camelot7414's Journal

NIFF
Well now that I actually have something to write about, I guess I should write in this thing. As many of you know, I won the lunch with Richard Burgi in Newport on 6/8. I actually bid on both things, but ended up with the lunch. Deana, Karen, a Desperate Housewives fan and I were the only ones bidding. When I saw that Deana was bidding on the lunch, I emailed her to ask her if she had someone to go with her, as if she didn't, it would make more sense for us to split it. We already knew each other, so we knew we weren't totally crazy. We decided that since I was more familiar with Ebay, that I would do the final bidding - only problem was, I forgot to tell Deana what my Ebay ID was. So, 5 minutes before it was over, I bid. Well Deana, not knowing it was me, bid against me. I was on the phone and emailing her quickly, telling her to stop, that it was me. Therefore we ended paying $50 more than we had to (Richard thought that it was funny).

There followed weeks of trying to pin the dates down with the NIFF folk. I had plane reservations to make, as well as taking time off of work in the busiest time of the month. Apparently the biggest problem was getting confirmation from Richard. Especially because of his new film. Apparently that was why no one got notice of the fund raiser in NY, they didn't find out in time for sure that Richard was going to be there.

Well we got the dates set (about 2 weeks prior), then they had to figure out where we were staying. The first place they told us about (which really sounded nice) ended up being booked for one of the nights. We ended up staying at a B&B that Deana called the "Bates Motel". Apparently the owners are both psychologists. They didn't talk to us much, and didn't offer breakfast. Oh well, at least for the first night, we had the whole floor to ourselves.

I flew into Providence on Wednesday, while Deana drove from Philly. It was raining sideways. Got to Newport, then drove around a while, looking for the B&B. Checked in, then went to the box office, where they were supposed to have the event passes and lunch gift certificate. Got there, got the passes, but no gift certificate. Was told Laurie (the head of NIFF and Richard's high school friend) would meet us at Richard's panel and give them to us. Had time to kill, still raining, so parked and walked down the street to a little restaurant and had a cup of soup and sandwich. Walked back to the car, fed the meter some more, then sat in the car until they opened the door to the Blues Club where Richard was supposed to talk.

While standing on the curb, we noticed Laurie and someone else drive off, apparently someone had forgotten to pick up Richard. So he got there a few minutes late as usual. It was an interesting talk. As Deana put it, it was "Burgi's philosophy of life, with a beer chaser" It seemed to mostly be film students, so it was a very different atmosphere than we're used to. There were about 20-30 people there, and only 1 other "fan" besides us. Pretty small gathering, in a bar. Very relaxed. A lot of acting as a career questions. Of course he was asked about love scenes with the different women of DH. He said that kissing Teri Hatcher was like sheetrocking - it was just a job. They asked if his new found success had increased his job opportunities, if it changed his relationship with his management team. Said he was loyal and had had the same management team since he came to LA. Said that everyone he knew after he did "In Her Shoes," told him that he had made it because he had worked with Curtis Hanson, but it turned out that it didn't really impact his career. He talked about how you choose what parts to play. Apparently he takes almost anything. He hasn't read the script to the current film, and he didn't read "Darklight" til he was on the plane to Romania - wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into. They asked him, couldn't he avoid the bad films if he read the script. But he said that all actors had turkeys, and didn't seem to concerned. I think he's mostly in the frame of mind that he's trying to support his family, so he'll take whatever comes along. He said he had a hard time deciding whether to do this film in Toronto, or go to Italy with his family. Which was more important, the career or his family time? He decided the career supported the family so he should do it. He did say that if something really bad came along, he would just get out of it, and risk being sued.

He talked about his casting in DH. Said he originally read for "the plumber" (it's funny as even outside the character of "Karl", he still uses the same inflections and terms for Mike, it sounded just like Karl. You can hear the disdain in his voice). He decided after hearing disagreements between Mark Cherry and a producer, as well as knowing that they were leaning towards Jamie Denton, that he would pass on the role. Also, Point Pleasant was more money at the time, he took a cut in pay to do DH as it was such a big cast. He said turning them down made them want him more when he did read for Karl. He tries to play Karl in such way that people say "he's a shit, but I like him anyway."

