memory problems on the set and took long pauses as she tried to grope for the next word and that I had to feed her many of her lines from off camera a few words at a time, creating quite the editing challenge once it was all over. Well it all worked out, it's all been neatly sewn together with invisible stitches, and you would absolutely never know. The performance flows. The performance glows. The performance makes people cry.
That's what my wife was telling a Fellow Crew Member on the movie she's working on right now in Louisiana. That her husband had just made a movie with this Astonishing Three Time Oscar Nominated Actress and the performance was awesome, that it made her cry, but how challenging it had been, with the memory problems, to get there. "Oh!", said Fellow Crew Member, warmly. "Astonishing Actress is one of my closest friends!"
Well guess what Fellow Crew Member did. She called her "closest friend", Astonishing Actress, and told her that the wife of the director on her latest film was complaining that she had come to set without knowing her lines and was a big problem.
We should all have close friends like that, huh?
Controlling Husband of Astonishing Actress calls Producer and says Astonishing Actress is terribly hurt and upset and it's all lies, lies, lies. Of course Producer knows it's not lies, he was there with me every day commiserating about the problem and reassuring me that I was doing great with her and that in the end I would have everything I needed on film.
Producer calls me and says "we have a problem."
Why a problem, apart from the fact that a lovely and loving and loveable 76 year old actress's feelings have been hurt?
Because at 8 A.M. the following morning said actress is scheduled to come into a sound studio and spend a few hours with me doing looping--that is, re-recording some of her dialogue for reasons of sound problems or performance adjustments.
So I had to call. Not Astonishing Actress herself, of course. No, I would be calling Mr. Astonishing Actress, who will not let anybody hand Astonishing Actress a cup of tea. You have to hand it to Hubby, and then Hubby hands the tea to his meal ticket, excuse me, I mean wife.
I went into a sound-proof room at the studio and took deep breaths and said a very quiet prayer or two and called.
It was pretty grim at first. I said I was ripped up that this had happened (the truth: I love this woman) and he said, as tersely as terse can be, "So am I." My through-line was this: That the Closest Friend had left out the part where my wife said that the performance was magnificent and had made her cry. That in the madness and tension of making the movie I would call my wife after shooting and talk to her about the day and part of what went on during those days was the Astonishing Actress's problems with the lines, and she shared that with a co-worker, who passed it on, and I was terribly terribly sorry, as was my wife, that that had happened. Of course Hubby, who was there every second, even in private rehearsals, couldn't see that there had been a problem and blamed me for being "one of those directors who wants the lines said exactly they way they are written." As that insult would also apply to Mike Nichols, Martin Scorcese and Francis Ford Coppola, I'll take it. Apart from the fact that it's not strictly true. I just want the lines said SO THAT THEY MAKE THE LEAST BIT OF SENSE AND AREN'T FULL OF AWKWARD GROPING PAUSES. In the end he really heard me telling him that the performance is awesome and that that's all I ever tell anybody. He ended the call reasonably warmly, saying "Thank you for calling, I really appreciate that, and let's just leave it behind us and move on."
Of course the next day for the first time in my entire career I went to the wrong sound facility and was 15 minutes late to the looping. Arrghgghggh. But the good news there is, I called ahead and told them to start running the movie for Hubby and Actress and that changed everything. She saw how good she is, and how good the movie is, and then we had a couple of hours of working smoothly together, and it was hugs and kisses in the end. Feigned, or real? Well who knows. It's Hollywood, man.
Leaving me, being a creature of Hollywood, with one remaining bit of uneasiness: this whole business rides on what people say about you. What will Hubby and Actress be saying about me?
And then there's the question of which circle of hell has been reserved for the "friend" who relayed the gossip to her in the first place.
And again, oy.
You will recall that the Astonishing Actress who took the role of the older woman in the movie had memory problems on the set and took long pauses as she tried to grope for the next word and that I had to feed her many of her lines from off camera a few words at a time, creating quite the editing challenge once it was all over. Well it all worked out, it's all been neatly sewn together with invisible stitches, and you would absolutely never know. The performance flows. The performance glows. The performance makes people cry.
That's what my wife was telling a Fellow Crew Member on the movie she's working on right now in Louisiana. That her husband had just made a movie with this Astonishing Three Time Oscar Nominated Actress and the performance was awesome, that it made her cry, but how challenging it had been, with the memory problems, to get there. "Oh!", said Fellow Crew Member, warmly. "Astonishing Actress is one of my closest friends!"
Well guess what Fellow Crew Member did. She called her "closest friend", Astonishing Actress, and told her that the wife of the director on her latest film was complaining that she had come to set without knowing her lines and was a big problem.
We should all have close friends like that, huh?
