I'm sure Mac will supply much of the rest I'm forgetting when she
returns home...but, I've returned to Vancouver - on the spur of the
moment after the Spokane Civic Theatre workshop, so I thought I'd
get in first - so there, Mac:P
Hee hee..I had an absolutely WONDERFUL time. OK, here is my full
report from start to finish:
I left Vancouver at about 10AM on Thursday morning, we traveled
down through Canada, crossing the border at about around 11:00 or
later, it was funny - when we went up to the guard he asked what we
were going down there for, so my mom said a movie screening, and the
nosy guard said "Which one?" so we said "Made-Up with Tony Shalhoub,
Brooke Adams and Lynne Adams" - so the guard mozies on over to open
up the side of the camper van we were in and asks for proof of the
fact we're attending this thing, so I show him my reception
invitation and he seems pleased with that and lets us through - I
mean, I think he just wanted to be first with bragging rights to the
guys inside - I don't know, but we got through.
Next we traveled down through Washington state, what an amazing
place for diversity of scenery. It's just incredible, it's a great
deal like the parallel in landscape if you're going from say
Vancouver to Calgary. From the mountains to the wheat fielded
hills, and this incredible mini version of the Grand Canyon, there
is some amazing sights. We also went by Roslyn, Washington (where
incidentally they filmed the series 'Northern Exposure'), we stopped
in for pictures on our way back to Vancouver this afternoon, it was
a real hoot, there really is a 'Brick' bar on the corner, Dr. Joel
Fleischmann�s office on the corner and such.
OK, so we made it to our stop in Spokane at around 7:30 on that
night. We stayed at the KOA campground on the outskirts of town.
We got settled in for the night for a good night sleep. We were
expecting Sussie/Mac to show up around noon the next day and
reserved a spot next to ours so we could have lunch together.
Next morning, we went into town and mulled around in the Spokane
Valley Mall, while there looking forward to the stores to open, we
spotted an 'Islander' newspaper that had an interview of Tony in it
about 'Made-Up' - (Lynn Chapman, bravo - you did an amazing job with
publicity), we got three of the newspapers just as soon as we
spotted it. I called Lynn around this time to let her know we were
in town and she was happy to hear we were here. After some light
shopping, we headed back to the campsite. There we met Sussie, who
shared our parking spot for a bit cheaper rate and pitched a tent.
We had great conversations over lunch and around 5:00 I got gussied
up and so did my mom for the show, Sussie bravely followed us in her
pickup as we headed out.
As I got ready, I stuck my finger through my nylons in a bit of a
nervous state and had to dash off to TJ Maxx for a replacement
pair. Then, I was on my way.
We arrived at the event, (I could barely walk in the shoes I had,
much to Sussie's amusement - I hate heels!) and we found the theatre
upstairs. Sussie got our tickets and we waited for the group of the
hour to arrive. We sat outside and kept watch. Me and my mom
recognized Lynn's hubby, Tom and said hi - he remembered us and came
over to shake our hands. Sure, enough - I heard one of the AMC
workers announce "They're here!" over a CB radio and soon, in filed
Lynne, Brooke and Tony. Lynn Chapman followed them, both Lynne and
Brooke went for something at the concession stand as a crowd
immediately gathered around Tony. The man is like a magnet. I
gathered up my things and went over as well.
After a few minutes, and setting down my stuff nearby, I walked up
and shook Tony's hand. I told him my name and that I had met him at
Paley, before I knew it - I kissed him on the cheek, it was such a
natural thing - he seemed so familiar to me, that I didn't plan it -
it just happened. He didn't mind, as I turned to see my mom wanting
to take our picture. Tony put his arm around me, and I put my arm
around his waist and we smiled. I thanked him and went over to
Brooke and Lynne who'd walked up to the crowd now merging with them
as well. I introduced myself to them, and Lynne remembered me as
the 'Kim' with the website, I thanked them for everything and hoped
the site helped. I wish I could have talked to both ladies more,
but we had to move into the theatre and so we gathered further down
the hall.
