You read John Beifuss’ story today about the movie that’s going to be filmed in Memphis in October, right?
Well, there’s a chance part of it might be filmed in The Commercial Appeal newsroom. So we were all talking about who we’d like to meet if the opportunity arose. Of course, the guys were all about Kate Beckinsale, and some of the gals were imagining fawning over Matt Dillon, but Alan Alda is who I want to shake hands with. I just admire him as an actor and a person and think he’d be interesting to talk to.
My co-worker Carolyn, who works out of our Germantown office, was on the conference phone and said two people just asked her “Who’s Alan Alda?”
Me: Oh my God! Haven’t they ever seen a “M*A*S*H” rerun?
Carolyn: That was their second question — What’s “M*A*S*H”?
Me: You’re kidding me. How old are they?
Carolyn: 20
Me: And they never saw “The West Wing” (in which Alda played a presidential candidate — a REPUBLICAN! Now that’s acting…) – what kind of journalists are they?!
Sigh…. Maybe they’ll know him now as “that old newspaper guy” in hottie Josh Hartnett’s movie “Resurrecting the Champ” — which came out last weekend and is also directed by Rod Lurie, the guy coming to film here in October.
Who would you want to meet from the movie, which also stars Vera Farmiga and David Schwimmer? Have you had a “brush with greatness” with any other actors who filmed in Memphis?
August 30th, 2007 at 10:01 am
I’ve seen more famous people here in Memphis than I have in NYC or LA. Almost all of them at the Peabody. Not all of them were here filming (Matthew Perry, Mick Jagger). I did see Reese Witherspoon sitting in a director’s chair waiting to film a scene for “Walk the Line” downtown.
Funniest encounter was in the Peabody when Jerry Seinfeld came in several years ago. We were having a drink at the bar with my Mom and a friend. Saw Jerry checking in and started daring each other to ride up the elevator with him. I said I’d do it. Trying to be cool, I walked around the back of the bar and timed my paces so that Jerry and I arrived at the elevators at the same time. We stepped in the elevator and I suddenly hear “HOLD THAT ELEVATOR!!!” I look up to see my Mom and my friend running across the lobby straight at us. They slipped through the doors just as they were closing. I pretended not to know them, of course. My Mom turned to Jerry and said “Hi! What are you doing in town?” He cocked an eyebrow and said in that classic Seinfeld voice “Wouldn’t you like to know?!”