One of my weekly errands I used to do was to copy the quark copy desk files to a zip drive for Peter Travers so he could work on his movie reviews at home over the weekend. Suffice it to say Peter was a really awesome guy to sit around and bullshit about films with. On one particular occasion the movie: 'Being John Malkovich' came up for some reason. I'm pretty sure I'm the one who brought it up because the moment I did his eyes glazed over right before dropping his head down and burying his face in his hands. Upon seeing this my eyes lit up knowing there was a great story behind his reaction.
He told me that he had recently been away at some film festival award type thing and had a baffling encounter Mr. John Malkovich. As his account goes, he had left his room on the 20th something floor of the hotel and headed out to preview a film. After a few moments of waiting for the elevator it arrived. Upon opening he set a foot in the door and saw only one man standing in it. It was John Malkovich. Now, what you have to understand about Peter and I'm sure it's the same for a lot of other semi celeb reviewers, is their natural tendency to be slightly unerved by the apperance of certain actors. Esp ones they've reviewed poorly in the past. In this rare case, his apprehension wasn't because of a nasty review he had gived John Malkovich, but rather the fact that he had just seen 'Being John Malkovich' the previous night.
He said a wave of sheer terror struck him like a ton of bricks as he somehow managed to hold it together as he stepped the rest of the way into the elevator. As the door closed he looked over at Malkovich and observed that he was wearing a leisure suit of some sort and carrying a small ratty looking tweed brief case. Malkovich, realizing he was being starred at, looked back over at Peter. Hearing the words come out of his mouth rather than thinking about it, Peter asked: "What do you have in that brief case?"
Malkovich raised his brow intrigued at the obtuse question and simply remarked: "Would you like to see?" He then took Peter's silent non reaction to his question as a yes. Malkovich opened the brief case and inside was an unmarked video tape, a used dress shirt, two pairs of boxers along with some paperwork and a pencil. Satisfied that Peter had had enough time to observe what was in the case, Malkovich closed it without saying a word and returned to facing forward. Moments later the door opened and with narry a parting glance, Malkovich walked out into the lobby and dissapeared.
Peter, still nearly frozen with terror slowly walked out into the lobby where he was met by one of the movie publicisits he was good friends with. She looked at him and asked: "Hey Peter, you alright? To which he replied: "Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich.." and then walked off without saying another word...
He said a wave of sheer terror struck him like a ton of bricks as he somehow managed to hold it together as he stepped the rest of the way into the elevator. As the door closed he looked over at Malkovich and observed that he was wearing a leisure suit of some sort and carrying a small ratty looking tweed brief case. Malkovich, realizing he was being starred at, looked back over at Peter. Hearing the words come out of his mouth rather than thinking about it, Peter asked: "What do you have in that brief case?"
Malkovich raised his brow intrigued at the obtuse question and simply remarked: "Would you like to see?" He then took Peter's silent non reaction to his question as a yes. Malkovich opened the brief case and inside was an unmarked video tape, a used dress shirt, two pairs of boxers along with some paperwork and a pencil. Satisfied that Peter had had enough time to observe what was in the case, Malkovich closed it without saying a word and returned to facing forward. Moments later the door opened and with narry a parting glance, Malkovich walked out into the lobby and dissapeared.
Peter, still nearly frozen with terror slowly walked out into the lobby where he was met by one of the movie publicisits he was good friends with. She looked at him and asked: "Hey Peter, you alright? To which he replied: "Malkovich, Malkovich, Malkovich.." and then walked off without saying another word...
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