The crowd didn't immediately go inside, so we went off for a second
round of meet and greet, I followed behind Sussie, who I persuaded
to go over and talk to Tony. She talked to him a bit with me beside
her and she told him about my website. As soon as she did, he lit
up and said something like "Oh, that's terrific, thanks so much for
that!" and shook my hand again. I was like - this was great:) Free
publicity, thanks Sussie!
I went over to chat lightly to Lynn and gave her a hug, telling her
how proud I was of her work, I was. And, asked how she was holding
up. Then, we filed inside for our seats.
The movie started up and we sat through I would say roughly two-
hours and it was terrific!! If you've not seen this movie yet, go
see it - it's a darling movie. The audience was laughing so hard, I
think though for some they either knew of the cast personally or had
possibly seen some of it before...they caught a lot of inside
jokes. But, the jokes were clever and I really loved the
performances. Great movie, it deserves distribution, folks!! What
are the execs waiting for - a formal invitation?
Alright, after the lights came up, Lynne, Brooke and Tony filed back
in to stand off to the side of the lower auditorium to answer
questions, as they did, the sound cues of the movie blared up again
and the previews started playing. Everyone looked up at the sound
booth as if to say "What the heck are you doing up there? Sleeping?"
Soon they turned it off, and Tony joked "That's never happened to us
before!" :)
Questions were very interesting in regards to the movie, like "How
much was improvised?" "What was the production costs?" "How long
did it take to film?" Someone sweetly asked Brooke "Was it hard to
play someone who wasn't a pretty lady like yourself?" :) But, the
one comment that everyone just loved and had Tony nearly in tears
from laughing so hard was a guy off to the side (I think I saw him
later at the workshop): "Have you ever considered renaming the
movie 'My Big Fat Lebanese Makeover Movie'?" That was great!
Afterwards, we all filed back outside and some people stood around
to chat a little bit with the stars, I asked Lynn where the
reception was and slipped out back with Sussie to drop off a bag I
had been carrying with extra stuff in it - I didn't want to haul it
around at the reception (the stuff I had to bring was a pillow - as
I traveled all that way with a back that still was bothering me
from an earlier injury - thank God for codeine! and other as sundry
stuff). We came back and found the reception downstairs. It was
just a simple little bar area off to the side of the movie
theatres. They had the cast there and only a few other people.
Serving white & red wine, capers, cheese and crackers, and beer. It
was a nice little catered affair.
Both Sussie and my mom convinced me to get up and casually go over
to mingle with the cast. Lynne and Brooke were preoccupied
elsewhere, so I stood a bit in behind Tony as he was chatting and me
and my mom with Sussie made light talk. Soon, we saw Tony move away
from a guy he was talking to grab a piece of cheese near us. I
looked up at him and smiled as if to coax him to come over and join
us, and he did! He was really pretty cool, talking to us for at
least ten minutes - I told him right off the bat "You must be so
tired!" as I knew the kind of hectic schedule he seemed to deal
with. He said "No, actually, it's rather exhilarating - the Q&As
and the whole thing - I really love it!" He then stared answering
my mom's questions about the distribution of the movie and it was
very interesting. She asked him that he should consider taking it
to The Women's Network as it's primarily a woman's film. He said he
did and they turned it down. I told him that it didn't make much
sense with the fact that all these teen movies were out there yet
the baby boomer generation was the one growing and he told
me "Exactly, that's why were trying to get to that market!" but that
he wasn't getting far with it with film execs. Sussie told him
about her investing money in "Empire of the Sun" and it's lack of
success with returns, Tony was surprised at that. He also said that
movies like 'Terms of Endearment' he wasn't fond of and that movies
like 'Made-Up' he wished would receive better treatment. Sussie
started praising 'Monk' and you could see Tony light right up and I
congratulated and wished him luck on the Emmy nomination to which he
said "Thanks! I'll be glad when it's all over!" I think he's just
on a whirlwind right now. Sussie told him about her husband a bit,
but I won't go into the whole thing here as she'd explain it better -
but Tony was quite fascinated by her story. After that, he was
taking away by someone from AMC for something.
