newcritics

I straightened my skirt, put on my heels, checked my lipstick and rushed to my car. I was supposed to meet him at 4. I couldn’t believe I was doing something like this. I had never done anything like this before! I couldn’t be late!

I found a place to park right in front of the hotel. Unbelievable luck. Checked my lipstick one last time in the rearview mirror, grabbed my things and went inside the lobby and walked up to the front desk.

“Oh, your blue girl? He told me you were coming. He can’t wait to see you. Room 414. Elevator’s right over there.”

I was a nervous wreck! I didn’t know what to expect. I strolled to the elevator and stepped in just before the doors were about to close. I pushed the button for the fourth floor, and smiled nervously at the little old man standing in the corner who was getting off at three.

When I stepped out onto the fourth floor, it was so quiet. Almost too quiet. I walked down the hall looking for Room 414. There it was, halfway down on the right. I stopped, composed myself, took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

He opened the door slowly.

There he was.

He was all I ever imagined him to be.

“Come in.”

“Okay.”

“Did you find the hotel okay?”

“Yes, and I got a great parking spot, too.”

“That’s tremendous. Let’s go sit over here.”

I followed him across the room and we sat on the edge of the bed.” It was extremely quiet, except for the muffled sounds of people talking coming from the next room.

He leaned in and said, looking at me with those pretty eyes…

“Show me what you got.”

“You want to do it right now?”

“Sure.”

“Here?”

“Of course, where else would we do it?”

So, I slowly unzipped my…

…briefcase and pulled out my layout!

“Wow! This looks great!”

“Thanks!”

“Okay, let me really look at it.”

I sat there silently, hoping he wouldn’t rip it to shreds. He being Denzel Washington. The Skimmer and I had been hired to create and produce graphic props for the movie Antwone Fisher for the portion of the movie that was being shot in Cleveland.

It was a total rush job. We got all the information on a Tuesday and I had to meet with him on Thursday. When I say above that I was a nervous wreck, that was an understatement. I had never worked on anything like this before and I didn’t want to end up being a blooper! A big old typo no one would catch until it was up on the big screen. I was extremely stressed. What I was showing him had to be complete the following morning at 10am so that it could be included in a scene they were going to shoot at noon. It was an extremely tight schedule and I had my fingers crossed that he wasn’t going to make any changes. It was nearly impossible to get it done if he said it was perfect, let alone if he made any changes at all.

Denzel jumped up off the edge of the bed, looking at my layout. He started be-bopping around the room. I stared at him. He’s better looking in person. Gorgeous smile, beautiful eyes. Nice build. Looked good in his clothes.

“Okay, I really like this, but let’s just change a few things.”

My heart sank. “Okay.”

“Let’s put this front page in the back and the back page in the middle. Let’s take all all the photos you have at the top and put them at the bottom, and the bottom ones at the top. You have it blue, which is great, but let’s make it red. You have twelve pages. Hmmm. Why don’t we add eight more? He smacked the layout against his forehead. “Yeah, that’d be good! 20 pages would work…”

I was in shock. It wasn’t that he was being mean. It was that he was making changes that didn’t matter one iota! They were all subjective. No one would ever know any different one way or another. But, he’s Denzel Washington and I, um, am not. So, I sat there nodding my head up and down.

“…yep. I think we need 20 pages. Is that okay? Can we add eight more? Oooooh! I like this model you used here! Great. She looks great. Here you go. Should we go over it again?”

“No. I’ve got it. That’s great. No problem. But, I’ve got to get going so that I can get the changes done.” I couldn’t say anything to him about the tight deadline. I couldn’t argue subjectiveness with Denzel Washington. I was now more stressed than ever.

He walked me to the door.

“It was nice meeting you! Oh, blue girl. Wait. They’re wrapping this scene up. I want you to meet someone.” The real Antwone Fisher came in the room and I introduced myself and we shook hands. He was a nice guy. The muffled voices that I had heard when I first arrived were a couple of actors in the next room. They were shooting a scene. They took me in the room. I watched them do a re-take and then excused myself, because I had major changes to make!

The Skimmer and I worked on several props for the movie in addition to the catalog-like prop I wrote about above. If you ever watch the movie, be on the lookout for the most awesome social worker forms you have ever seen in your life. And watch for phone books. Yes, we created fake phone books! You will never, ever see a bunch of better designed, great looking phone books.

But, the one I’m especially proud of is the catalog-like prop that Denzel had me change at the very last minute. And not because his changes made it better, but because of the way it was used in the movie. Two little boys, one being Antwone Fisher, are lying on the floor looking at it, flipping through it. They were both foster children. Very unhappy, mistreated foster children. As they flipped through it, they would point to each of the models and say, “That’s my mama, no, that’s my mama. That’s my mama, no, that’s my mama” It was a profound, heartbreaking scene and I was proud to have been a part of it.

So, that’s my brush with an Academy Award winner. Denzel (we’re on a first name basis now) won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance in the movie Glory. Antwone Fisher was not nominated for an Oscar, which is surprising. Not just because of the jaw dropping awesomeness of the props, but because it’s a really good movie. Derek Luke, who played Antwone Fisher, was especially good in it. If you haven’t seen it, make it a point to. It’s heavy, but it’s good.

Okay, kids! Show starts in 30 minutes! Ellen will be hosting the show they’re holding out in La-La Land and I will be hosting the Real Show, right here in Blogland. I really like Ellen. Not that I’ve ever met her. Anywhere. Including a hotel room. Not that there would be anything wrong with that if I did.