When it was over, we stayed around for a little bit. We were trying to track down Laurie, but she disappeared quickly. Got a chance to talk to Richard, and tell him who we were, and walked out with him. He remember us from "Johnnie on the Spot" (2002). We reminded him the last time we had seen him was at Cascade Con. It was raining still. When we left he was standing on the curb with Bridgie waiting on their ride and talking to some people (actually I think his ride was waiting for him to finish talking).

We went to a movie screening that night - it was pretty bad.

Next day, didn't do much. Lunch was at noon, we got there 11:30, as we didn't have anything else to do. We were seated, and at about noon, we had a drink. Laurie showed up by 5 after, but Richard was running late. She was surprised about how laid back we were about Richard's tardiness, and we said we were used to it. She said she was glad she wasn't married to him as she would have killed him by now. She used the time to dish some of the dirt about when they were in High school together. Apparently they had sat behind each other in homeroom all 4 years. She tutored him in Spanish. As we all know, he's very musically inclined. He can play by ear. He always had a girlfriend. He was into sports as well.

Richard and Bridgie showed up a few minutes later. We took a few minutes to order. Richard and Bridgie had had a big breakfast at the hotel so he really wasn't hungry. Richard had a organic salad, Bridgie, Laurie and I had a burger, and Deana had tuna. Since we knew time was short, we got the autographs for the Moonridge auction out of way. Good thing I had 2 sets of DVD's as the first one, his signature (on the paper insert) ended up under the DVD. He also signed a photo of the 2 of us from the MPICA auction. I showed him the picture of him feeding me the pretzel from the auction and he laughed.

We had a good time. Full of laughter. Even the waiter had fun. Someone pointed out who Richard was, and even though he didn't watch DH, and didn't know really who he was, he asked him several questions. One of the ladies at the next table kept trying to get a good look at him. He had his back to the rest of the room, so it was nice knowing we had his full attention. No one else approached him. Don't remember all that was said, although Deana had some off the wall questions. Bridgie ended up with all our sharpies to color with. He got a new book from Laurie that he was reading to us. One thing I remember was Deana asked him about a memorable 4th of July. The only thing I remember of his answer was that he was about 8 and had his first beer.

I got confirmation from him that he was going to be back on DH next fall as a regular.

As time was running short, we got the requisite pics - see icon, and he hugged & kissed us both. We talked a few minutes more, then Deana went to shake his hand, when he hugged us both again.

The three of them left, then it was time for Deana and I to chill. We ordered coffee and desert, and just tried to relax. After lunch, we took the car for a drive and saw some of the mansions. We were grateful that at least it hadn't rained that day, so our hair behaved.

That night we went to a screening that somehow was even worse then the one before it. Now I love naked men, and I love slash, however even the cute guy wasn't cute, and the other guy was fat, bald and ugly. Turned out it really wasn't slash anyway, as the two guys never did anything. It also was extremely boring, and featured a lot of shots where they just drove and put the camera out the window. The dog was the only good thing.

Of course that was better than the "short" (which was 19 minutes too long). It was called Intimate conversations, and it featured (for 20 minutes) anonymous people talking on their cell phones. No real dialog.

The next day, we killed some time by driving around some more, along the water. Saw the fort. It was cloudy, but no rain.

Deana dropped me off at the airport. Of course the plane left about an hour late, so I sat there about 2.5 hours (at least i had internet). Got in about 1/2 hour late to Charlotte, couldn't find my luggage for 45 minutes. Finally found it in a corner with a bunch of other unclaimed luggage. I swear they took it off the plane, and stuck it in the corner, bypassing the conveyor belt. Finally got home about 11pm. At least it was Friday and I could sleep in the next day. Friday ended up being quite a downer. I went from the highest of highs with Richard to the lowest of lows in a really short period of time.

Well now I've got to go finish packing for Moonridge. Bev I have your shirt in my bag. The plane leaves Friday at 6am, and I get into LA at about 10:30 so it's going to be a long day. Can't wait to see everyone though.

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