You'd think that would be a night for me, but I pulled out my blank
invitation to possibly go over for Brooke to sign. Well, Sussie saw
it and said "Why don't you get Tony to sign it too! Come on!" I
told him I already had a signature (during this whole conversation,
I had my back to Tony who was standing right behind me - possibly
overhearing us), she kept saying "Schmooze, schmooze!" I was
like "Alright, I'll schmoooze!" as I turned around, Tony was right
there, with this funny look on his face and his hand ready for me.
It was the funniest thing, it's like "Oh God! He heard us!" I took
his hand - again - and said "I'm sorry, I can't take her anywhere!"
and asked if he'd sign my card. He went over to the table that
Brooke sat at next to us and signed the card - With much
thanks...Tony Shalhoub. I thanked him, he still had this rather
bizarre look on his face - please forgive me Tony, don't think I'm
weird - I'm really not! And, then I walked over to lean over to
Brooke.
She was sweet, smiling at me and I told her how much I enjoyed the
movie and asked for her autograph, I also told her that I was glad
she liked my website (a separate story) and she said "Oh, you're
Kim!" Hee hee...I get around. I told her "Yes!" and she signed To
Kim, above Tony's 'with much thanks' and signed her name underneath
his.
After that, feeling I probably didn't want to look anymore bizarre,
I said "OK, we're going now!" to Sussie and my mom and left.
The next morning, we got up, fixed a light breakfast and dressed
much more casually - we went off for the Spokane Civic Theatre. We
got lost a few times - an adventure in itself - just ask Sussie!
Once there, we realized again we were early and that they were still
holding rehearsals in the auditorium.
Later they asked us to go ahead and go in. Soon, we saw Brooke and
Tony peek around the curtains and knew they were about ready to
start. They came in with a nice intro and a cast of the theatre
group there did a little scene from a play for Tony, Lynne and
Brooke. Tony came down in the audience to sit down just a seat over
from my mom to watch, Brooke and Lynne sat in front of her. That
was rather neat in itself. The scene was short by the young stage
crew, and then Brooke, Lynne and Tony returned to the stage. Tony
gave an excellent critique that was spot on right off the bat to
what they did and could improve on, and what he liked. Then, the
young cast went back to their seats.
They opened the floor to questions. Most about the film and it's
more artistic merits, and someone did ask Tony about how much Adrian
Monk effected Tony in real life. I don't know how it got around to
that, but when he said "It doesn't effect me!" and looked at Brooke
she said nothing and smirked at him! That was too funny! Tony got
up to reenact some of Monk's gestures, which was neat and several
more questions were asked about the movie. I sensed that they were
more relaxed on stage from the previous evening and it was nice to
see. One thing that was particularly funny was Brooke's cell phone
kept ringing during the workshop while she was on stage - first
Light Eternity called her, then the composer from the movie. I
think it might have been slightly staged, but it was very funny.
She said "I'm on stage right now!" :)
After that, Tony had to hop a plane for Seattle, so he didn't stay
too long. I managed to call out his name and hand him a card
quickly that me, my mom and Sussie signed personally to thank them
and they were off.
We returned home after that, stopping at Roslyn for pictures and are
happy to be back in familiar settings - so are our kitties. Who
were very well taken care of by our cat sitter, Jen.
I finished the roll of film that we took with us and several
pictures of the event. I will try to get them on CD and post them
to my website soon or on here...so keep in touch.
All in all - an incredible experience I'll never forget - thank you
so much Lynn for the chance to be a part of it and my deepest
gratitude to the ever-gracious Tony, Brooke and Lynne!!
I'll be doing everything I can to help with getting the word out
about distribution - you can count on that. Whew!! I'm home! But,
it was a lot of FUN!!!
Kim
MAC'S REPORT:
There we met Sussie, who
> shared our parking spot for a bit cheaper rate and pitched a tent.
Why does that make me sound so cheap? LOL!!! Because I am? I also
found out that the new cot I had bought did not fit in my old tent.
