Hey guys. As some of you may or may not know, right now I’m down in Los Angeles having some meetings and getting ready to head to San Diego tomorrow for the San Diego International Film Festival where I’ll be premiering my new film “Prince of Peace – God of War“. This is my 5th trip down here in just over a year. Hence my lack of posting this week (special thanks to Serena and Rodney for helping to pick up the slack).
Anyway, last night I was invited to the world premiere of the new Morgan Freeman / Greg Kinnear film “Feast of Love” which was held at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. What an amazing theater with so much stuff inside. Anyway, I’m standing around in the foyer a few minutes before they start the movie and Sharon says to me “Hey John… behind you”… so I turn around and I’m standing right beside Morgan Freeman. Later I had a bit of a geekgasm when I got to meet Fred Ward (Remo Williams himself bitches!), have drinks with a Vice President of MGM and chat for a moment with Toby Hemingway. Earlier in the week I bumped into Michael Bay, was bought lunch by a big Hollywood publicity company and had a meeting at the head offices of Lakeshore Entertainment. The other day I spoke with Kevin Smith and had The directors of Crank call into the live show with me. Later today I’m having coffee with Johnny Whitworth (CSI Miami and AJ on Empire Records) and drinks later in the evening with some more studio folks.
So what’s the point? The point is I still freak out about all this stuff. I mean holy shit… I’ve talked to people who have been movie journalists for like 6 months who don’t geek out anymore about getting to do all this stuff… me… I’ve been doing this for over 4 years now and I’m still as amazed and bedazzled by the world of movies as I’ve ever been. There I was, standing in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and I felt like I snuck in or something… because I’m just some wide eyed movie geek feeling like he’s about to wet his pants because HOLY CRAP THERES ROBERT BENTON!!!!
So why can’t I get used to this? Why aren’t I “cool” like all the other people who “cover” the movie industry and not get phased or excited by all this? I remember standing at Comic Con with another web guy and across the room I saw Robert Downey Jr. I freaked out a little and say “Holy crap, don’t look now, but there’s Downey Jr!” To which the other guy (who is much cooler than me) turned his head… said “oh yeah” and then just went on with our conversation like it was no big deal. I felt like such an absolute nerd… but I can’t help it… I AM an absolute nerd.
It’s not because I think any of these people are BETTER than anyone else, and certainly not any more important than anyone else. I think it has more to do with my (and our) fascination and love of the movies that gives me an unyielding appreciation and envy (there, I said it) for those who get to live and work inside that world. It’s not that Fred Ward is so important… it’s that he’s got to do so many cool things and be involved in so amy great movies that I just want to talk to him, hear about his experiences, what he’s seen, what he’s done and what he’s going to do. I think that’s why I get just as pumped about meeting studio people… because they’ve seen and been involved in so many cool things, that all I want to do is buy them a drink and pick their brains about their experiences for hours. I’m standing on a red carpet and had Jon Voight walk up to me… my first instinct wasn’t to ask him about the event… my instinct was to go “OH MY GOD! YOU’RE JON VOIGHT! TELL ME WHAT IT WAS LIKE MAKING DELIVERANCE!”
Is that “unprofessional” of me? Yup… sure is. Is it nerdy of me? Yes. Does it make me look like a loser? No doubt. And ya know what? I DON’T CARE.
I am, and have always been (like most of you guys) just a dude who LOVES movies. This whole site is nothing but an expression of my (and yours) enthusiasm for movies… and sometimes I feel like my whole existence is powered by my enthusiasm for movies. And I make no apologies for it. Let other people be professional. Let other people be cool. I run an irrelevant pointless website… but it let me have drinks with Zachary Quinto while talking Heroes and his new role in Star Trek… so I love my life, and I hope I never get used to it.
