WITH
JOHN CUSACK
First I must tell you that I feel
very lucky to have been able to observe and "meet" John
as a "non" fan.
I had absolutely no clue as to
who he was or anything he had done.
I was able to form an unbiased
opinion about the "man" not the "star" before
I discovered his acting talent.
I know John hates the "celebrity"
thing and I am happy to have been caught off guard and
not viewed him as a "celebrity".
You must remember I went there
to see Kevin Spacey and Clint Eastwood.
The Long story...
May 27,1997 was our 30th anniversary
and we planned a week in Savannah, Ga. While I was surfing for info on
Savannah I came across the fact that MGGE would be filming while we were
in town.
Hubby had read MGGE and knew who
John Cusack was but I did not.
He tried to remind me of a couple
of his movies that we had seen...but I just could not place him.
LOL
We rented the audio version of the book and listened to it as we drove to Savannah. On the 26th of May we started walking around the beautiful Savannah squares. When we got to Mercer House I met a couple of the MGGE crew, and a Savannah Police man, who were taking down all the lighting from the outside of the house.
The lady, who now owns the house they were filming in, came out and stood in the crowd with us. She told us she had met Clint and JOHN and that JOHN was really nice.
Clint showed up driving his car and his big motor home arrived behind him. He walked around directing things. His attitude was just as you would imagine. More fans arrived, the Savannah Mayor and his staff and Alison Eastwood as well. She is really pretty...she smiled at the crowd and waved to a few people, before entering the house, where the last apartment scene was filmed..
Clint came and went a couple times
and after about an hour.....JOHN arrived...........
He sauntered up the steps of the
house and went in side. He was wearing tan pants and a blue work shirt.
At this time one of the grips made
everyone move from the sidewalk in front of the house, across the street.
A couple big cameras arrived, an set up to shoot through a window... Then
they spent 30 minutes washing the window for the camera to shoot through.
During this time JOHN came out and stood on the porch... smoking and chatting with a script woman... The crowd ...about 75 by this time...laughed and teased about how cute JOHN was and a couple women laughed about how they should yell to him, but no one had the guts to do it...
So...naturally...I can not pass up a challenge....and I called to him....which caused him to turn to the crowd, wave, smile and call out to us...
I think he said "Hi how's everyone doing?". This is when we took the candid pictures..
JOHN was in and out of the house
a couple times and then left.
He didn't really stay very long
and I don't know how they could have gotten very much filmed.
We stayed around long enough to find John Guss...the grip...and asked when and where they would be filming next.
We went back to the hotel and had dinner and at 6:30 walked back to the "SWEET GEORGIA BROWN" tavern, where we had been told there would be evening filming. The grips were moving all the old cars around the parking lot and getting all the people { who were extras in the scenes.} into to the bar. The windows were covered with black cloth, so no one could see in the bar. John came out a couple times and chatted with the extras. He seemed to have a good relationship with everyone connected with the film.
We learned later that "THE DOLL"
had entered the bar through a back door.
She had also been signing autographs
on the mall just minutes before we got there.
After about an hour JOHN came out and headed across the parking lot, in our direction...
WE HAD FORGOTTEN THE CAMERA...
But I had my street map...and a pen...so as he and his body guard approached us, I went up to him and asked for his autograph...
"Mr Cusack"...I said...."May I have your autograph"?.....Really origional...eh?
He grinned...and answered..." I am in a hurry. We are on dinner break and I only have a half hour".
He pointed toward a brick building across the street where a California based catering service had set up a temporary kitchen.
My Hubby, sensing that I might not get the autograph...stepped up quickly and offered,
"JOHN, I just saw Grosse Pointe Blank". It was really Awsome!."
This slowed down JOHN'S pace and he stopped, BEAMED... at us both, took my paper and pen and scrawled his name across the Savannah map.
"Hey, I'm glad you liked it." he said to Hubby. " I hope you will see MIDNIGHT too." He answered as he handed the map back to me.
JOHN then pointed toward where he was headed and said, "Sorry gotta run...".
and he was off.
I must admit my approach was not
very original nor was it particularly unique, but
his eyes captivated me and my heart
was pounding. I am sure JOHN has these encounters
every day...but this was my brush
with the stars and even though I am 50...it was still exciting.
The first time I wrote this I said
that I was "star struck" at the moment. As I reread and rethink the moment,
it was not that, it was the man. He is more attractive in person than in
the movies, if you can imagine that.
I think what I remember the most about JOHN was that he had tons of thick, dark make up on his face........but that smile.... was to die for ..... He seemed tall to me too...I am 5'7 and I felt like he towered over me .....and his hair was jet black.....and he was really nice... especially to stop and give us his autograph...
Now I must tell you that his eyes are glorious. Rimmed with the black makeup, made them even more beautiful. I truly believe that I was mesmerized by his eyes.
Were I a younger woman or a single girl or a Southern Lady...I might have .."swooned".
We saw him one more time, after
his dinner and he smiled and waved at us...like he recognized us.
The rest of the trip you don't
care about...lol...
Clint on the other hand was not nice to his fans. John proved to us, then and there, that he has compassion for his fans. I wonder what he would say if he knew I had no idea who he was or anything about him?
We came home...had a JOHN CUSACK moviethon...rented almost all his movies and became great fans!!!..
We had just bought our computer the previous November and I was looking for a subject to hold my interest for a web page...Hubby suggested the Savannah trip and JOHN CUSACK.....
WELL..........The rest is history..........and the result is...........
"my web page CUSACK 101 ....
WHEW... Hope you find this worth the read...It was sure fun and John was really nice .....and I love telling the story....
JOHN'S AUTOGRAPH----->>>>about the
middle of the map
Thanks
for asking me to add this to the web page.............MOLLY
OTHER JOHN SIGHTINGS OR MEETINGS |
[ Previous 5 Sites PreviousNextNext 5 Sites Random Site List Sites ] JOIN |
MOVIE TALK.....GREAT CUSACK SOUNDS PAGE |