Thank-goodness Kim had a lounge chair pad I could use to sleep on the
floor of the tent with!
> We had great conversations over lunch and around 5:00 I got gussied
> up and so did my mom for the show, Sussie bravely followed us in
her
> pickup as we headed out.
Brave is right. Her mother drives like a Boston Hack!
>The man is like a magnet.
One of the things I got a kick out of was this one boy about 8 years
old was just staring at Tony like he was some sort of god or
something. His dad was asking Tony the questions the kid just
couldn't get out. Even Brooke tried to get the boy to open up but he
just stared. LOL!
>I followed behind Sussie, who I persuaded
> to go over and talk to Tony.
I just can't bring myself to do the fan thing. I was having more fun
watching the people interact with him. I clearly did this one for Kim.
>I was like - this was great:) Free
> publicity, thanks Sussie!
No problemo Cheese!
>Great movie, it deserves distribution, folks!! What
> are the execs waiting for - a formal invitation?
I'm currently working on a plan for that.
>Tony joked "That's never happened to us
> before!" :)
I wonder if they did that to leave an impression of their stay in
Spokane. Or "SpoCAINE" as Lynne kept saying then correcting herself.
>"Have you ever considered renaming the
> movie 'My Big Fat Lebanese Makeover Movie'?" That was great!
Tony got to laughing so hard on this one he was walking around trying
to work it off so he could continue!
> movies like 'Terms of Endearment' he wasn't fond of and that movies
> like 'Made-Up' he wished would receive better treatment.
He also said something about "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"(Not being too
fond of it either) but I wont say it here. LOL!
> Sussie started praising 'Monk' and you could see Tony light right up
Actually Kim asked why they hadn't started advertising on TV about
the movie and I said "Advertising isn't what cuts it. Its word of
mouth. Shoot, I watched advertisements of Monk for three months
before I decided to watch one and then cracked up over it" Tony
laughed, reached over and popped a piece of cheese in his mouth. Then
I finished up by saying "Then my husband watched it and got pissed
off because Monk reminds him so much of himself he won't watched it
anymore" Tony kinda leaned to one side and said "Oh no!" in a comical
way.
>Sussie told him about her husband a bit,
> but I won't go into the whole thing here as she'd explain it
better -
Actually I can back up a bit here.
After the Q & A was over in the theater, people starting filing out.
I went first and some how got separated from Kim and her mom. Tony
was standing out there by himself to I walked up to him and told him
that I didn't mean to sound like I didn't enjoy his presence but that
I just can't get into the fan thing as I was in his field of work
once but had to stop as my husband's OCD got the point of my having
to be home. I told him that I was pissed off because I had to quit,
as I know I will never be able to get into it again. I then said that
wasn't the reason I had stepped up to talk to him. I told him that in
all honesty I did not come up to see the movie, because I didn't
think I would like it. I told him that I had came up to see Kim and
went to the movie as a favor to her (Note if Kim reads this: This is
a true statement)I then said that my mind had been changed and I
loved the movie. And if a movie can change MY mind, then its got to
be able to change anyone's mind and we needed to break down the
stereotypical bastards(Meaning the marketers) that are trying to hold
this movie back from being spread across the country. We chatted for a
bit about that situation, then I told him that I had a website that
can get up to 10,000 hits in a month and I was going to add
information about the movie there. He was very pleased with this.
When Kim, her mom, Tony, and I were chatting at the reception, he
asked that I tell him about my husband's OCD. So I did. He listened
quite intently but had a look on his face that he felt sorry for me.
This kinda messed with my mind a bit because I don't ever want anyone
to feel sorry for me. He wanted to know if my husband was on any
medication for it, to which I had to reply that the VA has given him
some but he is in denial and won't take them.(Actually they don't do
him any good anyway. But I didn't tell Tony that) He then wanted to
know how I handled my husband. So I described briefly (I look back on
that now and wonder if I should have given him "the boat incident" as
a classic example. Kim knows what I'm talking about. LOL!)
