Six Degrees of SKIDOO
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything about SKIDOO. Whoda thunk? That changes today as I had one of those great synchronistic encounters that’s made living in Los Angeles so memorable. As you all know, the great Michael Constantine plays “Leech,” the prisoner sharing the cell with Jackie Gleason and Austin Pendleton in Otto Preminger’s psychedelic masterpiece (or misfire, depending upon your bent). Constantine has been around awhile, and as a youth, I always loved him in one of my favorite early 70’s TV shows, ROOM 222 (for which he received two Emmy nominations). He also made a nice splash as the grandfather in the monster hit MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING.
And he walks into my coffee shop yesterday. I thought I had seen him before, but wasn’t sure. I don’t like to bother “celebrities” unless I have a reason to talk to them. But yesterday, as I”m sitting writing, wondering, in my favorite local bean-brewing hole, I see Michael Constantine enter. It’s destiny. I can’t think of a better reason to bother him than SKIDOO. So I intro myself and he’s of course disbelieving that anybody could be interested in SKIDOO. “That terrible film,” he says.
He sits and enthralls me with some war stories from the set. He does a fantastic booming imitation of Otto Preminger yelling at him: “Mr. Constantine, vat are you doing?!” He says the abuse got to the point where he wanted to punch Preminger out, and he let it be known. This led to one of Preminger’s minions rushing to Otto and his behavior changed. I was grinning ear to ear. I asked to interview him for my book and he gave me his email. I tried to impress upon him how SKIDOO is regarded today as a cult classic. He shakes his head and says, “You know who else liked it? Those kooks in England!”
Sometimes I love LA.
May 13, 2008 at 7:47 pm
What a great story!
Very cool that he took the time to sit down and chat with you. He probably doesn’t get hit up too often and when he does, it’s mostly likely for Greek Wedding.
Sometimes I Love LA too. Most of the time these days, but it’s still a love/hate thing.
May 13, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Kind of incredible. But apropos.
May 14, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Mega boffo coolness. I find that the hardest thing for me to do as a filmmaker is to network with other people. I’m not good at going out there and developing contacts by brute force. Other people I know do it and do it beautifully, but I’m much more organic in my relationships, more of an artist and less of a salesman.
I love it when opportunities like this drop right into your lap. Being in Tulsa, that doesn’t happen a lot, but I digress.
I’ve thought about moving to L.A. for my career, but I’m pretty sure I would detest the place. Perhaps more of a love/hate like Craig talks about, but who knows.
May 14, 2008 at 4:21 pm
I know exactly how you feel Evan. I’m gregarious, can chat up anybody, but I don’t like to approach others if I feel I’m intruding. I’ve been fortunate to meet and chill with a lot of my film heroes here, even befriend some, and happily, no one has disappointed. But I don’t like the predatory vibe that’s part of the LA atmosphere. It depends on where you’re coming from. I’ve had Best Picture winners pimp my scripts, but they did it out of the goodness of their heart, not me seeking it. I’ll talk to Tarantino whenever I see him at the New Beverly, because we’re just geeking, not schmoozing. Still, I couldn’t work up the nerve to say hi to Diablo Cody standing a foot from me every other night there. Someday.
My friend once went up to Robert Forster at a cafe and told him that he wrote a part for him in his indy script. Forster read it, loved it, helped with him it and now they’re friends. There’s a lesson there somewhere. But then, Bob Forster is one of the most gracious humble actors I’ve ever met. Hollywood is like a desert; you have to find the oasis. To quote the song, “Live in Southern California once, but leave before you get too soft.”
Speaking of, I’m going to post an exhaustive list of all of my celeb encounters soon due to the number one question I get about living here, “Do you see any stars?” More on the street than the sky.