And of course on one of the first hottest days of the year I was called in for a couple job interviews in which it is expected that I wear a suit. Ugh.
Made it thru both okay. Was told to "google" the boss man of one of the companies I interviewed with - Dan Loeb. So now you can google him too! ;) So interesting to even step into these companies and hear about a common day there - lunches being ordered in daily, branches in London, San Fransisco or elsewhere. Even if I don't get a job at these places or don't feel like I'm a good fit - it is still kind of cool to experience it all and take a look around.
After the interviews I needed a meal and to re-hydrate myself. I thought I'd check out Burger Heaven. I ordered the turkey burger and was disappointed. Maybe other meals are better there but I still vote for BRGR! ;)Then I headed home to change into something more survivable in the weather and got ready to head back into the city for a screening of Rescue Dawn followed by a talkback with Steven Zahn! Woot!
Even though the event was sponsored by the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, the screening was at a theatre in Times Square. While I waited for the movie to start I read the flyer they handed out about the movie & Steven Zahn - I discovered that Rescue Dawn was inspired by a documentary, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, that Werner Herzog had also directed. After seeing the movie, I REALLY want to find the doc to watch.
Once I read the flyer, there was still time to kill so I pulled out my book (I finished Devil in the White City - I HIGHLY recommend it and am now reading The Professor and the Madman - another strange but true non-fiction book.) An empty seat remained next to me right up until showtime and then a man with his book in tow sat next to me. Immediately he said something to me about coming prepared with reading material, attempting to joke that he forgot his bitelite. I told him I'd put my book away once the movie started. He asked what group I was associated with (the event was co-sponsored by Variety). I told him I just had a membership @ the Museum. I asked him the same question and he said he was on the SAG voting committee.
The movie started.
The movie is excellent and shot in more of a "real" sense (no cgi) partly because I think (and as Steven Zahn later said) that's the only way Herzog knows how to shoot - like a documentary. I think it is worth pointing out that that the flyer said that Herzog intentionally made the movie without excessive blood and gore saying, "Neither I as the director nor the audience wants to see defenseless people suffering." Adding - "I don't like that kind of violence. And Dieter himself was always gracious about his captors. In fact, he became fascinated by Asia and Asian culture throughout his life."
Once the movie was over, Steven Zahn came out. You could tell which people DIDN'T pay for their tickets as some actually left during the talkback. Zahn is so much like the comedic characters he's played- the gestures and cadence in which he talks - he did not disappoint! And even when he didn't follow questions from the audience he still tried to be nice, telling one guy that he didn't quite know what he was asking but it was okay because they'd get beers later and talk it out. ;)
Zahn said that he is a BIG history buff, likes movies like Jeremiah Johnson and owned the Dieter doc. Herzog had made, lending it to people when they said they hadn't seen it. When he heard it was going to be made into a movie he told his agent he HAD to get a meeting with Werner, adding - typically if you love something that's the kiss of death because usually you don't get it. But Werner met with him and then called Zahn's agent wanting to know what Zahn liked to eat. Zahn pondered this question not sure if this was a test or what and then found out that Werner simply wanted to invite him over for supper (they had steak). Werner offered him the part of Duane. Zahn added that he didn't even have to give a speech about how even though he's done mostly comedy he can do other things...
Zahn and the rest of the cast lost weight for their roles. Zahn felt pretty good about the 40 lbs he lost but once he got on set he discovered that Jeremy Davies had outdone him and he actually looked like a champ wrestler compared to him. So Davies had his shirt open or off during filming and Zahn left his clothes on - but his gaunt face still proved to be haunting.
The movie was filmed in 2002 over about 2 months. They shot the film backward so that gave Christian Bale time to gain back weight (Zahn said that Bale seemed to gain 10lbs in 3 days). Most of the stunts they did themselves with Werner demostrating to them what they needed to do each time.
There were minimal extras on location in Laos (no trailers/craft service, etc) so that made the filming go quicker, caused the cast to bond since they couldn't retreat to their trailers and also caused a bit of friction at times. Werner didn't do a lot of takes for things and didn't believe in rehearsal time. Scenes that Bale and Zahn thought were important to go over, Herzog would take 2 takes of, but scenes that didn't seem quite as important (like a scene where they are floating on a raft down the river) had several takes because Werner wanted it an exact way - testing the patience of his freezing/wet stars in the river. Zahn said that in the end though - you had to trust him, what else were you going to do?
Zahn said he didn't have a lot of background to work with when portraying Duane - just a pic he had hanging in his truck. Apparently the real Duane was much worse off than the fictional version. Zahn said that when Dieter met him he had disentary so bad that he was holding his intestines in his hands.
***Spoiler Alert***
Zahn said that when Dieter got back home he went to visit Duane's wife and I guess it was horrible because Duane's wife thought Dieter was Duane and he had to explain.
***End Spoiler***
Werner made a point of saying that this was a movie inspired by the doc. but he didn't want Bale to imitate Dieter so because of that philosophy of borderline fictionalized non-fiction, Zahn said that there are great moments in the doc that unfortunately don't make it into the movie. Another reason to watch the doc!
Zahn said that he got along well with Bale and said that Bale is one of the top 3 actors he's worked with that is truly funny. Adding that Bale is really professional during the shoot but once they yelled "cut" Zahn and Bale would immediately be goofing off and cracking each other up.
On stardom - Zahn said he is content where he is at in the movie world. Adding that he doesn't have the liberty to seek out certain roles (I'll do THIS next...) but hopes that as he gets older the more dramatic roles (like Duane) will be offered to him. He said (referring to his role in Out of Sight) that a 20 something escape con stoner is funny, a 40 somthing escape con stoner is sad.
He says he likes the fact that he lives in Kentucky and can shop at the Super Target without getting recognized but he has been mistaken for a Target worker and asked where stuff is. The audience laughed and he said - you laugh, but it has happened!
Somebody asked him if he thought there'd be a sequel to Sahara. Er...he said he didn't know, but probably not because in movie years that was like 20 years ago!
The talkback ended and as we shuffled out the SAG Nom Comm guy got in my ear. He said that he was really honored that he got to be on the committee and got to see lots of great movies - mentioning that he had seen A Might Heart with a talk back that had Angelina Jolie and Dan Futterman. As he kept talking I saw I was getting closer to Steve Zahn and without even having an inkling of what to say I just reached out my hand to shake his. I think I managed to say something like "You had a wonderful performance" or something like that - had the guy not been in my ear I might have been more on my game, or not. Pretty much as soon as I made hand to hand connection all I could think of was I'M SHAKING STEVEN ZAHN'S HAND!!!!
Then as I continued out the theatre the guy asked if I was going to see the preview of Sicko with a talkback with Michael Moore. I told him it was sold out so probably not. Then he contemplated out loud that maybe he could get a free ticket for me. (I should add that at one point before the talkback started this guy asked if I was cold - I said I was fine - and he said he wished he had a sweater to lend me. I should also add that this guy I believe was my father's age or older.) I told him that was okay and he said, well - maybe I'll see you at another one of these events then? Maybe. Then he said his name was Jack, shaking my hand - my Steve Zahn shaking hand. I offered my first name too and then headed the opposite direction of where he was headed.
Now he may have just been trying to be nice, but some moments just seemed less "fatherly" and more - ick.
But the main thing is that I got to shake hands with Steve Zahn! And maybe, just maybe a few years from now I'll mention that moment that I'm sure he will have forgotten when we are working on a show together! ;) Ahhh...one can dream...
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