Then again the conversation turned to Made-Up and I again said "Well
if you can change my mind, my stubborn Scott mind, then you can
change anyone's mind. I just don't like Chick-Flicks" He got a kick
out of me saying "Chick-Flicks"
>One thing that was particularly funny was Brooke's cell phone
> kept ringing during the workshop while she was on stage - first
> Light Eternity called her, then the composer from the movie. I
> think it might have been slightly staged, but it was very funny.
> She said "I'm on stage right now!" :)
Heck. I could tell it was staged and I said that to you. LOL!
But you forgot the funniest thing.
One of the students there asked Tony how he goes about showing anger
for a scene. The student said he was given a part where he had to get
mad and he just couldn't "get mad". The student then said "I mean,
you seem like a nice guy and all" and before he could finish his
sentence of "How do you get angry for a part?", Tony crossed his legs
and got this coy look on his face and said "Are you asking me out?"
The audience busted up!
I also gave him my CPI business card and told him that he could
contact me if he needed any more information about what we had talked
about earlier. He seemed relieved that I had given him the card. Just
as they were heading out stage right I then stopped him and said to
him "I sense that you are worried if you playing your character Monk
right" He kinda looked up like "Darn. Does it show?" and then
looked right at my and said "Your right" And I said "Your doing it
just right. But don't try to get better at it because if you get too
real, it won't be funny anymore. OCD is no laughing matter" He then
replied "Yes. I know, and we are trying to respect that" He then said
that he had to go. I then replied "Yeah I know, you have my card,
have your writer contact me if they would like more information on
what its like to live with someone like that" then smiling I
added,� Free of charge of course" Again he gave me that sad look and
said "I will" I wonder what he thought when he read what I wrote on
the back "Feel free to contact me if you need any tips from a
real 'Sharona'"
The rest of my trip was not as pleasant. Well, it was, but it wasn't
in some parts.
I said my good byes to Kim, and her mom and headed out. A long lost
friend of mine had contacted me via cell phone Saturday afternoon and
asked me if I could come to the rodeo down at Pendleton(40 miles out
of my way) and help her with the wild horse race as they needed a all
girl team. I had done this once or twice in my earlier years so I
said "Sure". I zipped on down to Kennewick and stopped at Wal-Mart to
buy a bigger tent. Then zipped on over to Pendleton only to find that
my...ahumm!...friend did not make it there, nor could I raise her on
the cell phone. (Is she going to get an ass chewing!) I had planned
to stay the night in Pendleton and come home the next morning, but I
was fuming at this point and thought my irritation would keep me
awake for the 3 hour trip home (It takes me 6 hours to get from my
farm to Spokane) About 125 miles down the road I began to get very
sleepy (I really didn�t sleep well Saturday night due to the lounge
pad I was sleeping on and the fact that a train was going by every
hour only about 100 feet from me) so I pulled off on a side road,
drove down to the shore of the Columbia River, pitched my new tent
using the S-10's(For those of you who don't know. That�s a little
truck made by Chevy) headlights, put my cot in it, turned the boom
box on to drowned out the highway noise, and went to sleep plotting
now I was going to kill my friend who made me go 80 miles (Round
trip) out of my way for nothing(LOL! Just kidding) I must have been
very tired as I woke up 10 hours later! Stand on the shore of the
mighty Columbia, watching the sun reflecting on the gorge, seeing
the fishing boats bobbing in the water and the inland gulls diving
for fish, made that 80 mile detour I took seem worth while, I
thought, as I drank my peach tea. I got out the camcorder, took a few
shots, then loaded up and headed home.
One of the advantages to having a husband with OCD is that when they
are REALLY stressed out, they clean. I came home to a very clean
house! The disadvantage to having a husband with OCD is that when you
arrive home, they just act like everything is back to normal and you
go on with life. So, I was met with a brief hug and then he was back
to doing his daily rituals. The dogs were happy to see me though! LOL!
Mac
(Who sometimes wonders to herself "Why do I live in this situation?"
Then answers herself "Because you married him for better or worse.
He was better once, and he can, with your help, get better again")