Controlling Husband of Astonishing Actress calls Producer and says Astonishing Actress is terribly hurt and upset and it's all lies, lies, lies. Of course Producer knows it's not lies, he was there with me every day commiserating about the problem and reassuring me that I was doing great with her and that in the end I would have everything I needed on film.
Producer calls me and says "we have a problem."
Why a problem, apart from the fact that a lovely and loving and loveable 76 year old actress's feelings have been hurt?
Because at 8 A.M. the following morning said actress is scheduled to come into a sound studio and spend a few hours with me doing looping--that is, re-recording some of her dialogue for reasons of sound problems or performance adjustments.
So I had to call. Not Astonishing Actress herself, of course. No, I would be calling Mr. Astonishing Actress, who will not let anybody hand Astonishing Actress a cup of tea. You have to hand it to Hubby, and then Hubby hands the tea to his meal ticket, excuse me, I mean wife.
I went into a sound-proof room at the studio and took deep breaths and said a very quiet prayer or two and called.
It was pretty grim at first. I said I was ripped up that this had happened (the truth: I love this woman) and he said, as tersely as terse can be, "So am I." My through-line was this: That the Closest Friend had left out the part where my wife said that the performance was magnificent and had made her cry. That in the madness and tension of making the movie I would call my wife after shooting and talk to her about the day and part of what went on during those days was the Astonishing Actress's problems with the lines, and she shared that with a co-worker, who passed it on, and I was terribly terribly sorry, as was my wife, that that had happened. Of course Hubby, who was there every second, even in private rehearsals, couldn't see that there had been a problem and blamed me for being "one of those directors who wants the lines said exactly they way they are written." As that insult would also apply to Mike Nichols, Martin Scorcese and Francis Ford Coppola, I'll take it. Apart from the fact that it's not strictly true. I just want the lines said SO THAT THEY MAKE THE LEAST BIT OF SENSE AND AREN'T FULL OF AWKWARD GROPING PAUSES. In the end he really heard me telling him that the performance is awesome and that that's all I ever tell anybody. He ended the call reasonably warmly, saying "Thank you for calling, I really appreciate that, and let's just leave it behind us and move on."
Of course the next day for the first time in my entire career I went to the wrong sound facility and was 15 minutes late to the looping. Arrghgghggh. But the good news there is, I called ahead and told them to start running the movie for Hubby and Actress and that changed everything. She saw how good she is, and how good the movie is, and then we had a couple of hours of working smoothly together, and it was hugs and kisses in the end. Feigned, or real? Well who knows. It's Hollywood, man.
Leaving me, being a creature of Hollywood, with one remaining bit of uneasiness: this whole business rides on what people say about you. What will Hubby and Actress be saying about me?
And then there's the question of which circle of hell has been reserved for the "friend" who relayed the gossip to her in the first place.
posted by Tom at 1:05 PM
8 Comments:
oh man.
i do not envy you at all for having to make that phone call, but i'm happy to hear that it ended well - even if it was a 'hollywood ending'.
Yes, we should all have friends that caring. Isn't it funny how often it's our 'good' friends who rush to the front with information that's guaranteed to hurt us? I don't envy you having to make that call either. I am hoping your sincerity got thru to Mr. A.A. and that they are savvy enough to take the higher ground and not keep the nasty ball rolling.
I think said "friend's" mouth should be sewn shut for spinning tall tales! It's bad enough when the truth hurts in that type of situation, but a lie sure doesn't help when the family is in denial. Congrats on being the bigger man and saying it was relayed out of context but not denying there was a problem. Remember, the easiest place to lay blame for most is on everyone but themselves.
You're kidding right? Blaming the friend? Sorry, blame belongs solely to your wife for opening her mouth in an environment you know things get passed on. It's Hollywood for God's sakes!
My husband and I work together in a tight-knit community (Advertising) and our golden rule is never, never, never talk about our clients. We'd be out of business. We have seen the oddest matchings of "who knows who" that you can imagine. Forget six degrees, with us it's one or two.
This all could have been avoided. Your wife put you in an untenable situation. My husband would be furious with me if I had done such a thing, and he would be right!
Would we like to spill the beans sometimes about our frustrations? All the time. But that's why we have each other. We bitch and moan to each other, then put on our "game faces" with everyone else. We are a united front. We don't tear each other down, which is what your wife did to you, albeit unintentionally.
Who benefitted from your wife saying what she did? No one. Only your wife in that thrilling moment she got to share something negative about Famous Actress. People just got hurt. Above all you and your reputation. The saying is right--what goes around comes around.
Good luck in the future.
Unfortunately you are not wrong, and nobody agrees with you more than my wife, who remains extremely upset with herself.
This does not absolve the bearer of the tale.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
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